Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Five English Muffin Sandwiches

A while back, I posted a review of the Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker and some folks thought I was a little crazy. Yes, you can fry an egg in a pan and heat your ham in a pan or in the microwave, and toast your English Muffin.

But I sort of like the idea that I can do it all at once, in one compact device. I use this thing several times a week, making breakfast sandwiches that my husband can take to work. And sometimes I make one for myself, as well.

And then I got a bunch of coupons for Thomas' English Muffins. Oh yeah. Now we're talking. I've tried the store brand muffins, and they're not even close to Thomas's. I mean, I'm a bread snob, so I want the good stuff.

The obvious choice for a breakfast sausage is eggs and sausage, I think, but I've been venturing beyond that a bit. Here are a few of my creations.

Ham, Cheese, and Egg


Sliced ham (from a bone-in ham) is on top of the bottom half of the English muffin, topped by a slice of muenster cheese, torn to fit the muffin. That goes on the bottom of the breakfast sandwich maker. Then an egg  goes on the next layer. I break the yolk, but don't scramble it. Then the top of the muffin goes on top of the egg and it cooks for five minutes. A perfect breakfast treat.

Cream Cheese and Jam


Yeah, it sounds simple, but it's sooooo good. Spread the bottom half of the muffin with cream cheese, top with a little dollop of jam (I used this home made cran-raspberry jam) and put it into the bottom part of the sandwich maker. Put the top of the muffin in the top part of the sandwich maker.

Cook for 2 minutes, just to warm everything and lightly toast the muffin.

Bacon, Egg, and More


Spread a very small amount of cream cheese on the bottom half of the muffin and spread a small amount of tomato pesto on top of that. Place that on the bottom part of the sandwich maker. Crack an egg into the top half, break the yolk, then sprinkle one cooked and crumbled slice of bacon on top of the egg. Cook for 6 minutes.

The tomato tapenade I used came from Frieda's. If you can't find it, you could use chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

Omelet Muffin



Most of the recipes I've seen for the sandwich maker suggest putting an egg on the top portion of device, then putting the top piece of bread on that. But you can also cook your eggs in that top portion, without the bread. You can add more egg and more fillings if you do it that way.

So, for two breakfast sandwiches, I used 3 eggs, diced ham, diced mild cheddar, and a spoon full of salsa. The total volume was 1 cup. I blended it with a fork. I put the English muffin (both halves) in the bottom part of the sandwich maker, then put 1/2 cup of the egg mixture on top.

Five minutes later, I had a big fluffy toasty omelet with a nice brown crust. I opened the bottom part of the sandwich maker and took out the top piece of muffin, then slid the divider out to put the egg on the muffin. Put the top of the muffin on and, voila! Omelet muffin!

Fluffer-More


If a fluffernutter sandwich and a s'more had a child, it might be something like this. Yes, our final sandwich is a sweet one, with a smear of peanut butter on the bottom piece of muffin, a smear of chocolate Hershey's Spread (It's new stuff - not even on the Hershey site yet!) on the underside of the top piece of the muffin, a little dab of marshmallow fluff on top of the peanut butter, then a sprinkle of graham cracker crumbs for a little texture.

I assembled the sandwich, then put the whole shebang into the sandwich maker for about two minutes to warm.

OOooo. Melty and gooey.

Note: This is NOT a sponsored post. I bought some of the muffins with coupons, but the sandwich maker came quite a long time ago for the purpose of review. I think the statue of limitations on that freebie has already expired.
Yum