FoCo Joe: Sweet Grilled Cheese
This was a crazy weekend for me. I had my 22nd half-birthday, for starters. Not even an emoji on my Windows Phone can adequately describe how I felt about this. Making the weekend even crazier, I stayed up late on all three nights this weekend due to insomnia (correction: it’s probably a stretch to blame my lack of sleep Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights on a fit of sleeplessness. The real problem was my inability to fall asleep at a reasonable hour. Honestly this whole weekend I felt like I as living in a different time zone. Awful). In the midst of all this craziness, though, I came across something that actually made my life moreorganized. Browsing Instagram, I discovered a delicious looking dessert on “The Infatuation” restaurant review account. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make it. For once, I had a real plan!
You’re wondering, of course, what exactly this dessert is. Well, without a photo it sounds crazy –just like my weekend. So see for yourself:
Now that you’ve seen it, here’s how I made it:
Step 1: Grab two pieces of whole grain bread and pop them into the FoCo toaster. I find that adjusting the conveyor speed to somewhere between 50 and 60 and toasting the bread a second time at the same speed yields the best results.
Step 2: While your bread is toasting, grab two slices of cheddar cheese. Cheddar is a necessary and satisfying substitute since FoCo does not have Havarti cheese, which the original recipe calls for. (note: you’re welcome to try other cheeses —I picked cheddar by the process of elimination, ruling out American and Swiss, failing to find Provolone and noting that mozzarella did not melt appropriately.
Step 3: When your bread is ready, spread one slice with Nutella and the other with strawberry jelly. Your bread should be quite warm to the touch as you do so.
Step 4: Place your cheese slices on top of the slice with Nutella, and then place your strawberry jam slice on top, closing the sandwich.
Step 5: Cut your sandwich diagonally in half with a knife –it is grilled cheese, after all —and enjoy!
This treat couldn’t be easier to make — and some of my more adventurous readers may not even confine the treat to the role of simply being a dessert! If you’re fine with congesting insane amounts of Nutella, it can be considered a breakfast or lunch, as well as an after-supper treat.