Grilled Cheese Sandwiches for Many

There aren't enough stars to accurately rate this recipe... it created, by far, the BEST grilled cheese sandwich I've ever had. And that's saying a lot. I've eaten grilled cheese sandwiches across the country, on every road trip I've ever taken; I always order a grilled cheese sandwich. I've eaten THOUSANDS. Sometimes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And now I know the superior way to make them. I can't believe it's taken 35 years to discover the simplistic perfection of oven-baking my favorite sandwiches. I've been a fool. Let me enumerate all the ways in which this technique made my day: 1) By the time the oven preheated, my sandwiches were constructed and ready to bake; no wasted time and no fiddling with the stove dials to figure out the proper temperature for my pan/griddle; 2) While the sandwiches were baking, I was able to focus on cutting fruit and veggies for the family without worrying about flipping sandwiches on the griddle/pan; no burnt sandwiches; 3) The cheese was perfectly melted AND the bread was perfectly toasted; no burnt bread and/or no toasted bread with unmelted cheese, which is a personal pet peeve; 4) The entire family was able to eat at one time!; no waiting for the sandwiches to come out of the kitchen in "batches"... all of the sandwiches were hot and gooey and ready to be devoured; 5) NO MESS! I used a sheet of non-stick tin foil over my cookie sheet and there was no mess at all; I threw away the tin foil and put away the cookie sheet. Genius!; and finally 6) BEST TASTING SANDWICHES EVER! I'm sold. I'm a convert. I'm a HAPPY sandwich eater, and I don't care if my favorite "grilled" cheese sandwich doesn't come off of a grill ever again.

Fantastic, shocking how a different cooking technique changed the texture and flavor of the sandwich. Crunchy out side/soft cheesey inside. For my DS's I went with american, and I always use 2 slices of cheese per sandwich, also added julienned sliced deli ham(by cutting the ham in strips I don't have to worry that they will take a bite and have a whole slice of ham slide out of the hot cheese and scald their chins-has happened too many times before). For my DH and I used 1 slice of american, julienned ham and a slice of Jarlsberg. Yummy. Served pickled green tomatoes and red tomatoes w/s&p on the side.

You can make them this way for just one sandwich too (I use the toaster oven). Sometimes I don't use the butter at all. My mom always made them this way for me when I was a kid. When I ordered a grilled cheese in the high school cafeteria and commented to everyone at my table that this wasn't how grilled cheese is supposed to be, they all looked at me like I was crazy! I had no idea grilled cheese was supposed to be fried and greasy! I guess technically this is really toasted cheese, but whatever you call it, it's good. One other thing my mom used to do is put finely chopped onion on each sandwich half, on top of the cheese. The onion would soften up under the broiler. Mmmmm-mmmmm.

The oven is the only way for a truly GREAT toasted sandwich....it is just super fast and results in a crispy toasted sandwich. BUT...I use the broil setting on the oven...couple of minutes on each side...just keep an eye on it as it toasts fast....and the cheese is completely melted. Don't just use the method for cheese sandwiches though...any sandwich is toastable and so much better for it. This is the way it has always been done in our family...but there are a few that prefer the skillet method...but not me.

just excellent! Never did them in the oven before, but they came out great. I was having my mother and father over for dinner (along with my DH, DD, and DS), so standing at the stove and cooking 1-3 grilled cheeses at a time didn't sound like too much fun. I used sourdough bread with colby jack cheese. The bread was perfectly toasted. I don't think I'll go back to the old way no matter how many people I'm serving! Thank you!