Meet the 'Puffle,' a Chocolate-Stuffed Waffle
BY RHODA BOONE, EPICURIOUS
We call it the Puffle.
A Puffle is a stuffed waffle made from store-bought puff pastry, filled with chocolate (or almond butter, or ham and cheese), and cooked to golden, croissantlike flakiness. In other words, it’s a game changer.
Cut into a Puffle and you’ll find a warm, gooey filling intertwined with ethereal layers of crispy, buttery pastry. The time it takes to get all of this? About the time it takes to open a box of puff pastry.
But how do you Puffle? Very easily. Your new breakfast—and lunch, and brunch, and snack—obsession requires only 5 steps.
1. MAKE THE BATTER (JUST KIDDING!)
You don’t make Puffle batter, because Puffles don’t require batter. The only action required is defrosting a box of puff pastry (we prefer an all-butter puff) according to the package directions. Do that, and you’re ready to make enough Puffles to feed 4. (All praise puff pastry, right?)
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2. GET A KID TO ROLL THE DOUGH OUT (OR, FINE, DO IT YOURSELF)
Once your pastry is defrosted, cut it in half. Measure the cooking surface of your waffle maker, then hand your kid a rolling pin. You need each piece of pastry rolled into a rectangle the same width but double the length of your waffle maker. Now you and the kid are ready to commence Puffle stuffing.
3. STUFF THE PUFFLE
Puff pastry can swing as sweet as chocolate and as savory as gruyere. So sprinkle or spread any filling you like onto half the pastry, then fold the other side over like a book and crimp to seal. Try one of our filling suggestions, like almond butter and jelly, chocolate and marshmallow “s’more,” or croque monsieur-inspired ham with gruyere and mustard. Or go your own way. Nutella and banana? Sure. Cheddar and hot sauce? Yes.
4. COOK FOR ALMOST NO TIME AT ALL
Once your Puffles are stuffed, place them in your waffle maker 1 at a time. Our test kitchen preferred a square shaped Belgian-style waffle maker because it allows a little more room for the pastry to puff and creates deeper wells in the surface of the Puffle (all the better for toppings, see below). But every waffle maker should give a Puffle its gorgeous crunchy patina while heating the filling perfectly in just 5 minutes.
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5. GO OVERBOARD
Can you even take a Puffle overboard? Is it not too much already? No. A Puffle is just right. And those deep pastry pockets are begging to be filled with syrup. Or slathered in melted butter. Or dusted with powdered sugar. Or topped with whipped cream. Or sprinkled with fresh berries and sliced almonds. Is this clear yet? It’s a Puffle. And Puffles aren’t shy. So you shouldn’t be either.
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PHOTOS: CHELSEA KYLE, FOOD STYLING BY RHODA BOONE