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In ancient times, the Greeks cooked very flat cakes between two hot metal plates. This method of cooking continued throughout the Middle Ages by the obloyeurs who made all sorts of oublies that were flat or rolled into horn shapes.
The oublie became the waffle when a craftsman had the idea of forging some cooking plates reproducing the characteristic pattern of honeycombs that at the time were called gaufres (from the Old French "wafla").
1620: The Mayflower Pilgrims spent time in Holland before their journey in 1620. It was the Dutch "wafel" that they brought with them that became our waffles.
1735: The word "waffle" first appeared in English print. By the end of the 1700s, waffle parties were a popular form of entertainment.
1789: Thomas Jefferson returned from France with a waffle iron, a long-handled patterned griddle that encloses the batter and gives it its characteristic crispness and shape.