Feeling inspired by Masterchef? Here's some tasty jaffle recipe ideas to try at home

My favourite pandemic purchase was a second-hand jaffle maker.

But since I splurged (a whole $10!) on it, I've honestly been very boring.

I've essentially treated it as a regular sandwich press, and gone for the classic (boring) toastie mix of ham, cheese and tomato.

But the whole point of a jaffle maker is to seal whatever wild ingredients you can find into two toasted, buttery pieces of bread.

As we saw on Sunday's Masterchef episode on Network Ten, there's a fine art to making the perfect jaffle.

So to gain further inspiration, I asked the jaffle queens of Sydney, and ABC Everyday's Facebook group, for their ideas.

The jaffle essentials

Vaseliki (Vass) Vais and Michelle (Mish) Weir run a jaffle café in South Sydney — one of the few dedicated jaffle joints in the country.

To start your jaffle journey, they say you will need a proper jaffle maker.

Unlike a toastie, a jaffle encloses the fillings inside so they won't leak out.

While you could try folding in the crusts or sealing them off with a fork, attempting to use a stovetop or a sandwich press will generally just end in a toastie, or a mess to clean up.

The next thing you'll need is high quality butter, to spread on the outside of your bread for that crispy, golden goodness.

Salt and pepper will also make everything taste better, but you don't have to always stick with bread for a base.

"If you want to like switch it up, you can always cook them in puff pastry," Vass says.

"Especially [if you use leftovers like] curries, it kind of tastes almost like a curry puff. It's really nice."

The best jaffle ingredient combos

One of Vass and Mish's signature dishes is a brekkie jaffle of bacon, eggs, hash brown, caramelised onion, relish and cheese.

Heading into chilly weather, they're busting out winter warmers like a combo of Shepherd's pie mix, mashed potato and cheese, which works well either on puff pastry or regular bread.

Vass and Mish say spag bol makes a tasty jaffle, as does leftover roast lamb and veggies dipped in gravy.

Our Facebook group had plenty of mouth-watering ideas too:

"Tinned spaghetti and white bread. Bonus points if it explodes and leaks all over the jaffle iron." — Emi

"My friends and [I] used to hold jaffle parties every winter where we had to come up with an original jaffle. The best one was goat cheese and chutney, and also a creamed corned beef one ... [I'm] thinking of making one that incorporates fermented fish this year."  — Ala

"Tuna, cheese and mayo ... tastes a bit like tuna mornay" — Sharryn

"Apple, cheese and a tiny bit of a chilli honey"— Merran

Ultimately, Vass says you can make a jaffle out of just about anything.

"The thing about a jaffle is that you can chuck anything in there, just any leftovers, and you're good to go."

And for dessert? More jaffles

Jaffles can be sweet too — Vass and Mish even turned hot cross buns into jaffles over Easter.

"We used a hot cross as a base, then filled that up with Nutella and Caramilk, with easter eggs on top."

You could also try these suggestions:

Nutella and strawberries — Sarah

Shaved Toblerone, sliced banana, fresh raspberries, sliced marshmallows. You're welcome — Lisa

Banana, honey, peanut butter and a sprinkle of nutmeg and cinnamon — Jodie