Caution: Dangerous Waffles Ahead!

Julian's Recipe Belgian Waffles

I Paid: $4.99 for a box of four waffles (prices may vary by region)

Taste: 5 stars

Marketing: 4 stars

The last thing we need is another way to consume waffles, but here comes Julian's Recipe, a premade Liège waffle that I spotted at Whole Foods and found irresistible based on its stylish packaging. The bad news is this: Julian's Recipe waffles are straight-up delicious. After eating the Belgian Chocolate flavor, my brother innocently asked me: "So, did you make these and freeze them or what? They're terrific!" Nope, I didn't make them, but they're good enough to pass for gourmet home-cookery: rich, buttery, with veins of decent dark chocolate.

The frozen waffles heat up easily (three to four minutes in a toaster oven worked out well), and they're meant to be eaten without maple syrup—the crunchy little bits of caramelized sugar inside the waffles are typical of the Liège style and render syrup essentially redundant. And while Snack'n Waffles by Smucker's represent a decent low-end consumer incarnation of Liège waffles, it's nice to have the Julian's Recipe version out there as well—the Aston Martin to Smucker's Toyota.

A Maple variety was, if anything, tastier than the Belgian Chocolate flavor, with an insistent but not overpowering natural maple sweetness. Either sort works well as a dessert (as opposed to a breakfast), and is guaranteed to do nothing good for whatever diet you're on, unless you're bulking up to play a fat dude in a movie.

James Norton edits the Upper Midwestern food journal Heavy Table. He's also the coauthor of a book on Wisconsin's master cheesemakers. For his Supertaster Daily videos, he samples offerings from supermarket aisles and fast-food menus. (Click here to see all of James's previous Supertaster work.) You can follow him on Twitter and fan him on Facebook.