day Eleven.

day 11: share your favorite recipe

Just one all-time favorite recipe? How is this possible?

Instead I'm going to post 2 (one dinner, one dessert - of course) recipes that I have recently fallen in love with.

First are these...

Mushroom-and-Swiss Sliders with Spicy Fry Sauce

From the lovely, comfort food making Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman

So these little fancies showed up on my Google Reader a month or so ago and bam, Sunday dinner was planned.

So, run, click and make these ASAP.

My tips/thoughts:

• I LOVE spicy things, so globbing on the Spicy Fry Sauce (which contains Cayenne pepper) was a must!
• Do yourself a favor and buy King's Hawaiian Sweet Rolls for your slider buns. You'll thank me later.
  
• No, I didn't use the wine and yes, they were still delicious.
• I am forever going to add heavy cream to my meatloaf, meatballs, hamburgers...you get the idea.

You can print the recipe here.

Now for a dessert, this isn't a recent discovery, but I've been craving them for a while...so they might get made soon.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Here is the recipe I used:
Cupcakes:
1 cup sugar
1 cup real mayonnaise
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne
1 cup buttermilk

Frosting:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
½ to 2 tablespoons of milk*

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two standard muffin tins with cupcake papers.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and mayonnaise until blended. Add the vanilla and blend.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne. Add dry ingredients to the mayonnaise mixture in 3 batches alternating with the buttermilk.
4. Divide the batter among the prepared pans, filling each cup 2/3 full. Bake for 18 minutes, or until the tops are firm and spring back when lightly touched. Cool in tins for 10 minutes. Remove from tins and place on wire rack to cool completely.
5. When cupcakes are completely cooled, make frosting: In a medium bowl, sift together sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and salt, and beat until combined. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar mixture, and beat until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add milk as necessary to thin out to desired consistency.


Tips: for the "Dutch Process Cocoa" I used the Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa, worked perfectly.

These cupcakes are perfectly dense and not just a plain boring chocolate.