I am a chronic late-night tv watcher, and one of my favorite shows to watch in bed late at night is Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on food network. The host, Guy Fieri is fairly entertaining, and the show has a killer producer-- but more than anything else, they check out some seriously awesome food! (The kind of awesome that makes your mouth water, and can help satiate your late-night food cravings).
So a few weeks ago, we're watching this episode where Guy goes to this place called "Tom Chee" out in Ohio. Tom Chee stands for "tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich", and this place has the most original, delicious, and bizarre menu.
One of the items that they're known for is the "blue in blue"; it's a Krispy Kreme donut sliced in half and filled with blueberry compote and blue cheese crumbles. Insane, I know. But the look on Guy's face made me want to try it--you could tell he was blown away by it.
Since Ohio isn't on my travel list anytime soon, I decided that I was going to try and make it at home instead. Obviously, this is my own VERSION of the sandwich--- creative liberties aside, the grilled cheese from Tom Cheese was the inspiration.
I made this for brunch this past Sunday, and it was soooo good. I was still trying to wrap my brain around the flavors even after I was done eating it!!
Step 1: Spray a non-stick pan with cooking spray. Heat pan to medium/high. Slice a glazed yeast donut in half, and place in the pan with the inside of the donut facing down.
Step 2: Pour 2-3 tablespoons of blueberry compote onto each of the donuts so that the glazed top is covered. (instructions on how to make homemade blueberry compote later in this post)
Step 3: Mix 2 tablespoons of room-temperature cream cheese with 1/2 cup of blue cheese crumbles. Stir vigorously until you get the consistency of lumpy peanut butter. Add one tablespoon of this blue cheese mixture on top of the blueberry compote on each side of the donut. Allow to melt and cook for 30sec-1min.
The glaze in the donut and the sugar from the blueberry compote will caramelize while in the pan, and the cheese will melt and start to meld with the flavors of the blueberry. It is very important to make sure that the flavor ratio is 2 parts blueberry to 1 part blue cheese. Personally, I think it works best like that.
Step 4: This is the really tricky part. I suggest using a cooking-spray-lubricated spatula for this portion. Slip ur spatula under one half of the donut, and SLOWLY flip it so that it creates a sandwich with the other half. I burned three of my fingers during this step, so be careful!!
It's going to be messy, there's no way to avoid that. All you can hope to do is keep as much of the filling between the two donuts as possible.
Step 5: Gently slide your donut-grilled-cheese concoction out of the pan and onto a plate (do not try to lift and transport it!! Just tip the pan and slide it onto the plate)
If you thought cooking it was messy, wait until you eat it! I felt like a little kid eating their first birthday cake--- it looked like a blueberry muffin exploded in my face. My face and arms were all sticky when I was done. Another word to the wise, white is not the best option for this culinary adventure;)
But it is amazing, trust me. Try it and you'll see.
Okay, so here's what I did to make the homemade blueberry compote. Incredibly complicated...NOT!!! :)
Step 1: Using small saucepan, cook 8oz of fresh blueberry on medium-high heat.
Step 2: Wait until the blueberries reduce by half and give up some of their liquid, then add 1tsp of brown sugar and 2tsp of flour. Cook until mixture thickens.
Seriously, that's all there is to it. I thicken my blueberry compote because it makes the sandwich a little easier to put together, and it keeps it from oozing in the pan too much. But if you have another way of doing it, go for it. Just don't use blueberry compote from a can-- that's gross.
Happy eating!!! :)
