Carrot Cake Jam Grilled Cheese Sandwich

6 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes

Carrot Cake Grilled Cheese Sandwiches made with homemade Carrot Cake Jam, cream cheese and buttery griddled bread! Cut into sticks or triangles for a fun kid friendly sandwich, or skip the butter and griddle and serve these up at your next tea party! Carrot Cake Grilled Cheese Sandwiches made with homemade Carrot Cake Jam, cream cheese and buttery griddled bread! Cut into sticks or triangles for a fun kid friendly sandwich, or skip the butter and griddle and serve these up at your next tea party! 

This sandwich is pretty much everything that I love about grilled cheese sandwiches and about making your own take on recipes! Let’s take a trip down grilled cheese lane. Back in the day as a really young kid my mom would make grilled cheese with pita bread and Armenian cheeses so you know I am open to a grilled cheese variation! It wasn’t until high school that I started making the classic American “cheese” version of a grilled cheese. Then I woke up to how AWFUL processed cheese was and I started experimenting with cheeses/fillings.

I started with jalapeno jack cheese! It was great, I even started adding sliced jalapenos. Then I did jalapenos and cream cheese. A huge breakthrough came when I was given a gift of homemade jalapeno jelly and I used it in place of jalapenos in my cream cheese grilled cheese. WOW. Seriously. One of my favorite versions a grilled cheese to this day! Jalapeno slices, jalapeno jelly and cream cheese! Then even more customizations started.

One of my favorite recipes for a homemade jam is a Cooking Light recipe for a Jalapeno Cherry Preserve that I started using in place of the jalapeno jelly. Can you tell how much I love grilled cheese sandwiches? I could give you 50 versions of them that I make in rotation. Another favorite is a strong English Red Leicester with a fresh Granny Smith and green apple jelly. When I tell you I would eat that over almost any other meal I am not even exaggerating! You may not have begun experimenting with grilled cheese sandwiches and all I can say is please try it! Give cream cheese a shot! It is SO GOOD.

So fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. One of my husband’s coworkers was moving on to a new company and I asked what dessert he would like as part of his going away party. I was given a couple of options including a carrot cake. So of course, having a fantastic recipe in my back pocket I jumped on the carrot cake train and got to work. I made a giant (serves 40) cake with three layers and topped each layer with a healthy ½ cup of this delicious jam and iced it in cream cheese frosting.

So what is a girl to do when you’ve made a huge cake but can’t keep any for yourself? Well if you are me, you make a grilled cheese sandwich with that amazing jam. The butter on the Sweet Hawaiian Bread, the creamy melted cream cheese and the jam was like the best crispy carrot cake I couldn’t even previously imagine.Carrot Cake Grilled Cheese Sandwiches made with homemade Carrot Cake Jam, cream cheese and buttery griddled bread! Cut into sticks or triangles for a fun kid friendly sandwich, or skip the butter and griddle and serve these up at your next tea party!And it isn’t even hard to make!

This recipe uses HALF of the jam this makes! I actually made a double recipe and used ¼ of it for these sandwiches and the rest for the giant three tier Carrot cake.  This jam is an amazingly versatile sweet and sour jam with the addition of the pineapple and green apple. Carrot Cake Grilled Cheese Sandwiches made with homemade Carrot Cake Jam, cream cheese and buttery griddled bread! Cut into sticks or triangles for a fun kid friendly sandwich, or skip the butter and griddle and serve these up at your next tea party! You’ll find yourself putting it on everything!

So lets get jamming 😉 (whomp whomp, I don’t even care how corny that sounds!)

In a large saucepan, combine carrots, apples, pineapple with juice, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Carrot Cake Grilled Cheese Sandwiches made with homemade Carrot Cake Jam, cream cheese and buttery griddled bread! Cut into sticks or triangles for a fun kid friendly sandwich, or skip the butter and griddle and serve these up at your next tea party!Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently.  Reduce heat, cover and boil gently for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and whisk in pectin until dissolved. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Add sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly.  Boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off foam. Carrot Cake Grilled Cheese Sandwiches made with homemade Carrot Cake Jam, cream cheese and buttery griddled bread! Cut into sticks or triangles for a fun kid friendly sandwich, or skip the butter and griddle and serve these up at your next tea party!Let cool. Carrot Cake Grilled Cheese Sandwiches made with homemade Carrot Cake Jam, cream cheese and buttery griddled bread! Cut into sticks or triangles for a fun kid friendly sandwich, or skip the butter and griddle and serve these up at your next tea party!To prepare each sandwich:
When cool, spread a thick layer of cream cheese on each side of the sandwich and spread on a thick layer of carrot cake jam and close the sandwich. Carrot Cake Grilled Cheese Sandwiches made with homemade Carrot Cake Jam, cream cheese and buttery griddled bread! Cut into sticks or triangles for a fun kid friendly sandwich, or skip the butter and griddle and serve these up at your next tea party! Okay now I should mention I am not a fan of spreading butter on the bread before cooking it. But let me tell you why (one of my favorite lines/scenes from The Birdcage)… It takes more effort! I do not keep butter out on the counter at room temperature and in spite of some of the more buttery dishes you have seen on this blog I am not a frequent butter user. So to bring it to temperature so I don’t tear the bread before making this sandwich would be more effort than I can expend after making food for everyone else in my life. I need a quick fix, and this trick works AWESOMELY.

Melt ½ tablespoon of butter on a griddle, on low. Add the sandwich onto the butter and peek under the sandwich to make sure the butter had even coverage. You can even move the sandwich around the pan a bit to soak up any butter that thought it could escape. Cook on medium low for 3-4 minutes. Using a spatula pick up the sandwich, drop another half tablespoon onto the griddle. Lower other side of sandwich onto the butter and cook for another 3-4 minutes.  Carrot Cake Grilled Cheese Sandwiches made with homemade Carrot Cake Jam, cream cheese and buttery griddled bread! Cut into sticks or triangles for a fun kid friendly sandwich, or skip the butter and griddle and serve these up at your next tea party!

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Carrot Cake Jam Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Carrot Cake Grilled Cheese Sandwiches made with homemade Carrot Cake Jam, cream cheese and buttery griddled bread! Cut into sticks or triangles for a fun kid friendly sandwich, or skip the butter and griddle and serve these up at your next tea party!
Yield 6 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Sandwich
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 3/4 cup finely grated carrots
  • 3/4 cup chopped , cored, peeled, apples
  • 3/4 cup crushed canned pineapple , including juice
  • 1 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 package (1.75 oz.) low-sugar powdered fruit pectin
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • 12 slices Hawaiian Bread
  • 6 tablespoons butter

Instructions

  • Recipe uses HALF of the jam this makes! I actually made a double recipe and used ¼ of it for these sandwiches and the rest in a giant three tier Carrot cake.
  • In a large saucepan, combine carrots, apples, pineapple with juice, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
  • Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently.
  • Reduce heat, cover and boil gently for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Remove from heat and whisk in pectin until dissolved.
  • Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently.
  • Add sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly.
  • Boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off foam.
  • Let cool.
  • To prepare each sandwich:
  • When cool, spread a thick layer of cream cheese on each side of the sandwich and spread on a thick layer of carrot cake jam and close the sandwich.
  • Melt ½ tablespoon of butter on a griddle, on low.
  • Add the sandwich onto the butter and cook on medium low for 3-4 minutes.
  • Using a spatula pick up the sandwich, drop another half tablespoon onto the griddle.
  • Lower other side of sandwich onto the butter and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Nutrition

Calories: 708kcal | Carbohydrates: 90g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 36g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Cholesterol: 72mg | Sodium: 524mg | Potassium: 300mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 59g | Vitamin A: 3542IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 136mg | Iron: 3mg

Carrot Cake Grilled Cheese Sandwiches made with homemade Carrot Cake Jam, cream cheese and buttery griddled bread! Cut into sticks or triangles for a fun kid friendly sandwich, or skip the butter and griddle and serve these up at your next tea party!

Carrot Cake Grilled Cheese Sandwiches made with homemade Carrot Cake Jam, cream cheese and buttery griddled bread! Cut into sticks or triangles for a fun kid friendly sandwich, or skip the butter and griddle and serve these up at your next tea party!
Carrot Cake Grilled Cheese Sandwiches made with homemade Carrot Cake Jam, cream cheese and buttery griddled bread! Cut into sticks or triangles for a fun kid friendly sandwich, or skip the butter and griddle and serve these up at your next tea party!

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. I did a quick word search on your site (as I often do when I have an Ingredient that needs to be used). In this case it’s carrots from my garden. I love pepper jams, and can’t wait to try this carrot cake jam! And pairing it with grilled cheese!?!? You never disappoint Sabrina ??

  2. Being the evil person I am, when I make a cake and “can’t keep any,” I bake a little cake for me in a Corelle bowl! I gotta make the jam…

  3. I absolutely love the idea of using the jam on a grilled cheese. It looks SO tasty. I’d love to try it!

  4. Ummm… I have no words. This is amazing. I am totally drooling. You are a sandwich scientist!

  5. Oh my goodness, yes! I love carrot cake and this jam sounds amazing… I would never have come up with it. Thanks so much for sharing

  6. This sounds absolutely amazing! I love carrot cake, jalapenos, and cheese. I’m going to have to make this. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

  7. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a sweet grilled cheese before. This will be made and devoured this very weekend! Huzzah!

  8. My family would love this (believe it or not my child LOVES carrot cake! LOL) I am pretty sure this would be a win for us!

  9. This is so creative! I’ve never thought about using jam this way – but now I’m wondering why. Sounds delicious! My mother will be in town in a few weeks and this will be perfect for her 😀

  10. I have never had carrot cake jam before, but I love me some carrot cake,s o I am sure I would love this.

  11. You, my friend, are a genius … a crazy, mad genius!

    That jam sounds AMAZING! And then you went and put it with cream cheese and grilled it in Hawaiian bread … crazy and AMAZING! Love this!

      1. All of the ingredients and instructions on how to make carrot cake jam are included in the recipe card above. Enjoy!