Campfire Yumminess: The Jaffle Iron
Posted by Sylvia Rigakis on Sunday, August 5th, 2012Tags for this Article: campfire, camping food, jaffle iron, sandwich
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!
Posted on August 5th, 2012
Vince says:
The first time I heard of a jaffle was in Bali. There, in the little hotels you stay at while backpacking, they would provide you with a breakfast of fresh java, a fruit salad and a banana jaffle. OMG they were so good.
They’re nothing more than sliced or mashed bananas. The bananas are so sweet there though that’s all you need. I tried replicating them here a la grilled cheese, but needed to add honey to come remotely close. Still doesn’t compare. Finely chopped nuts are a nice additional touch too.
You might want to do a search under pudgey pies or toasties as that is another name for them. Jaffle apparently is Australian. The irons can be found at Canadian Tire.
As you can tell, did some research online:) I missed them that bad. Cheers.
Posted on August 6th, 2012
Ben Garfinkel says:
Sylvia, did you take your Cobb up camping too?
Posted on August 6th, 2012
Sylvia Rigakis says:
Vince, bananas and nuts sound yummy!! One caution about irons from Canadian Tire, I bought one there and it didn’t work as well as the one my friends have. There’s is a heavy duty cast iron one that crimps the edges beautifully.
Posted on August 6th, 2012
Sylvia Rigakis says:
Ben – No Cobb as I’m not camping I’m at our cottage in Saskatchewan. But I’ve been thinking – would a jaffle iron work with the Cobb? I’m thinking it would and plan to try it out.
Posted on August 9th, 2012
kirsti says:
Mincemeat! For a little Christmas in the middle of summer.
Posted on August 23rd, 2012
Brad says:
I have never heard of a Jaffle before…but have been using the original pie iron since I was a child. From what I can see these are the originators of the campfire sandwich cooker.
And yes stay away from the cheaper aluminum ones… I had a friend have his melt completely off in the coals of a fire one day. My heavy cast iron Pie Iron has been going strong for almost 40 years!
Posted on August 23rd, 2012
Brad says:
Opps, was going to put a link on my original post but forgot.
http://www.pieiron.com/
Posted on October 21st, 2012
Shonagh @ An Offal Experiment says:
What about bacon and eggs? Or prosciutto so you don’t have to worry about the cooking. That would be some gourmet camping.
Posted on November 7th, 2012
Sylvia Rigakis says:
Brad – thanks for the link!
Shonagh – oh my, prosciutto would be so good…I can taste it now.
Posted on December 3rd, 2012
Kristen says:
Does anyone know where to find a pie iron with crimped edges (like the one in the pictures above)? I have been searching for ages and it seems as if no one makes a good cast iron pie maker with crimped edges anymore.
Posted on December 4th, 2012
Sylvia Rigakis says:
Kristen had you checked out the link posted above? The iron in the photos was purchased in Edmonton at Totem Outdoor Outfitters (http://www.totemoutfitters.ca/) and I do believe that particular iron is made in Alberta. If you contact them they might be able to help you out. I did a quick search online and also found irons at http://www.firepies.com/irons.html
Posted on February 11th, 2013
Jeff says:
Maybe you would consider on of these awesome Australian made irons the company Furphy has been making cast products since the late 1800’s
http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?112447-My-New-Furphy-Jaffle-Iron
They have a website but these pictures from this blog are more detailed than the manufacturers…about $45 plus postage will get you something unique….
In Australia we don’t worry about cutting the outside edges…the fire does a fine job of that!
Posted on March 11th, 2013
voltage divider says:
Greetings! I’ve been following your site for a while now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Groningen Holland! Just wanted to mention keep up the good job!
Posted on March 17th, 2014
elize says:
in South Africa we put mince in them and I’ve also made them with chicken mayonnaise….yummy!!
Posted on October 16th, 2014
Mary Scheible says:
Does anyone know where I can purchase one of these pie cookers?
Posted on October 16th, 2014
Mary Scheible says:
I have looked through all the websites listed below and have not seen one like the one pictured above with the crimped edges, if anyone knows where I could purchase one, please let me know so I can get it as a Christmas present for my husband. Thank You
Posted on July 21st, 2016
facebook_Rean-Marie M. Knight.10157113594970104 says:
PIZZA!!!!
I have used jaffle irons for years and we always make pizza in them. Just a note when buying a new iron make sure to season it with lots of oil prior to use or you will be picking pieces of stuck on bread out of the crimping on the edges.
Posted on July 15th, 2019
Kat says:
We have this iron. We want more. Do you remember where they got it.