The Waffle Croque-Madame With Egg, Cheese & Ham Will Have You Saying "God Damn"
Photo cred - Floriole Bakery
Whenever you can, waffle it. Making an ordinarily boring breakfast into a sinfully spectacular morning delight is only a waffle, or waffle iron, away. There's just something about a waffle's grid-like shape and those deep pockets (just begging to be filled with syrup and sauces) that ameliorate any meal. For example, the classic croque-madame, which becomes a whole new creation once you waffle it.
Traditionally, a "croque-madame" is a glorified ham and cheese (usually Emmental) sandwich, with some creamy béchamel sauce thrown in. Unlike its masculine counterpart, the croque-monsiuer, a croque-madame is served with a fried egg on top, because, uh, hens lay eggs? Sure, lets go with that. Take the croque-madame's classic breakfast sandwich combo and bring in a waffle iron, and you have the Waffled Croque Madame, a whole new breakfast experience.
Created by Sandra Holl, owner of Floriole Bakery, the Waffled Croque Madame is pretty simple to assemble, assuming you have a waffle iron on hand, which you should, because waffles. Throw on some croissant dough (store bought will sufice) onto your iron, then layer it with béchamel, ham, cheese, and finally a waffle-ironed egg, and you're done.
Waffle-ing the croque-madam is more than just a cosmetic change. With the waffle format you have deep pockets of flaky croissant readily able to house all the decadent béchamel sauce, along with the runny egg yolk. Though, to be honest, seeing a waffle-ironed egg and croissant is a pretty cool bonus to the sandwich.
See the waffle-process in action below, and be sure to check out the original recipe here.
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