Being pretty new to the whole Waffle Dad thing, I’d only ever made enough waffles for two (technically, two and a half since our daughter is still in the iron, so to speak). But this weekend, I knew I would have to feed several times my normal number since E’s parents and sister were all coming down for a Waffle Party. As if feeding five people weren’t enough, everyone wanted savory waffles, which I’d only pulled off successfully once (the week before). No pressure!
And then, knowing I’d have a bunch of willing guinea pigs beloved family members ready and willing to test anything I put in front of them, I decided to try my hand at my very own recipe inspired by the Potato Skin Waffles I’d made the week before: The Croque Monsieur Waffle. (and since I’m not a complete idiot, I decided to also make a double batch of the Potato Skin Waffles as well, just in case).
2. Are the Potato Skin Waffles improved by mixing chives in with the scallions?
3. A new savory waffle recipe, inspired by the Potato Skin Waffles but with more Croque Monsieur.
The Night Before
The waffle party adventure began the night before. About 30 minutes before the store closed, a thought occurred to me: “Hey, wait a minute, I need to cook a ton of waffles for a large number of people tomorrow.” So I hightailed to the grocery store and got the necessary ingredients. However, this was challenging.
It turns out our local grocery store closes its deli counter an hour before the store itself closes. So there was no way for me to get fresh deli-sliced rosemary ham, which was the original ingredient planned for the Croque Monsieur Waffles. Thankfully, before closing up shop, the deli counter had sliced a bunch of other deli meat and left them in pre-packaged containers. There was no rosemary ham, but I figured honey-maple ham would be a reasonable substitute (reader, it was).
Having acquired all of the supplies I needed for the massive pile of waffles I was planning to cook, I promptly…procrastinated. I could have left everything ’til the next morning. But with our family coming by pretty early in the morning, and my own desire to sleep in at least a little bit? I probably should have done prep work the day before. But I procrastinated, because I am by nature lazy. Until finally around 11pm, when I realized “Man, if I keep procrastinating, my morning will be shot”.
So I decided to do the prep work for my double batch of Potato Skin Waffles. This prep work pretty much consisted of me cooking an entire package of bacon, chopping it up into tiny pieces, reserving all the bacon fat, and then doing the dishes. Which is a great way to spend the witching hour. And with that done, I went to bed.
Before the Guests Arrive
Have I mentioned how awesome E is? Because she is. And I’m not just saying that because she is about to give birth to my daughter, or because she deigned to marry a bum like me. She’s awesome for a long and growing list of reasons (which, reader, I actually have documented) but one specific reason is that on the morning of our big waffle party, she let me sleep in.
And I don’t mean that she let me sleep in, and I overslept, and had to scramble to prepare things. No, she did a bunch of stuff while she let me sleep (this was not the plan). While I was merrily snoring away, E (who is heavily pregnant) caramelized all the onions for the Croque Monsieur Waffles. She sliced them, sauteed them, the whole deal. Which was amazing!
So once I woke up and groggily downed some of my morning espresso, that left me with very little to do until the guests actually arrived. This…was a misjudgment again born of my laziness.
The Guests Arrive!
The guests arrived at around 11am, which is a reasonable time for folks to arrive for brunch. While I’ve been calling this a “waffle party” here, in actuality there was a bunch more stuff going on. E’s folks brought us a glider that we could put in the baby’s nursery, which is awesome. And E’s dad had agreed to help us affix some bookcases to the wall (not strictly relevant until the baby reaches the suicidal toddler phase, but I’m lazy and if we don’t do it now I suspect we never will). So while all of this got under way, I helped with carrying stuff, and logistics, and the like…instead of preparing brunch.
Belated Meal Prep
By about 11:45am, I realized “hey, if we’re going to eat at a reasonable hour, I should probably start preparing waffles”. Which…was probably a good twenty minutes later than I should have reached that conclusion. But c’est la vie – to work I go!
Since I’d be preparing three times my normal quantity of waffles, and in two distinct batches nonetheless, I had to get out The Big Bowl. So I prepped the dry ingredients for both batters, and with E’s help I prepped the remaining mix-in ingredients (best to slice the scallions, the chives my in-laws grew and brought, and the ham fresh), and then I prepped the wet ingredients.
I started with the big double batch of the Potato Skin Waffles (now with chives), because they were the least experimental. I was pretty confident I could pull them off, since I was making minimal modifications. They came out looking (and tasting) great, as expected.
The Croque Monsieur Waffles: Reviewed
The Croque Monsieur Waffles were my second set, and I was a little more nervous about them. Since it was a new recipe (although again, inspired by the earlier one) I paid a lot of attention to the batter components and the batter prep. Here too, the end result was very tasty!
I’m sorry I don’t have more pictures of how they came out, but here’s a broad write-up of how we found them: First, everybody seemed to enjoy them. Everyone had between one and two of the Croque Monsieur Waffles (with an equal helping of the Potato Skin Waffles). Personally, I thought that the Croque Monsieur Waffles were a little heavier than the Potato Skin waffles, but I attribute that to our using a little too much butter when caramelizing the onions.
The ham and gruyere have a much subtler flavor (not surprising) than the bacon and scallions, but that subtleness is a feature not a bug. While still a savory waffle, they did come out slightly sweeter than the potato skin waffles – again, likely due to the honey-maple ham in combination with the caramelized onions.
They also paired well with the sour cream. While most everyone really liked them with the sour cream, I thought what the Croque Monsieur Waffles really needed is a good fried egg on top. And yes, I know that would make them Croque Madame Waffles (for the record, I always prefer croque madames to croque monsieurs in any case). And yes, that is definitely something I’ll be posting about here in the future.
Bottom line: The Waffle Party was a success, and everyone seemed pleased with both types of waffles! Everyone got to take some home with them, too, to enjoy later.
2. I don't know that the chives added much to the Potato Skin waffles. Truth be told, I did not really notice them.
3. The Croque Monsieur waffles were a definite success! Some new riffs on them to come in the future...
ETA: Post-script a Week Later...
So a week after the big waffle party, my in-laws texted E about something they tried. Following our advice, they froze the Croque Monsieur waffles when they got home. And then today they reheated them, and combined them with some freshly-grilled brats and some sauteed veggies, and apparently the flavor still came through and worked great! So there are definitely other combinations that can be done with the Croque Monsieur waffles as well.
Croque Monsieur Waffles
4
servings30
minutes30
minutesThis recipe is originally inspired by the Potato Skin Waffles I wrote about before. However, the mix-ins are completely different. Where those are like a loaded potato skin, these are more like a croque monsieur: using ham, Gruyere, and caramelized onions to make a delicate, sweeter, and slightly subtler savory waffle.
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Ingredients
- Dry Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp granulated sugar (see note)
- Wet Ingredients
2 cups buttermilk
2 tbsp unsalted butter
3 large eggs
1 tbsp reserved bacon fat (optional)
non-stick cooking spray
- Mix-in Ingredients
1 Vidalia onion
8 oz ham (rosemary or honey-maple)
0.5 tbsp unsalted butter OR olive oil
2 cups Gruyere cheese, shredded
Directions
- Mix-in: Caramelized Onions and Ham
- Peel and slice the onion. You'll want fairly small slices, since you are going to caramelize them and then mix them into the batter.
- Add the butter or olive oil to a medium pan. Heat the pan on medium heat until the butter starts to melt (if using butter, or until you can feel the heat on top of the pan if using olive oil).
- Add the onion to the pan.
- Stir the onions around the pan to get them well-coated in the butter or oil, and then wait for them to start to sizzle. Stir them occasionally while they sizzle.
- While the onions are sizzling, chop up the ham. You want small, diced-like pieces that will get mixed in with the batter. Set the chopped up ham aside.
- When the onions are a golden brown color, and stating to get a little translucent take them off the heat. Put them aside into a small bowl or Tupperware.
- Croque Monsieur Waffles
- Combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar) in a large bowl. Whisk the dry ingredients until they are fully mixed and evenly distributed.
- In a medium bowl, add eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, and (if you have it) the reserved bacon fat. Whisk them together until there are no major outstanding clumps, and the yolks and whites have been fully mixed.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, and whisk them together until they are fully mixed and there are no dry clumps or sections remaining.
- Add the chopped up ham, caramelized onions, and Gruyere cheese to the batter. Gently fold the mix-in ingredients until they are pretty evenly distributed throughout the batter.
- Preheat the waffle iron. I use a "Buttermilk" setting at the highest temperature (a "7" on my iron). When pre-heated, apply cooking spray to the iron and then add the batter. Let the iron do its thing.
- When the iron is done, pull the waffles and serve. If you need to store them while another batch is on the iron, put them in a 200-degree oven.
Equipment
Hercule (All-Clad Belgian Waffle Maker)
Notes
- I think when I make this recipe again, I'll reduce the sugar to 1 1/2 tablespoons or maybe even 1 tablespoon. The onions and (in this case, honey-maple ham) added a fair bit of sweetness to the waffles, and I think the sugar content could have been reduced.
- Apologies for the small number of photos on this one! I was too distracted cooking for a big group to take lots of photos.
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