Triple-Decker Waffle Sundaes from The Official Netflix Cookbook (Stranger Things)

After Haengbok Noodles, I sought to make another Stranger Things recipe from The Official Netflix Cookbook, Triple-Decker Waffle Sundaes. Like meatloaf, this is a meal that's consumed on the show, specifically in Chapter 3: The Pollywog of season 2. Hopper makes it for Eleven as a treat, layering three Eggo waffles with whipped cream, jelly beans and Hershey's Kisses. He jokes about its caloric impact. Unfortunately, an argument ensues, and Hopper forbids her from enjoying Eggos or TV for a week.

Hopper: Rise and shine. [silence] So that’s it, huh? You’re still not talking? All right. I guess I’m just gonna have to, uh… enjoy this triple-decker Eggo extravaganza on my own.

[Hopper grunts] Mmm! Mmm! Good, right? Know the great thing about it? It’s only 8,000 calories.

Eleven is introduced to Eggos by Mike when he hides her in his basement, and she grows attached to them. It's rather sweet, since it's a gesture of kindness that she isn't used to. From there, Eggos, and waffles in general, become El's favorite food. In one of her most iconic moments, she nonchalantly walks into a grocery store and steals several boxes of Eggos without breaking a sweat, then takes them into the woods to eat. Every time I watch that scene I can't help but say, "Let the girl have her Eggos!"

For the Netflix Cookbook, Anna Painter took the recipe for Triple-Decker Eggo Extravaganza and refined it. Instead of jelly beans and Hershey's Kisses, it's topped with honey roasted peanuts, a drizzling of ganache, and candy-coated chocolates (I used M&M's). The whipped cream is made from scratch, has no sugar, and also includes some sour cream to both make it tangy and give it more structure, so it can be made ahead. So can the peanuts, which I did the day before, along with cooking other meals I needed.

To be honest, I'd given up Eggos from late childhood until season 5 of Stranger Things was released. Ahead of Volume 2, I bought a box of Eggos and ate two the day I watched that, and two more on New Year's Day 2o26 when I saw the series finale. I think I remembered Eggos being very flabby and not crispy, and it's probably because my mom didn't toast them for long enough or at a high enough temperature. I toasted them twice both times, and they came out perfectly. For a bit of health, I ate them with a banana (Vol. 2) and berries (finale), instead of candy.

I made this dish for the same two friends I often cook for (hello to you both). It was their idea to make this with homemade waffles instead of Eggos. I was fine with that, but it raised a problem: homemade waffles are much thicker than Eggos, so it wouldn't be practical for us to eat three stacked waffles with lots of whipped cream, chocolate and candies. Additionally, for dinner earlier we'd made Garbage Plates, a very indulgent (and, pun intended, trashy) meal from Rochester, New York, and we'd be tossing our cookies if we ate those plus three waffles with a ton of whipped cream.

Therefore, we landed on a solution of making three waffles and splitting them, then making the sundaes with three waffle quarters each. I whipped the cream to soft, rather than stiff peaks, and I think it should have been stiff peaks. The ganache didn't thicken to a viscous consistency and was quite runny, though since I was using dark chocolate it was perfectly tasty and didn't add a lot of additional sweetness. When we went to eat our assembled sundaes... disaster struck.

I mean, if you saw the photo above of the Eggo Extravaganza on the show, you're aware that this is not a clean person dish. It's messy. It was going to collapse when we started eating from it. Still, I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't even take the photo before it collapsed. I should have put my plate down on the table more carefully to prevent that. Oh well. It was scrumptious, and maybe even a bit healthier than the 8,000 calorie Triple-Decker Eggo Extravaganza of Chief Jim Hopper's cabin.

Naturally, I had peanuts, waffle segments, ganache and whipped cream leftover, to be eaten individually and/or together over the coming days.

If you want to make this recipe yourself, you can get it in The Official Netflix Cookbook: 70 Recipes from Your TV to Your Table.