Mouthwatering Mini Meatloaves

I don’t know about you, but I think the best parts of a meatloaf are the edges.  So when I was considering making a meatloaf, I thought, why not make little ones so that there’s a much higher edge to middle ratio.  And well… why not wrap them in bacon?  Bacon is always a welcome addition. 

Here’s what you need:

1 lb. ground turkey breast
2-3 small onions (they have to be small)
½ of a red bell pepper
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 egg
12 strips of bacon
Salt and pepper

 

In my world, bacon isn’t cooked unless it’s crispy.  Nothing bugs me more than something wrapped in a soggy piece of bacon.  With that in mind, you’ll need to par-cook the bacon before doing anything else.  Lay the slices on a foil lined sheet pan.

Bake at 350° for about 10 minutes.  Or until it looks about like this.

Remove it to some paper towels to drain and cool.  Next, dice your onion and bell pepper and mince your garlic.  You’ll want the pieces to be pretty small. 

Now, pull out your meat.  Drop it into a mixing bowl with an egg. 

Mix them until the egg is fully incorporated. Hubby likes things spicy.  Since I don’t really, I compromised and put in about a teaspoon of hot sauce.  You can as much as you like… or none.  This is a good time to add the salt and pepper as well.   

Once that’s mixed in, go ahead and stir in the onion, bell pepper, and garlic. 

Now, this is where the importance of having small onions comes in.  If you can’t find any really small onions, you can just remove some layers to make them fit.  Place a thin slice, about ¼ inch, into the bottom of each muffin cup. 

Now comes the bacon.  Place one strip around the edge of each cup.  Mine was center cup, so it didn’t quite make a complete circle, but close enough.  Look at that, a perfect little cup for your meat. 

Fill each one and press it with wet fingers to smooth out the top. 

I had two extra strips of undercooked bacon, and I’m pretty sure it’s blasphemous to waste bacon, so I just cut them up and topped each cup with a little piece. 

Bake, uncovered, in a 350° oven for 45 minutes.  I placed my muffin tins on a sheet pan just to be safe.  When they’re done, they won’t really be brown, but the bacon on top will be cooked as well as the strips around the edges.

If you’re careful, you can flip the meatloaves over and serve them with the onions on top.  The onions are sweet and caramelized, and I think they look fabulous that way.  I plated them both ways so you could see the difference.  Aren’t they cute? 

I served mine with a slice of potato and zucchini pie, which was a fabulous accompaniment. 

What full size recipe would you like to see miniaturized? 

Snickerdoodles - The Old Reliable of Cookies

Well, since Seeley decided to take a break from cookies the last few weeks, I thought it would be a good time for me to make some.  I’m not doing anything crazy, though.  Like with the chocolate chip cookies I made last, I’ll be going traditional.  If it ain’t broke and all that… right?  Besides, who doesn’t love snickerdoodles?  Anything named with the words snicker and doodle has to be good.  To make it even better, they’re quick and easy to make. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• ½ cup butter
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 ½ cups flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt

And to roll them in:

• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Cookies come together pretty quickly, so go ahead and preheat your oven to 350°.  As always with cookies, everything needs to be room temperature.  Drop your softened butter into a mixing bowl along with ¾ cup sugar. 

Mix those until they are light and fluffy, then add the egg and vanilla.

Scrape everything down and mix until thoroughly incorporated.

You can mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, but I was being lazy, so I just added the flour and sprinkled the soda, powder, and salt on top.  Mix until it all comes together.  The dough should be soft, but not really sticky. 

Now for what makes a snickerdoodle, a snickerdoodle.  In a small bowl, put ¼ cup sugar, ½ teaspoon cinnamon (make sure it’s fresh.  It should be really fragrant), and ¼ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg.  What?  Nutmeg?  Snickerdoodles don’t have nutmeg.  Well, they do when I make them.  It adds a little extra spice that perks them up just a bit. 

Stir or shake those together until you have a nice even mixture.  Now, prepare your assembly line.  Dough, spoon, cinnamon mixture, and parchment lined cookie sheet. 

As you’ve probably noticed by now, there is a much different backdrop in my pictures these days.  My move has been mentioned briefly, but I haven’t said much else.  Now is probably a perfect time for me to say how much I love my new kitchen.  I went from a big, but old kitchen with nowhere to put anything, to all of my gadgets and toys having practically a whole room to themselves. 

Except my Kitchenaid, which is used often enough that it gets to live in the main part of the kitchen.  We all win. 

Anyway, I could go on for hours about all the things I love in there, but I don’t want to bore you, so we’ll return to your regularly scheduled program.  Back to cookies.  Scoop a rounded tablespoon of dough and drop it into your sugar mixture.  Roll/toss your balls around until they are completely coated. 

Place them onto the prepared sheet pan, leaving plenty of space between them.  Apparently I forgot to take a picture of that part, probably because I was anxious to get them into the oven so I could eat them.  That being said, bake them for 10 – 12 minutes.  They’ll be just starting to brown round the edges. 

Allow them to cool on the pan for a minute or two and then move them to a rack.  Although, one of them will likely find its way into your mouth along the way.  Crispy edges, chewy in the middle, sweet and spicy, they are irresistible. 

What is your favorite part of your kitchen?