When I was growing up grilled cheese for dinner was a pretty common occurrence in our house. Now that I’m a mom, I can see why my mom was a fan.
Easy, inexpensive, everyone likes them. No one complains.
My mom made them with Kraft Singles Cheese and one of the highlights of grilled cheese making was my sister and I opening the plastic wrap on those Singles and peeling the cheese off the plastic.
We tried to open the cheese without dinging or breaking the cheese corners. Sounds easy enough but when you’re a kid and in a hurry, broken corners can be unfortunate casualties.
I will never forget all the cheese my sister and I used to eat in a sport I’d call squares-of-cheese-folding. We’d fold multiple pieces of Singles into squares and see how high we could stack the squares and how much we could fit in our mouths. At one time. The things kids do. And they still do it.
Give kids a package of Singles and it doesn’t take long before cheese folding, stacking, tearing, and even cheese art happens.
You can use cookie cutters and cut out pretty cheese shapes, layering cut out pieces on top of other pieces. Think gingerbread house decorating but with cheese. Don’t ask me how I know this.
I also grew up in Minnesota, just one state away from Wisconsin where cheese eating is a statewide sport. And we won’t talk about the Minnesota State Fair and fried cheese curds and how I love those greasy little nuggets.
What better was to embrace my inner kid than to make mini grilled cheese sandwiches.
And let’s face it, anything that’s mini just tastes better.
I love tomatoes so much and they are wonderful in grilled cheese sandwiches.
Plus, they add a few more nutrients and a pop of color to the otherwise pale, yet highly comforting, little stacks.
Oh and I really love condiments. Ketchup is required as a dip for grilled cheese.
Three cheese ranch dressing, blue cheese, salsa. Name a condiment and I’ll happily take my grilled cheese sandwiches for a bath in it.
I was out of homemade spicy honey mustard but that would have been a great little dipper, too.
Just like old times.
Except mini.
I think these would make perfect party food. Birthday parties for kids or adults, baby or bridal showers, summer parties, barbeques, Memorial Day and Fourth of July parties.
Trays of drinks being passed followed by trays of mini grilled cheese sandwiches would be a big hit I’m thinking.
Then again, I never met a pile of warm cheese and warm buttered white bread that didn’t go down oh-so-good.
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Mini Grilled Cheese and Tomato Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 1 French baguette, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
- 2 Roma tomatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds (each tomato will yield about 5-6 slices)
- Kraft Singles Cheese, 1 slice per sandwich, cut or folded into sixths
- butter, about 1 tablespoon per sandwich
Instructions
- Prepare a large non-stick skillet by spraying it with cooking spray. Butter one side of bread and lay it buttered-side-down into the pan. Top with the cheese squares by staggering them slightly when placing them onto the bread rather than stacking all the squares exactly on top of each other (this will create height to the finished sandwich). Top with one tomato slice. Butter another piece of bread and place it on top of the tomato slice, buttered-side-up. Repeat for as many sandwiches and you wish to make.
- When all your sandwiches are in the pan, turn the stove to medium or medium-high heat and cook sandwiches for about 3 minutes on the first side. Flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes on second side, or cook until both sides are browned to desired level. Serve immediately.
- Consider serving with ketchup, ketchup + hot sauce, salsa, three cheese ranch salad dressing (shown in photos), mustard, mayo, or any desired dip.
- Tip: To encourage cheese melting, use a pan with a lid as the trapped heat and steam will help encourage the cheese to melt. Otherwise you run the risk of the bread browning too fast before the cheese has melted.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I’m obsessed with anything miniature! These are adorable.
I can’t wait ti have kids and throw little parties haha
I have to agree with you … anything mini does taste better :-)
I am so with you on ketchup being the perfect condiment for grilled cheese sandwiches! I love these, they are so cute! (Cute about a grilled cheese??) Have to make these.
oh how cute!! – i lovee grilled cheese.
my mom used to make me sandwiches with turkey and kraft singles in a sandwich press that melted everything together and kept the gooey cheese inside. so delicious.
Great photos, Averie and I love the story that came along with it! We used to make our grilled cheese with Kraft single slices as well. I used to call them “strip cheese” when I was a kid. What a riot!
Yummy :) sounds perfect for my sons first birthday in July.. thanks for sharing!
And happy bday to him (a little early) :)
My brother isn’t obsessed with grilled cheese….he is obsessed with cheese quesadillas! Basically the same, but with tortillas :P
cheese quesadillas are always good but weren’t on the menu in rural MN in the 80s :)
You can probably imagine how I feel about these with my sandwich kick lately. Absolutely adorable!!
Yes, Sandwich Queen, I understand :)
These are adorable! I love grilled cheese on rainy days with tomato soup.
omg YES, with tomato soup! Can’t believe I didn’t write that, too. Those were the dinners Lent was made of :)
How cute are these?! Love them.
Have you heard of Fry Sauce? It’s big in Utah. Equal parts mayo and ketchup (sometimes a bit of BBQ). Great for dipping grilled cheeses in… and fries too!
yes and also adding chipotle seasoning..I used to waitress at a place that served wings when I was in college and wing/fry sauce, so good!
Hi Averie! These are so freaking adorable. What a perfect thing to serve up as an appetizer or with a big bowl of tomato soup. I have some tomato soup in the freezer and it’s supposed to get cooler this week so I might just pull it out and make some of these. The kids love anything mini! I actually just posted these mini couscous cakes and the kids had a blast eating them. Sometimes you have to change up the basics and to make them interesting again!
xoxo,
Jackie
YES, with tomato soup! Can’t believe I didn’t write that, too. Those were the dinners Lent was made of :)
mini couscous cakes = that’s much fancier than mini grilled cheese :)
They may sound fancier but they are just as easy to make :)
and thanks for your emails LMK about the comment replies!
OOOOO.
MMMMM.
GGGGG.
Done. Times a billion. Done.
This is your kinda recipe b/c of the CHEESE! :)
You can never go wrong with carbs, gooey cheese and tomatoes together!! I love how golden and crusty the bread looks!
Butter, baby. Gotta love it for browning.
Oh how fun. I haven’t made a grilled cheese in ages. Love making them as a kid and would spread ketchup on them
I like your use of the word “spread”. That would be more accurate than “dipping in” for me :)
So cute! I love tomatoes on my grilled cheese too.
These are so cute! I love this idea!