Catz in the Kitchen

This apple bacon brie grilled cheese panini elevates the classic with apple butter, creamy brie cheese, bacon, and fresh apple slices!

This post originally appeared on Catz back in May of 2012 – one of our older recipes, for sure! Back when we were a family of four and all of our photos were phone photos! Some of these older recipes, though, are certainly worth updating with current photos, recipe cards, etc, so they don’t get lost, and this is definitely one of them! We still make a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches and panini as a family, and this one is hard to beat. The combination of being quick, incredibly simple, and absolutely delectable is a winner every time. If you don’t have a panini maker, you could also make this on a grill pan or in a skillet…but if you don’t have a panini maker, well…why don’t you have a panini maker?!

I feel like lately I have been spending a lot of time making meals that require…a lot of time. And I don’t mind that. Spending two or three hours preparing a meal and then relishing the culinary triumph of flavor, texture and appearance is exhilarating. No problem there. Of course, sometimes, I spend two or three hours preparing a meal only to experience the agony of culinary defeat, but that’s another story (I’m looking at you, grilled shrimp bruschetta). Regardless of the success or failure rate of one’s more complex food-related undertakings, there are certainly days when I just want to whip something up in five minutes. And, of course, while that is all well and good, it’s not very rewarding.

Sometimes it’s nice to find middle ground – a meal in which the preparation is neither underwhelming or overwhelming, success is a guarantee, and the finished product is simple yet totally pleasing. Our recently discovered Apple Bacon Brie Panini is such a meal. This panino has an elegance to it, with the slightly melted brie adding sophistication (or so we imagine), the lightly toasted Italian loaf adding texture, and the apples and apple butter adding a subtle sweetness. I can guarantee you this: unless you have some sort of freakish aversion to one of the ingredients, you will very much enjoy, and even crave, this sandwich. It is quite fantastic.…

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