Foodists

Campfire Yumminess: The Jaffle Iron

Melting butter in the jaffle iron.

I’m always excited when my friends Denise and Darren come to the lake as that means they are bringing their jaffle iron. When they first told me about it I had no fracking clue what they were talking about until I saw it. It’s a cast iron sandwich maker that you use in a campfire. I was all into trying it because I believe that anything cooked over an open fire with it’s smokey goodness, especially in the middle of nowhere, tastes the best.

Using the jaffle iron is a super simple process. To begin you put the iron into the coals and let it get nice and hot, then open and melt butter – and I’m talking loads of butter – into one side. Proceed to make your sandwich, butter one side of the bread and place the unbuttered side into the iron. Close it up and stick it back in the coals and check it every little bit to make sure it’s getting nice and toasty brown. Once done trim the edges of the overhanging toast and voila, it’s done with perfectly crimped closed edges and loads of tasty filling. We made sandwiches with cheese, onion, tomato and mushroom and for dessert used cherry pie filling. Yup, the kind right out of the can and it’s to die for. One word of caution, these are super hot when they come out so wrap them in paper towels and wait a few minutes before biting in.

I’m told if one is looking for a really good jaffle iron to check out the camping stores and only buy the cast iron variety as they work the best and don’t succumb to purchasing one of the cheaper flimsy metal ones.

We are always on the lookout for new recipes, I’ve heard bacon and eggs are great and we were thinking a reuben would be fantastic as would using the iron to make bannock (which is my ultimate campfire food.) Really, the possibilities are endless. Do you have any jaffle iron recipes or campfire favourites? We’d love to hear about them, please share them below!

Cooking the sandwich in the fire.

Trimming the edges of the sandwich.

Checking to see if it's ready, this one is nicely toasted!

The final product, a yummy cherry filled jaffle!