This $27 Breakfast Sandwich Maker Is the Reason I Get Out of Bed in the Morning

First things first, you have to get everything together. This was initially the most annoying part to me, for I am very lazy. But I adapted, because the sandwich is that good.

You'll need: a sandwich bread of your choosing (something round that fits is preferred over trying to jam regular, square sandwich bread in there) — I usually use an english muffin, but bagels, croissants, and even hamburger buns (more on that later) work well too. Then, if you eat meat, get your meat. If you eat cheese, get your cheese. I adore both and usually pick sliced ham (Applegate Organics Slow Cooked Ham is my favorite) and sliced cheddar. It's worth it to buy your cheese presliced to make this as quickly and as conveniently as possible. Then, the most effort is with the egg, because I've found that cracking the egg yolk gives you better results than not. To that end, I crack the egg into a ramekin first, lightly scramble, and add a little salt and pepper.

This sounds like a lot of prep, but honestly, it only takes a couple minutes to pull everything out and get it ready. And that's fine, because it's the perfect amount of time to preheat the Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker ($27).

Now you're ready to make your dream breakfast sandwich: just put the bottom part of your bread in the bottom, and follow that by your meat (cold), then your cheese. The Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker ($27) is made of nonstick metal with a ring and sliding plate contraption that keeps the egg separate from the other ingredients while it cooks, so you close the bottom section and then drop your prepped egg into the top section, over the plate. Then, you add the top part of the bread on the egg, close the top, and set a timer for four or five minutes.

Note: I don't love how the top of the bread fuses to the egg if you put it all in at once, so I usually set a time for three minutes, then add my bread top, and let it cook for another two minutes to toast the bread.

When your timer goes off, unplug the Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker ($27), carefully lift the top, slide the egg separator slowly to the left, and lift that section up too. The top half with the bread and egg will drop onto the lower half, fusing into the most beautiful breakfast treat you've ever seen. Do this all pretty slowly and carefully so as not to burn yourself. Now you're ready to go! (I still eat mine on the run, because I'm not that together yet.)

Of course, my instructions for a sandwich are for a person who eats meat, eggs, dairy, and gluten, but you can customize this sandwich with whatever fillings or substitutions you want. I'm not always in the mood for meat, so sometimes I skip it, and if I have avocado or tomato on hand, I throw those on there. One day I had some brioche hamburger buns left over, so I tried one in the Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker ($27) and it was legitimately amazing. It gets perfectly toasted in the sandwich maker, neither too soft nor too toasty.

And this is one of my favorite features of the Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker ($27): it's supereasy to clean. As I mentioned, I am busy and lazy, so it makes me very happy that you can toss the removable ring assembly in the dishwasher. I usually just wash it by hand, and everything comes off (even gooey melted cheese) with no effort because it's nonstick.