Recipes

Fancy Pumpkin Butter Grilled Cheese

This recipe was featured in our Imperfect Almanac.

Lucious pumpkin butter, tart green apples, and lots of melty cheese. It’s the festive fall trio you didn’t know you needed in your life. Our recipe for Pumpkin Butter Grilled Cheese is one-part comforting, one-part autumnal, and two-parts cheesy. Enjoy with a mug of apple cider or a bowl of Spiced Carrot Soup.

Serves 2

2 Servings

Ingredients

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
4 tbsp unsalted butter, divided (2tbsp, 1 tbsp, 1 tbsp)
Pinch of sugar
4 slices of sourdough or other rustic bread
4-8 slices of high-quality cheese (mozzarella, provolone, gouda, etc.)
4 tbsp Imperfect Foods Pumpkin Butter
2 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped
Granny smith apple, 6-8 thin slices
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Heat 2 tbsp of butter in a large skillet over medium heat until butter is melted. Add onions and a pinch of both salt and sugar and cook, stirring for 3-4 minutes or until the onions are beginning to become translucent.
Turn the heat down to medium-low and continue cooking, stirring every few minutes and adding an occasional splash of water to prevent sticking/burning and speed up the process.
Continue cooking until onions have reached the desired level of brownness. 15-20 minutes for blonde color. 30 minutes for golden brown. 45-50 minutes for dark brown. Set caramelized onions aside to cool slightly.
Layout slices of bread to assemble the sandwich. Spread 1 tbsp of pumpkin butter on each slice of bread.
On the bottom slice of bread add 1-2 slices of cheese, 3-4 slices of apple, caramelized onions, and chopped rosemary, and top with an additional 1-2 slices of cheese. Top with the second slice of bread.
Melt 1 tbsp of butter in a medium skillet for each sandwich and grill the sandwiches on each side until brown and crispy and the cheese is melted. For crispier bread, press down on the sandwich while cooking with a spatula or sandwich press.

Recipe Notes and Variations

There are a lot of folks out there who swear that to get the best grill on your grilled cheese, you should smear mayonnaise rather than butter on the outside of your sandwich. We’re butter purists but also secretly curious if anyone has tried it.
And because we can never get enough pumpkin this time of year, check out our Three Ways to Eat All the Pumpkin Butter and 6 Ways to Pumpkin Spice Up Your Life.