Hamilton Beach Dual Breakfast Sandwich Maker with Timer, Silver (25490A)

I am an experienced cook and sometimes my husband and I enjoy having breakfast sandwiches for dinner with tater tots. Prior to getting this sandwich maker, the process of making these sandwiches included cooking sausage patties or whatever meat was used, cooking the eggs (often with diced onions and green peppers added to the eggs), having cheese slices ready, and toasting the English muffins. Then the sandwiches had to be assembled before everything got cold. This process really wasn't a big deal, but when I discovered this breakfast sandwich maker, I had to try it. I figured it was well worth the cost if it made the process easier and faster.Still, I was skeptical since there are so many appliances available to accomplish specific tasks that can be done without having to store another appliance. I tried this sandwich maker for the first time tonight, and I have to say I was impressed with the results, but have ideas for improvements I will explain later.Tonight, I made two sets of sandwiches. For the first set, I precooked breakfast sausage patties, did not toast the English muffins and did not butter them. I diced onions, green peppers, and tomatoes that were added on top of the egg for cooking, and used Monterey/jack cheese. So, after the preheat, put in the bottom muffin, cheese on top, and then the sausage patty. Closed the level for the egg, added the egg, diced onion, diced green pepper, and diced tomato, and then topped with the English muffin. For the second set, I toasted the English muffin on a bagel setting and buttered both halves. I put the cheese on the bottom toasted and buttered muffin, and diced ham on top of the cheese instead of a sausage patty. I cooked both sets for 5.5 minutes and allowed the cooker to preheat after the first set.Both sets of sandwiches were good, but what I found was:1) Toasting and buttering of the English muffin really didn't make much of a difference other than the outer side of the muffin was browner and the cheese was a bit fried.2) The egg on both sandwiches was negligible. It seemed to be absorbed by the upper muffin.I do tend to challenge appliances to the limit and have ideas I will try next time. Although the instructions say to limit the egg size to 1 medium to large egg. I used an x-large egg for all sandwiches and still had plenty of room after adding the diced onion, bell pepper, and tomato. I plan to try using two eggs since there was no problem adding the diced veggies. I think a visible layer of egg may be better with more egg. In addition, I will try letting the egg set before putting the top muffin on top. By putting the muffin on top of the raw egg, the muffin absorbed part of the egg, hence no noticeable layer of egg. Next time, I won't bother toasting the muffins since it was toasted fine in the cooker, and buttering the muffins only added more fat and no benefit.In conclusion, I believe this cooker is well worth the price as it saves time in making breakfast sandwiches and does a good job in making them. This is one of the appliances that does not have to be limited to the intended use. The breads you use and the ingredients in the sandwiches are left to your imagination. I am still experimenting, and will update this review when I find more uses, better ways to use this appliance, or if my opinion changes.I hope this review is helpful for you.

Purchased this after I went to a cooking demo where they used a similar product. I was tired of spending 11to 15 dollars a week for these sandwiches at the local fast food restaurant. We got our english muffins, cheese, canadian bacon and eggs and made our own and they were fabulous, just as good as Micky D's. And you can do so much more with a little imagination. In 4 weeks we will have this paid for in our savings alone. It is relatively small so it can be taken to the cabin or on vaca too. Very easy to clean up. Whpe the bottom and the levels come out and can be put in the dishwasher. Love this little appliance.

I am a senior who has to cook for two, and there is little I hate doing more than cooking. I suppose I could be good at it if I enjoyed it, but I heavily depend on my Ninja Foodi to throw things together for dinner. My partner, who doesn’t want to be bothered with anything, microwaves his lunches, and it’s your typical over-priced, over-processed stuff that creates a ton of plastic trash. Also, I just don’t like the way food cooks in a microwave so I avoid it myself.So I watched YouTube videos of people using this little egg sandwich maker and bought a Kindle book with recipes. So much advice from so many people! All say “It takes trial and error to find out what you like.” So I thought I’d just ruin something to take this tidy little machine on a maiden voyage. I brushed a thin layer of olive oil on the rings and griddle parts before I cooked my first sandwich. We haven’t bought muffins or bagels yet, but I did buy a set of stainless steel cookie cutters that has a 4” ring in the set so I can cut bread or tortilla or other circles. But when the cooker came, I was too excited even to fool with that. I cut a piece of that wide rye bread with the rounded edges in half to make one sandwich, fully expecting leakage because the bread didn’t extend to the edges of the rings. Put in the bread half, a slice of ham, a slice of cheese; closed down the top ring and cracked in an egg, using an edge of the shell to break the yolk. (I am confused why Hamilton Beach’s instructions say to prick the yolk with a fork, but then says not to use metal utensils because they’ll damage the non-stick coating.) Following advice from others, I didn’t put the top piece of bread on the raw egg until the last minute or so—they say it keeps the bread from having egg soaked into it—but that was probably unnecessary and prevented the top piece of bread from being as toasty as the bottom one.Initial impression: Easy. Tasty. This thing is forgiving as long as you remember to use oven mitts and give your cooked sandwich time to cool down some—especially if you cook it a little too long, as I did. Also, next time I make TWO of these, I’m going to scramble one egg and mix in a few veggies fritata-like, divide it between the two top sandwich rings, then put the cheese on top before putting on the bread instead of putting it in the bottom ring. Or maybe put half a cheese slice on the bottom and half on top. The book I bought with egg sandwich maker recipes does the cheese on top of the egg, and I think that’s a good plan to keep egg out of the bread while ensuring the top and bottom pieces cook evenly.People are nothing but creative with this egg sandwich maker. Just search for Hamilton Beach egg maker on YouTube. My mother used to make a marvelous enchilada casserole she got out of some 1950s magazine: four lightly turned-in-oil corn tortillas in a layer, a layer of chopped onion, a layer of sharp grated cheddar cheese; repeat for two more layers; then top it all off with a can of Hormel or Old El Paso chili without beans and more cheese. I’m going to try adapting that recipe to this egg cooker to make little dinner enchiladas for the two of us. The worst that will happen is that it will make a mess and it won’t cook quite right, but I’m game to experiment. Now I just have to try to wean Robert off his Jimmy Deans, which always seem to be sold out…and he ought to be able to manage it with this cooker.UPDATE: I use this almost every day. Street taco sized tortillas work great in it, the corn ones less well than the flour. The La Banderita flour tortillas curl up the sides a bit and cook to a satisfying crunchiness with sides that help keep the ingredients from sliding around. I make two with real bacon bits and cheese and an egg on top of each, then flip one over on top of the other for a perfect two-egg sandwich. I'm still experimenting with how best to time cooking the eggs so they're not overdone and rubbery, but this little appliance is great!

Makes the best breakfast sandwiches I’ve ever had.No more processed and overpriced breakfast sandwiches from gas stations or mcdonalds. I control what I put on my sandwiches now!I typically do an English muffin with honey roasted ham then provolone cheese on top of the bottom layer, next I lower the second layer, spray with cooking oil so my egg doesn’t stick, crack an egg and put the top of the English muffin in the egg then close. So so simple to use and I’ve had such amazing breakfasts ever since.Super easy to clean, hands down one of my favorite purchases this year so far! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Make sure to start off on a healthy start!