Sandwich Surprise! 12 Delicious – And Diabolical – Ways To Sweeten Your Sarnie

Tesco’s precocious introduced birthday barroom sandwich – an unholy assemblage of jam, soft cheese, frosting and sprinkles, stuffed betwixt 2 slices of brioche – whitethorn good beryllium nan world’s astir depressing foodstuff, a barroom designed to beryllium eaten successful 1 go, perchance connected your birthday, astir apt alone.

The day barroom sandwich follows difficult connected nan heels of M&S’s strawberries and pick sandwich – a UK type of nan consequence sandwiches, aliases furutsu sandos, sold successful convenience stores successful Japan. The M&S sandwich received a definite magnitude of criticism, on pinch some amazingly bully reviews. But some sandwiches were controversial, not slightest from a nutritional standpoint (the Tesco sandwich contains 31.5g of sugar, complete a 3rd of nan recommended maximum regular intake for an adult), but besides because they upset our conception of what a sandwich is. Aren’t they expected to beryllium savoury? Aren’t they expected to beryllium lunch, alternatively than dessert?

Marks & Spencer’s strawberry and pick sandwich, which is filled pinch consequence and ray whipped pick food connected fluffy sweetened bread. Photograph: M&S/PA

Bur saccharine sandwiches are not uncommon – thing pinch jam successful it counts – and nan sandwich itself is not a rules-based enterprise: it’s much of a continuous trial-and-error process – moreover arsenic you eat a sandwich you’ve conscionable made, you’re reasoning astir really it could beryllium amended adjacent time. When it comes to saccharine fillings, you’ve sewage to effort astatine slightest a fewer earlier you cull them retired of hand. Here are 12 ideas to get you started.

A Japanese saccharine consequence sandwich pinch strawberry, pineapple and kiwi. Photograph: Dariia Chernenko/Alamy

A note: astir saccharine sandwiches do not require a recipe, and are taxable to endless modification. Feel free to research pinch different breads, flavours and proportions – you whitethorn arsenic good person it nan measurement you want it.

First up, a deep-fried peanut food and jelly (clear jam) sandwich, from nutrient blogger Davie Leite astatine nan website Leite’s Culinaria. Arguably, nan classical PB&J is already a saccharine sandwich – but nan summation of a sugary deep-fried batter turns this humble puerility dainty into nan benignant of snack that helped termination Elvis. The recipe offers 2 other options I instantly rejected: sliced banana (no convey you) and a achromatic cocoa ganache for dipping (are you kidding?).

Tim’s deep-fried peanut food and jelly sandwich. Photograph: Tim Dowling/The Guardian

A sturdy sourdough breadstuff is recommended. I mightiness person sliced it a small excessively heavy – of nary consequence sensation wise, but it makes it harder to fry. Be observant not to spell overboard pinch nan fillings. Slap it together arsenic you usually would, dip nan full point into nan batter, and heavy fry it successful basking oil, flipping once.

If you’re looking for uncommon examples of foodstuffs that are not improved by deep-frying, you tin commencement here. You could tinker pinch proportions each time and still not make thing palatable retired of this heavy, greasy, sticky mess. In lawsuit it was conscionable me, I forced immoderate connected my oldest son, who simply shook, went quiet, past said, no.

A saccharine fried sandwich pinch cocoa and banana. Photograph: Reji Ittiachan/Alamy

Other saccharine fried sandwiches see the grilled Nutella banana sandwich, a grilled Nutella and marshmallow sandwich and nan banana gallic toast sandwich. The classical Monte Christo sandwich, while technically savoury (it’s ham and food connected gallic toast), is traditionally served successful nan US dredged successful icing sugar, pinch jam. As an American, I apologise.

The Japanese strawberry and pick sandwich – aliases ichigo sando – connected which M&S based its version, is easy capable to recreate astatine home. Just watch look developer Marc Matsumoto. I substituted brioche slices for nan authentic Japanese beverage bread: it’s easier to find.

First, cautiously wash, apical and barren your strawberries – 5 per sandwich. Whip a generous amount of double cream, sweeten to sensation and group aside.

The last cardinal constituent successful this look is strawberry jam – dispersed a bladed furniture connected some breadstuff slices and heap nan whipped pick connected apical successful shallow pyramids. On 1 half push your largest strawberry into nan centre of nan pick and past position 4 much information it, pointy ends facing nan corners of nan bread.

Use 5 strawberries per sandwich and a generous amount of cream. Photograph: Tim Dowling/The Guardian

Place nan different portion connected apical and mildly push down astatine nan corners and edges until nan apical is benignant of domed and nan edges of some slices are astir touching. Now wrap nan full point snugly successful cling movie and time off successful nan fridge until it firms up – astir half an hour. Then remove, unwrap and portion crossways. If you’ve been careful, you should extremity up cutting correct done nan mediate of 3 strawberries – position counts.

This is delicious, and why shouldn’t it be? Ultimately, what’s not to like? Jam, strawberries, cream, brioche – it’s fundamentally a Victoria sponge.

‘What’s not to like’ … Tim’s strawberries and pick sandwich. Photograph: Tim Dowling/The Guardian

If you’re aft a much ornamental consequence sando, you tin make these alternatively sophisticated flower versions utilizing grapes, kiwi, tangerines and strawberries.

The ice-cream sandwich was invented successful New York City astatine nan move of nan past century, arsenic an betterment connected mini slabs of ice-cream served betwixt sheets of insubstantial by thoroughfare vendors. The thought caught on. “There are ham sandwiches and salmon sandwiches and food sandwiches and respective different kinds of sandwiches,” announced nan New York Mail and Express successful 1899, “but nan latest is nan ice-cream sandwich.” They costs a penny, and quickly became a fad.

It’s difficult to beryllium precise astir what went connected nan extracurricular of those first ice-cream sandwiches. A newsman sent retired to analyse by nan New York Sun successful 1901 described it arsenic “a thin, delicate, freshly baked and altogether agreeable saccharine cracker”.

The ones I retrieve from puerility were chocolate, rectangular and pleasingly bland. This look is simply a decent approximation, without getting excessively analyzable – flour, sugar, cocoa powder, butter, bicarbonate of soda, a pinch of salt, beverage and a fewer drops of vanilla, whisked to a soft consistency, dropped successful azygous spoonfuls connected to a lined baking tray and baked for astir 10 minutes, but support an oculus connected them.

Once they’re cool, they request to beryllium stiff for an hr earlier they’re stiff capable to strafe a scoop of ice-cream between. Refreeze until needed. This look contains an important advisory: nan ice-cream must beryllium of nan worst benignant – soft and airy – for this to work. The ice-cream sandwich isn’t everybody’s thought of a bully clip – a batch of group don’t for illustration biting into ice-cream – but I would eat these for breakfast.

‘I would eat these for breakfast’ … an ice-cream sandwich. Photograph: Tim Dowling/The Guardian

Other variations see the cocoa spot cooky ice-cream sandwich and nan Italian brioche con gelato, which is virtually immoderate ice-cream successful a bun (apparently Sicilians do eat these for breakfast).

The pome pastry panini sounds plausible enough: return nan basal constituents of an pome pie, jam them betwixt 2 slices of breadstuff and toast. This recipe, from justataste.com, combines thinly sliced apple, mascarpone whipped pinch honey, and breadstuff (they usage raisin bread, but I couldn’t find any, truthful I returned to my brioche loaf).

The pome pastry panini. Photograph: Tim Dowling/The Guardian

My version, alas, was not an unalloyed success: nan mascarpone melted and leaked retired everywhere, while nan apples remained uncooked, and nan brioche went gluey successful nan power of nan sandwich press. It could activity pinch different breadstuff and different filling, but that, I think, would beryllium a different sandwich.

Finally, if you are truthful minded, you tin reproduce your ain day barroom sandwich astatine home, specified arsenic this 1 from Love successful My Oven. A barroom sandwich is, aft all, conscionable a barroom pinch nan icing connected nan wrong – nan “bread” present is conscionable a expanse of sponge. This look is loosely based connected sandwich cakes presently disposable from vending machines successful US shopping malls. But if you’re going to nutrient a azygous portion of barroom for your birthday, it seems someway fitting that you should person to make it yourself. Many happy returns.