Melted Dubliner cheese, tart apples, sweet apple butter, and cinnamon bread combine to make this amazing, award winning Irish Apple Pie Twice-Grilled Cheese Sandwich.
Ahem...You may now refer to Mr. B and me as Portland's reigning King & Queen of Grilled Cheese [2015]. In fact, we would be absolutely tickled if you did!
When we were growing up in east Portland, there were three memorable school field trips that every kid in town took: Alpenrose Dairy, the Zoo, and Franz Bakery. The first two trips required a long bus ride across the river to the West Side, but Franz Bakery was just a few miles from where I lived, down Sandy Boulevard.
The rich, mesmerizing scent of fresh Franz bread right out of the oven was as familiar to me as my mother's peanut butter cookies. I remember going to the Bakery in first grade like it was yesterday: at the end of the tour, you got an official Bakery hat (very stylish!), and a lovely, warm, child-size loaf of bread that smelled like all was good with the world.
When I decided to enter Franz’ first ever Grilled Cheese Sandwich Contest a couple of weeks ago, I did it on a whim. I had no idea that it would culminate in making over a hundred sandwiches for an amazingly patient, nearly endless line of Portlanders drawn by early spring sunshine and the promise of a free lunch.
Mr. B jumped on board the second I asked him to be my sous-chef. He couldn't have been more enthusiastic or helpful, and the day would have been a complete bust without him. He chopped cheese, assembled sandwiches, and kept the flow going - even when we had ten sandwiches down, another ten stacked and ready to grill, and ten ready to plate.
Our youngest, Em, came with us for moral support, and ended up being our primary gofer, photographer and inspiration. She's pretty awesome.
When Missy Maki was getting ready to announce the winner, I put my game-face on and got totally prepared to graciously congratulate the winner, so when she called my name, it literally took me a couple of beats to realize that she meant me!
Franz awarded all the finalists with a generous swag bag full of delicious goodies, including a variety of fresh breads, bagels, and their recently repackaged frosted animal cookies. As winner, I also received a beautiful All-Clad barbecue set and a year's worth of Franz products. And a ribbon! (Which is so cool, I cannot even tell you.)
Here's our winning grilled cheese sandwich recipe:
For the official Grilled Cheese Sandwich Recipe contest, we were limited to five ingredients. Ours ingredient list came in at one under (unless you count the butter to grill it with).
Each ingredient in this sandwich was carefully chosen to complement the whole:
- Aged Irish Dubliner Cheese for its sweet undertones, slight nuttiness, and just a bit of a bite
- Apple butter for spiced apple-pie sweetness
- Granny Smith Apples for crunch and tartness
- Franz Bainbridge Island Cinnamon Swirl Bread; acting as the "crust" in this apple pie
The Dubliner also works very well when making cheese crisps, which are one of my favorite parts of this sandwich.
Irish Apple Pie Twice-Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Ingredients
For each sandwich, you will need
- 2 slices Franz Bainbridge Island Cinnamon Swirl Bread or cinnamon bread
- 2 slices Kerrygold Dubliner Aged Cheese
- ⅛ cup grated Kerrygold Dubliner Aged Cheese
- 1 tablespoon apple butter homemade or Smuckers
- 4 thin slices Granny Smith Apple
- Butter for grilling sandwich
Instructions
Layer sandwich in this order:
- Slice of Bread
- Slice of cheese
- Apple-butter
- Apple slices
- Slice of cheese
- Slice of bread
Grill Sandwich slowly!
- In a non-stick pan over medium low heat (or an electric grill heated to about 310 degrees), spread butter on surface of the grill. (I do this by just holding the stick of butter and rubbing it over the hot surface.)
- Put prepared sandwiches onto grill. Dubliner cheese has a higher melt-point than many cheeses, so it is very important that you allow your sandwich to grill slowly. Flip over when golden: about 4-5 minutes. Grill equally on the other side.
Make the Cheese Crisps:
- Sprinkle grated cheese on non-stick surface and allow to cook until golden on the bottom. Using a spatula, carefully peel the crisp cheese off the grilling surface and allow to cool. You can shape it if you want before it cools, but if you do so, be extremely careful as the cheese will be very hot! You can make small cheese crisps to use as garnish, or a large one to serve over the entire sandwich.
Notes
Nutrition
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.
If you love a little sweet with your savory, you may like these recipes, too:
- Spicy Thai Shrimp Salad
- Sweet & Spicy Black Beans with Bacon
- Caribbean Chicken Stew
- Slow Cooker Stuffed Cabbage Rolls {Polish-style Gołąbki}
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Catherine says
These look so good! And I love Franz, too, and how I'm buying a local product.
When I was in kindergarten, we visited our local bakery, William's. I remember them telling us to cradle our loaves of bread in our arms like a baby. I will never forget that and the amazing smell that wafted out of the bakery every day. Yum!
Ali says
Wow, congrats! And that looks delicious!
Danielle says
I cannot even properly express how excited I am to try this recipe. I shared it with my friend and we just drooled over these lovely photos! Thank you, thank you for sharing! Cheers 🙂
Renée ♥ says
Well, thank you so much!
Parental Journey says
This looks like so much fun. And your grilled cheese looks really tasty. Can't wait to try it.
Erin says
Congrats on the win!! Wish I had been in town to go and try your sandwich. It sounds awesome! And I totally remember taking that field trip to Franz as a kid too! I had almost forgotten until you said something! What a fun memory.
Renée ♥ says
All the sandwiches at the event were delicious. I was very grateful (and probably a little lucky) to have hit the sweet-spot for the judges' particular tastes.
Lindsay Ingalls says
Congrats!!!
Marlynn [UrbanBlissLife] says
I'm not sure if it's PC for me to comment since I was one of the judges, but I do have to say that I loved your sandwich. Excellent choice of bread for this flavor profile. You all worked SO hard, and I hope you know how much your efforts were appreciated and recognized! They were all so creative and different... you made our jobs really difficult! 🙂 Congrats again on the win!
Renée ♥ says
We had so much fun at the Franz event, and we loved talking with all the people there. Everyone was in such good spirits! And I'm so glad you liked our sandwich, Marlynn... mostly because I see you relatively often in real life, and I didn't want to worry about you looking at me funny and thinking..."I can't believe she can't even make a decent grilled cheese!" Because I know for sure that you would be like that. All the time. 😉
Monica Louie says
This looks absolutely delicious! I was so intrigued by the name, I couldn't wait to learn more. 🙂 Congratulations!
Create/Enjoy says
Congrats on the win!
Renée ♥ says
It was cool winning, but meeting all those great people and spending the day in the Portland sunshine was awesome. And I'm pretty sure we were working right next to Portland's next food blogger: Christina Johnson - such a sweet, talented lady. Look for big things from her.
Aubrie LeGault says
Congratulations Renee! The grilled cheese looks amazing.
Tracy says
What a fun memory you can share as a family! Great job.
Trish says
Oh man....... this sounds like heaven! Totally snagging this recipe and saving it for September. 🙂
Susan | LunaCafe says
What a BRILLIANT sandwich. You totally ROCKED it!! 🙂 And what a fun local event. Love everything about this.
Renée ♥ says
Thank you! It was such a great event, and (as an East Portland kid) it's heartwarming in nostalgic kind of way to be a little part of Franz history.
Erin @ Platings and Pairings says
This is SO awesome Renée! A big congratulations!!! I'm not surprised you won - This sandwich looks amazing!
allie @ Through Her Looking Glass says
Congratulations, and what fun!
Laura @MotherWouldKnow says
These look incredible - with the cheese crisp really taking the sandwich to a whole new level. I had a bakery that I loved growing up and so I could really identify with how much you love your Franz Bakery. So glad that you won the prize!