Hands-on Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Makes 4 servings
- 8 frozen plain or whole-grain toaster waffles, unthawed
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard, optional
- ½ lb sliced deli ham
- ¼ lb Cheddar, thinly sliced
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
Place 4 of the waffles on a work surface. Spread with the mustard, if using. Top with the ham, Cheddar, and the remaining waffles. Spread the top of each sandwich with ½ Tbsp of the butter. Melt the remaining butter in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Place the sandwiches in the skillet, buttered side up. Cook, pressing with the back of the spatula and turning occasionally, until the Cheddar melts and the waffles are golden, 3-4 minutes per side.
Waffles in place of bread? Who da thunk? I sure didn’t. But Real Simple with their Meals Made Easy special issue did!
Ham-and-Cheese Waffle Sandwiches make a great weekend lunch. I think the only tricky part of this dish, and whenever cooking with melted butter in a pan is making sure it doesn’t burn. Best bet is to start with lower heat and gradually increase it. Definitely don’t start higher just to get the butter to melt faster. If you do, you will surely end up with burnt butter and therefore a burnt tasting sandwich. Julia Child says the butter is ready when the foam starts to go down. I’ve been on a kick of hers ever since I finished her book ‘My Life in France’ a few weeks ago. I got her butter tip from an episode of ‘The French Chef.’ She so unpolishedly great!
Back to these sandwiches. My husband loves mustard, especially the Dijon type so we definitely didn’t opt out of that. I think the sandwich would really be lacking without it. And I’m thinking of adding a bit of mayo next time around.
And our sandwiches weren’t cooked all the way through. So again be sure to keep the heat lower to allow it to heat all the way through. Ours were still okay though even if they were a little luke warm in the center.
Real Simple offers a number of different waffle sandwich variations. But more on those later.