Chocolate Sandwiches

I came home tonight alone. The Brain is working late and has already eaten. It's a Friday in Lent and being a Catholic, there was to be no meat eating for me. Not that I really think it brings me closer to God because we eat beef so rarely. But we're Catholic, so it's what we do.

To top it off, I didn't really feel like cooking tonight, maybe I'm coming down with something. So I made a tuna sandwich and munched on some potato chips. Oh the glamour that is my life. I was sitting there, quite contented really, watching 2 1/2 Men which has to be my favorite show with the possible exception of Iron Chef America, when my sweet tooth hit in a big way. There I was, wanting, no needing dessert. And we don't seem to have any regular flour in the house.

Thus baking was out of the question. Because I just didn't feel like going to the grocery store. I mean I have to go tomorrow anyway and if I go tonight I might just buy some really bad, but delicious food that I like to stay away from. Processed food. BAD food. Like pizza rolls. So I raided the cupboards. I don't have any stale "hearth style" bread so Butterscotch Bread Pudding from Small Batch Baking was out. Regular, non-bread Pudding takes 2 hours to chill and I don't have that kind of time before I have to go back to the other house to play with the doggies. I mean house sit.

What I did find when I went through the cupboards and the pantry was part of my loaf of cocktail bread that I made these delicious sandwiches out of, about half a bag of chocolate chips, half a bag of white chocolate chips, Nutella, some walnuts, and peanut butter. I decided to make some sweet sweet sandwiches. Mmmmmmm sandwiches. Through some delicious trial and error I came up with 3 separate sandwiches that I suggest with a cold glass of milk. White chocolate walnut, chocolate peanut butter, and Nutella. There is no real recipe, it's more like playing when you were a kid in the kitchen.

White Chocolate Walnut

Basically butter one side of two pieces of bread, place one slice of bread butter side down in a hot little skillet, then put some white chocolate chips on top of the bread. Sprinkle the bread with chopped walnuts and place another piece of bread on top buttered side up. Cook over medium heat until the chips are a little melty and the bread is a little browned on the bottom. Flip over and cook until the other piece of bread is browned and the chips are melted.

Nutella

Again, butter one side of two pieces of bread and place one slice of bread butter side down in the pan. Spread the bread carefully with Nutella. Place the second piece of bread butter side up and cook until both sides of the sandwich are browned (flipping halfway through cooking) and the Nutella is all melty.

Chocolate Peanut Butter

And again butter one side of two pieces of bread and place one slice of bread butter side down in the pan. Spread the bread carefully with peanut butter and then place as many chocolate chips on the peanut butter as you can. Place the second piece of bread butter side up and cook the same as the white chocolate walnut sandwich.

Pretty Radish Sandwiches

Tonight, I had to do a late run through Meijers for butter because I have some cupcakes that need frosting. How did I run out of butter? I was up there anyway because I had killed my cell phone earlier this week and I had a library book that was due today that I didn't finish, but that's ok because I didn't really enjoy it. But I had to drive up to return it. But I digress....

Anyhow, so I'm wandering hungrily through Meijers and this happy little radish bunch lept off the shelf and into my cart. Ok I'm lying. I picked them up and put them in my cart. They were just so pretty and fresh looking and promised that spring was right around the corner. Well that and I remembered seeing a picture of an open faced radish sandwich in the latest issue of Bon Appetit. Sheesh I love that magazine!

These little radish sandwiches were so easy and quick to put together. I'm now in full anticipation for spring and the first peppery radishes to come out of my backyard garden. Because although my little radishes were downright cute, they weren't as peppery as the ones I grew last year. Now those were good.

Radishes, by the way are really good for you. They are relatives of the turnip. They are high in ascorbic acid, folic acid and potassium. They're also good source of vitamin B6, riboflavin, magnesium, copper and calcium. They also have a low calorie density. They also can be used for a variety of homeopathic medical remedies.

For all of that, there really is no recipe for these sandwiches. Well Bon Appetit came up with one and if you want to see it you can read it here. But what I did was use unsalted butter to butter as many cocktail slices of bread as I was going to eat. I then sprinkled the butter with kosher salt. Then I carefully thinly sliced as many radishes as it took to cover the bread. Then I ate it. Deeeeeelicious!