Chocolate Chip Cookie Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

You are probably not alone if you questioned my sanity when you read this post's title, "Chocolate Chip Cookie Grilled Cheese Sandwiches."  But if you've enjoyed other sweet and salty desserts (like salted caramel or chocolate covered pretzels) and other cheesy desserts (like cream cheese frosting or cheesecake), pairing chocolate chip cookies with melted cheese isn't such a huge stretch.  Chocolate chip cookies and melted cheese are a mash-up that was meant to be.  The stretchy, oozey cheese and the melty chocolate chips together are a playground for your palette. 

What's best is that chocolate chip cookie grilled cheese sandwiches are super easy to make, so even if you don't like them, you won't have wasted hours of time or lots of money.

How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookie Grilled Cheese Sandwiches


Ingredients

• Two similarly sized chocolate chip cookies per sandwich - Use your favorite recipe or one of mine, such as
• brown butter praline chocolate chip cookies that I just made for my chocolate chip cookie cupcakes,
• chocolate chip cookies that I made using hard boiled eggs,
• chocolate chip cookies I made with cacao nibs, or
• chocolate chip cookies I made with Sno-Caps.
• Cheese that melts well - You can use classic American cheese or get fancy.  The cheese in the photo is herve mons pave du norde.  I hadn't heard of it before I made the cookies. I asked the cheesemonger at Whole Foods what would work best in a chocolate chip cookie grilled cheese sandwich. I got quite the look for that question, but to her credit, she gave me a fantastic recommendation.  My cookies were not very salty and the cheese was incredibly salty, yielding a perfect pairing. 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Cut cheese into thin slices and place between two cookies.  
3. Place cookie sandwiches onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake for five minutes or until cheese is melted.

Tip: This method works even better if the cookies are still hot from the oven.  The cheese will melt very quickly and you may not even have to put the cookies in the oven.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Grilled Cheese Sandwich Version 2

In my original concept for chocolate chip cookie grilled cheese sandwiches, I grilled the chocolate chip cookie dough instead of starting with baked chocolate chip cookies.  I cooked two small balls of chocolate chip cookie dough on a hot griddle, flattening them as they were cooking.  They ended up looking a bit like pancakes.  When the first side was done, I flipped them and let them cook a little longer.  Then, I topped one of the cookies with cheese and pressed the other one on top to make a sandwich. 

The flaw in this method was that middle of the cookie didn't always get cooked before the edges started to burn.  If you like underdone chocolate chip cookies, this may not be such a problem for you.  The gooey cookies with crispy edges and gobs of chocolate may be just what you are looking for.

Variations

Thinking about making grilled cheese with cookies instead of bread opens up a whole world of possibilities.  What other types of cookies do you think would work well, and which cheese would you use?