waffle my world: waffled gooey butter buns.

This idea is insane.

I'm insane.

This is insanely good.

It all started with a picture of a gooey butter cake on Tastespotting. I clicked it, naturally. And then I thought, butter and cream cheese would be a great filling for buns! The next thing I knew, my waffle maker decided to join my fantasy. Ta-dah! Waffled gooey butter buns were born. Recipes may be one of the most dangerous forms of knowledge around.

I made a few changes to the filling since I was making buns, not cake. I omitted the eggs because I don't want my filling to set. I want it to flow/gush/explode out even when cool. Instead of melting the butter before mixing it in with beaten cream cheese, I let both of them come to room temperature before beating them together just until combined. I would reduce the amount of icing sugar next time- its really sweet, even for me. Lastly, I refrigerated the mixture overnight for it to harden, which would make filling the buns much easier.

I knew full well that there was a possibility of leakage so I decided to try out just one to satisfy my curiosity. Yeah, the filling leaked out. Which wasn't such a loss in the end. Because of the high sugar content, it caramelized on the outside and my bun ended up looking like the dense buttery liege waffle. I love the sweet and crunchy exterior!

But watch out though, you gotta clean up what I call "The Gunk". It's practically caramel cooked to the hard crack stage so it's a pain to clean unless you get it off your waffle maker fast! I let it cool off the waffle maker and ate it like a piece of toffee. Yum.

I made the rest of the buns into normal, plain-looking ones by baking them in a 350F oven for 6 minutes.  I wrapped only a thin layer of dough around the filling hence the short cooking time. As for the waffled version, I cooked it until it sounded hollow when tapped. It will remain pretty pale so don't overestimate the time needed or you'll end up with overly dry dough.

Waffled Gooey Butter Buns

Ingredients
Your favourite soft bun dough, prepared up to after the first proofing has been completed and divided into portions

Gooey butter filling
60g cream cheese, at room temperature
28g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 to 2/3 cup icing sugar

In a bowl, beat the cream cheese and unsalted butter until combined. Add in the vanilla and mix it in. Next, add your icing sugar until everything is mixed in. You can adjust the amount of sugar according to your preference. The original recipe for the filling called for slightly less than 1 cup of sugar- way too much! So I suggest starting from 1/2 cup and taste the filling before you add more.

Refrigerate the filling overnight or until firm. Divide it into small enough portions to wrap into your bun dough.

Stuff the filling into your individual pieces of dough and let them proof for 30 minutes and still shy of doubled. You don't need to proof them all the way since they will be squashed down by the waffle maker but you can if you want to.

Preheat your waffle iron and start waffling those buns! You may need to flatten them slightly first because it will be hard to close the waffle maker if you don't. Bake them until they sound hollow when tapped, but take note that some parts will still be pale.

Enjoy!

Linked to These Chicks Cooked, Sweet Treats Thursday, Full Plate Thursday, Sweet Tooth Friday, Sweets for a Saturday, Strut Your Stuff Saturday and Sweet Indulgences Sunday.