I am frugal; NOT cheap. However every blue moon, less frequently really, I succumb to a splurgey weakness. I was inspired by Claire Saffitz’s Bon Appetit show, Gourmet Makes. She challenged herself to upgrade the classic Kit Kat candy bar and to make this happen, she ordered a waffle cone maker. This inspired me to attempt my own “gourmet make” of Little Debbie’s Nutty Buddy. They came out pretty good, but they were labor intensive.

Alas, my waffle cone maker sat in its box, collecting dust. I decided it was high time I use that waste of space and money and so began thinking of possible recipes for it. I couldn’t tell you how Stroopwafels came to mind, but they did, and I had no idea where to start. I researched, found a recipe and tweaked the filling. They were delicious.

Recipe adapted from Sprinkle Bake

• 4 1/4 cups/500 g all-purpose flour
• 1 cup/250 g unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/4 cups/226g granulated sugar
• 4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup/ 60 ml lukewarm almond milk
• 1 large egg
• ¼ c honey
• ½ c local cane syrup
• ¼ c sugar
• Salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Waffle

In a bowl, combine the flour, butter, sugar, yeast, milk and egg. Knead together until you have a smooth, consistent dough. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl and loosely cover it with plastic wrap. Set it in a warm place to for 40 minutes (doesn’t rise much but that little lift helps later on).

Filling

Heat the cane syrup, honey, sugar, salt and cinnamon in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a bubble. When the mixture thickens slightly and the sugar is melted, remove it from the heat.

Heat up waffle cone maker. Knead dough and shape into balls about 2 tbsp. each in size. Place the dough in the center of the cone maker and push down slightly until golden brown. Quickly remove the waffle from the maker. Have your cookie cutter ready and a knife to slice in half.

Side Note: I wasted nearly half of my dough trying to slice the hot waffles as they came out of the maker. I found it much more manageable when I used 2” and 3” biscuit cutters and followed up with the knife. It’s a little difficult because the waffles are hot, but still manageable.

 Repeat with each dough ball.

Assembly

Put a ½ or 1 tablespoon of filling, depending on the size of the cut out and sandwich the waffle sides.