Breakfast Sandwiches

While many people have made their own breakfast sandwiches at home for many years, breakfast sandwiches gained popularity when fast food restaurants and delicatessens first started serving them. In 1972, McDonald's came out with a menu that included a dish of pancakes (or hotcakes, as they preferred to call them) and sausage, and a sandwich developed by Herb Peterson. Peterson was a vice president at an advertising agency aligned with McDonald's, and loved eggs Benedict. He and Donald Greadel, who ran a McDonald's franchise in southern California, made a sandwich out of eggs Benedict: They put slices of egg, cheese and grilled ham between halves of an English muffin, and showed it to chairman Ray Kroc. Kroc loved the idea, and the McDonald's breakfast menu soon followed. Other fast food restaurant chains soon followed suit.

Breakfast Sandwiches can easily be made from scratch at home. They may be as basic as a soft fried egg on white bread (like I ate for lunch when in high school), but are typically made using cured breakfast meats, breads, eggs and cheese. Other ingredients may include a tender green, such as arugula or spinach, alfalfa bean sprouts, tomatoes, onion, fried or made into a marmalade, and whatever else the cook wants to add.

Breakfast wraps made by rolling eggs and other ingredients in a tortilla are widely popular. These can be made ahead and frozen. When ready to eat, defrost and reheat in either the microwave or oven. The same technique can be used with sandwiches made with English muffins, biscuits, or croissants to name a few. See Make-ahead Breakfast Sandwiches below.

Some popular regional breakfast sandwiches:

• Southern egg sandwich - bread, often a biscuit, egg, cheese, and mayonnaise.
• New Jersey breakfast sandwich - fried egg, pork roll, and American cheese on a roll, often topped with salt, pepper, and ketchup.
• California Lawler Sandwich - savory/sweet variation made of a fried egg (broken yolk), bread, cheese, mayonnaise, and jam (typically raspberry).
• Southwestern breakfast burritos

Recipes

Egg Sandwiches

*Egg McMuffin on English muffin
*Fried Egg Sandwich & variations on toast
*Scrambled Eggs w/ cheese or bacon in toasted & buttered hot dog bun
Ham & Cheese Omelet Sandwich
*Sausage, Egg & Cheese on Baking Powder Biscuit
*Italian Peppers & Eggs Sandwich on Italian sandwich roll
Breakfast Burritos (general recipe instructions)
Breakfast Burrito w/ Black Beans wrapped in a tortilla
Breakfast Burritos w/ Chorizo & Eggs wrapped in a tortilla
Spicy Southwest Breakfast Omelet Egg Rolls wrapped in a tortilla
Asian Scrambled Eggs with Shrimp wrapped in a Mandarin Pancake

Stuffed Breakfast Biscuits

Sausage Gravy Stuffed Breakfast Biscuits (no eggs)
Stuffed Breakfast Biscuits (w/ or w/o eggs)

Sandwiches w/ Fruit

Brie or Cream Cheese & Strawberries Croissant - cut croissants in half horizontally and toast. Fill with sliced brie, sliced fresh strawberries, and, if desired, a lttle jelly if the berries need sweetening.
Fruit wraps - spread a tortilla with cream cheese or ricotta cheese, top with blueberries, strawberries or other fruit. Add a little honey for sweetener, if desired. Roll tortilla up.
Toasted wheat bread spread w/ peanut butter, top with sliced bananas. Place a second slice of bread on top to make a sandwich.

Make-ahead Breakfast Sandwiches

Making breakfast sandwiches ahead and freezing them is an easy way to have a hot breakfast when on the go. Assemble the sandwiches, freeze and reheat in either the microwave or oven.

An easy way to cook a lot of eggs at once is to use jumbo muffin tins, muffin top tins or ramekins and bake them in the oven. Grease the tins or ramekins before adding the eggs. Break the yolks after adding to the pans and bake the eggs at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until set, or less if you like them a little runny. The muffin top tins will take only 10-15 minutes. Toasting the bread can also be done in the oven.

Assembly the sandwiches adding cheese, cooked bacon or ham, and whatever else you like.

Wrap for microwave reheating. Wrap sandwiches in dry wax paper deli sheets. That way, the wrapped sandwiches can be put directly in the microwave for reheating. (You can also use pieces of wax or parchment paper.) After they're all wrapped, put them in freezer ziploc bags and freeze them. It takes under a minute to reheat a thawed sandwich at full power in the microwave. A frozen one takes about 3 minutes at half power (turn it over after each minute). If the sandwiches get a bit soggy after microwaving, next time take them out of the wax paper, place on a paper towel, then microwave.

Wrap for oven reheating. Wrap the sandwiches in aluminum foil if you prefer to reheat them in the oven. This is a good option if you want to reheat several at one time. It takes approx. 30-40 minutes to reheat frozen sandwiches in a 350 degree oven. If they're thawed, it only takes about 15-20 minutes. The outside of the muffin gets crispy when these are warmed in the oven. If the sandwich is not as crispy as desired, heat initially in the aluminum foil until heated through, then unwrap and heat until the bread gets crispy. If warming large quantities, increase the baking time.