Grilled Jalapeno Sandwiches Are Spicy and Delicious

I was surfing Pinterest when I spotted a recipe for a "Jalapeno Popper Sandwich." I am a big fan of jalapeno poppers and decided I would give this a try.

As with practically every recipe I see, I made some modifications. I also tried cooking this three separate ways to see which way was best. My biggest modification was the addition of a dipping sauce -- or jelly in this case. I frankly do not know how that was overlooked by whoever originally thought to make a cheese and jalapeno sandwich.

Ingredients:

Bread (I used sourdough)

Cream cheese (I used whipped cream cheese, but you can use regular cream cheese if you prefer)

Shredded cheese (I used a four-cheese Mexican blend)

Butter or margarine

Jalapeno flavored chips (I used Kettle foods jalapeno kettle chips. You can also use tortilla chips.)

Jalapenos (You'll need about two per sandwich unless you really like jalapenos a lot)

Jalapeno jelly (I used Braswell's hot jalapeno jelly)

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice jalapenos lengthwise and remove the seeds. Place sliced jalapenos in a dish coated with cooking spray. Bake until tender (20-25 minutes).

Take two slices of bread and coat both with cream cheese. Top one slice with shredded cheese and enough jalapenos to cover the cheese. Add more shredded cheese and then add a handful of crumbled chips (more or less to taste). Place the other slice of bread on top, cream cheese side down.

Melt a tablespoon or two of butter or margarine (the amount of butter or margarine depends on what size skillet you use and how buttery you want your sandwich) in a skillet over medium heat. Place the sandwich in the melted butter and cook until the bread is golden brown. Flip the sandwich and cook until the other side is golden brown and the cheese is melted.

Serve with hot jalapeno jelly.

If you do not want to cook this in a skillet, you can use a sandwich press or cook it in the oven as an open face sandwich. Both are good and allow you to eliminate butter or margarine if you are counting calories or fat. That said, it tastes better with butter.

Note: After I wrote this, I decided I wanted one of these sandwiches. Unfortunately, I had no jalapenos so I created a modified version of this sandwich. I spread whipped cream cheese on one slice of bread, jalapeno jelly on the other, added shredded cheese and crumbled chips and popped it in my sandwich toaster. It took less than five minutes to make and was delicious!

This article appeared on Dacula Patch.