A work in progress - originally started August 23, 2007

This post has been reorganized, so let's get to it, shall we?


What is a poffin?
Odds are good you know what one is if you're reading this, but just in case, poffins are the cute oval-shaped pastry-ish goods you make in Pokémon games like Diamond and Pearl for the Nintendo DS, and later editions. You feed the poffins to Pokémon to raise things like their cuteness or coolness for minigames. The funny part is, the end result of the poffin, which looks like an oval as shown here, looks nothing like what you're looking at when making one, as you can see in this video about how to make poffins in the game.


Nifty. Recipe plz?
Version 1.0 of the recipe still seems to be the best, though it could use more fine tuning. This recipe is gluten-free, so you may have a hard time finding the flour but check your local health food store. Whole Foods carries it and some local grocery stores are starting to carry more gluten-free baking goods. I would not suggest trying to substitute another kind of flour as I don't think you'll get the chemical reaction that helps the batter stay together; I've tried a generic gluten-free baking mix with several flour types in it and it fell apart badly. If you try this or play with changing the recipe, lemme know how it went!


Read the entire recipe before attempting!

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Have on hand:
safflower oil or any other very light cooking oil

In a mixing bowl, stir together:
1 cup potato starch flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder

Add:
1/2 cup milk (rice or almond milk also works)
2 drops food coloring of choice

You should see a really crazy chemical reaction at this point, just stir firmly until the mixture stops trying to act like cement and all the ingredients are well blended. It will still retain an odd firmness which is perfect for what it needs to do.

In a shallow saucepan heat at least 1/2 inch safflower oil on medium heat until drops of water pop when sprinkled on it. Now form rough ball shapes with about one to two tablespoons worth of batter (use two spoons) and drop them into the oil, making sure they do not touch each other until a little bit of frying has given them the ability to keep shape better. Turn when edges are visibly golden, and fry until golden brown. Remove finished poffins and drain on paper towels. Wait until not-so-nuclear-hot and serve. Makes at least 15 poffins.

Warnings: Beware burning the poffins, they cook fast. Also be careful because the mixture may stick to the bottom of the pan, making it difficult to turn the little buggers over (this tends to happen if the oil is not hot enough). Also be be very careful for the entire cooking process as the oil is dangerous at that temperature. If you are a child PLEASE have an adult with you to do this, I don't want someone trying to sue me because their kid got burned (and if you're an adult and burned yourself, join the club ).

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These are good topped with powdered sugar, wait until they have cooled a little before sprinkling it on. This recipe version is very greasy and not really all that sweet, but still pretty good. It seemed to work better with smaller batter lumps than larger. I use safflower oil as opposed to anything else because it's one of the best and healthiest for you... and with this recipe, you end up with a lot of it in your tummy.

There are new neon food colorings available (at most major supermarkets?) so it's possible to get the in-game poffin colors a lot easier that way, or generally make more interestingly-colored poffins.

~alicekinsno1 has had good luck with this version of the recipe and also figured out great ways to get the in-game poffin flavor varieties, as well as pointing out that almond milk works in the recipe too. Here are her flavor recipe additions:

Sweet: Follow the basic recipe (could perhaps use more sugar); mix with pink food coloring and strawberry jam
Sour: Use 1 tablespoon sugar and 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice, plus yellow food coloring and lemon zest
Spicy: Use 1 tablespoon sugar, 1-2 tablespoons red pepper, a chopped chili pepper and red food coloring
Bitter: Use tablespoon sugar and mix in sprigs of mint (I used unsweetened cocoa powder in mine, but they ended up not being green)

Yes, it should be noted (again) that the original recipe is not very sweet, so could use more sugar or other flavorings unless you like the way it turns out with the amount of sugar listed.

Types of oil suggestions: Safflower works well, ~alicekinsno1 used grapeseed oil which worked nicely. Canola oil is too heavy and should be avoided, I am going to guess that corn oil will have the same problem. Olive oil should not be used because of the flavor unless it complements the flavor combination of the poffins you are making (like something savory or pizza flavored); you will still want to use extra-light olive oil if you do use it.


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The other recipe attempts, win or fail:

Below are all the other attempts, some parts of which show promise and some parts are worth noting what didn't work, for anyone looking to experiment with this.


8/23/07: If you use less milk, you can create a playdough-like substance that is easier to form into the oval shapes and drop into the oil. Add the milk slowly, as it will go from not-quite-playdough-yet to mush rather quickly. The down side is that if you make them big, they don't cook through and the insides are like eating the dry mix without milk in it. The outsides will burn by the time the insides are done, so use this method with caution.


Later that day: I tried something like pizza flavor with the playdough-like version of the recipe. I didn't note measurements of the spices at the time, but for what it's worth: instead of sugar I used garlic powder, oregano, salt, paprika, and pepper. I put cubes of cheese inside the poffins as well, and this helped the insides cook much better and the cheese melted nicely. (This was before I removed dairy from my diet entirely, this should work with a cheese substitute as well.)


8/24/07: I discovered how to make Poffin rocks. With powdery, uncooked dough on the inside. For the record, this is what didn't work:

1/2 cup rice flour
1 1/2 cups potato starch flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
3/4 cups milk
3 drops food coloring

yield: 30 poffins

End results:
large uncooked area inside even when almost burnt
really does seem like they're rocks when moving them around
cooked area tastes good
good with powdered sugar on top
extra baking powder this time around helped fluffiness
made them too big, this recipe almost doubles the poffin size when cooking
this recipe is probably too large if one were to make smaller poffins from it

Possible solutions:
make them much smaller, starting with a ball about as big around as a US nickel?
bake the above recipe instead of frying it?
change the flour/sugar/baking powder ratio again

I'm thinking... if making really small balls, to just do that when forming them ahead of time, then when it's time to fry them, form the balls quickly into the proper poffin shape. The uncooked poffins tend to try and stick to whatever they were sitting on, so it's kinda a waste of time to shape them twice (altho that is what I've been doing). But yeah, unless you have help, you'll want to at least make ball shapes ahead of time, before the oil is hot.


9/26/11: Four years later I finally tried again, but using Arrowhead Mills all-purpose gluten-free baking mix instead of potato starch flour was a disaster. I do believe I also tried rice milk this time but due to the baking mix the entire thing was a bomb. The batter just disintegrated into the oil. I also used an egg in the recipe, this may or may not have been a good idea.


3/12/12: Inspired by ~alicekinsno1's foray into flavor combinations, I tried modifying the original recipe with the less-milk playdough consistency, plus used rice milk since I no longer tolerate dairy. I had been uncertain if other kinds of milk would work but she said almond milk works and rice milk proved to work just as well. Here's what I used this time:

1 cup potato starch flour
5 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder

rice milk (a little too much for playdough so it was sloppy playdough)
2 drops food coloring of choice

canola oil (bad choice)


Output: 20 poffins that grew 2-3 times the size they were (originally US quarter size or smaller) when dropping them into the oil.

As noted, the canola oil didn't work so well, it made the poffins even more heavy-greasy than usual and also made them very chewy... but then part of that was having to put them back in the oil because they weren't cooking through again.

The extra sugar did help the sweetness but it could still use more.

Using double the baking powder made the first batch very crunchy on the outside and while the shape kept on the side that fried upwards first, the underside was a mess. The rest of the batches had been done after the batter stood waiting through the first batch, and the batter had "risen" due to the baking powder. I stirred it back down and while the poffin shape held a lot better, they still had problems cooking through.


3/30/12: ~Excaliburn125 has tried a baked wheat (normal / white) flour version! His first recipe attempt is here in the comments with extra notes, and the result is in this comment. Very promising!

I kinda figured normal flour wouldn't do the reaction based on previous baking experience before I was diagnosed Celiac, but one flour type I have *not* tested on this recipe is tapioca flour if anyone else wants to experiment and happens to have it on hand. Thanks ~Excaliburn125 for attempting a wheat flour version!



Current conclusions based on all experiment results:

Baking powder ratio changes show some promise but have so far not hit the mark.
Smaller poffins cook better, but take a lot longer to make.
Proper amount of sugar for a sweet poffin with no other flavors besides the sugar has still not been determined.
Safflower oil and grapeseed oil are the best oils to use so far.