Waffle Grilled Cheese Sandwich

These sandwiches, when cut into fingers, make wonderful croutons for your soup.

I’ve had a waffle iron for five years, and every year, faithfully, on Christmas morning, I’ve taken it out to make some light, crisp buttermilk waffles to serve alongside a mixed berry salad, warm maple syrup, and some Champagne mimosas.  It’s one of my favourite breakfasts of the year, because it tastes so good, and is served on a special day where I get to relax and enjoy family.

My trusty waffle iron. Makes great waffles, and now, great grilled cheese sandwiches too!

I’ve long felt guilty about using this appliance only once a year, so when I was sifting through some cookbooks, I came across the idea for “waffling” cheese filled sandwiches.  Not having experienced this before, I thought the idea was genius, but secretly wondered if that great idea would leave me with a really deluxe appliance mess to clean up afterwards.  I’m happy to report, dear reader, that this was a mess-free, stress-free way of making grilled cheese sandwiches, and this little Cuisinart waffle iron is now going to start seeing the light of day much more often than just once a year at Christmas.

Look at how gorgeous these are! Those little squares got super crispy from all the butter I lathered on before baking. Butter. It’s still the love of my life.

I’ve come a long way from white sliced Wonder bread and Kraft slices, but there has been no deviation on the use of butter as the top choice for making my sandwiches golden and crispy.  I don’t eat bread very often, but when I do, I choose a French baguette from a good bakery.  This time, I used a blend of smoky cheddar and Swiss cheese, but the type of cheese I use will vary according to what’s in my fridge that day.  We’re all cheese lovers in my house, so my cheese keeper will invariably contain a few slabs of aged Cheddar for Meat and Tater Man alongside some softer cheeses that my daughter loves, like Brie or Camembert.  I’m a goat cheese lover, so you’ll always find a tub or two nestled amongst the other hard and soft cow cheeses.  And, I always, always have a good wedge of Parmesan.  This is essential for grating over salads, pizzas, vegetable casseroles, soups, and crostini.

A lunch classic. Grilled cheese and tomato soup. Who doesn’t love that?

One other constant in my life is tomato soup.  While I’ve updated my choice of bread and cheese for my sandwich, my soup remains the same as the one my mom served to us in childhood.  It’s just good old fashioned Heinz tomato soup.  I now source my soup directly from the UK, as they sell the ready to eat tomato soup, which, in my opinion, tastes better than its Canadian counterpart which needs reconstitution with some water.  The rest of my family agrees, so British Heinz soup it is for our family!

I decided to have my lunch with a glass of bubbly, because I was on vacation. Nothing wrong with that, right?