Chronicles of The Buxom Baker: A Party...in Your Mouth

I am so excited.

I'm so excited because I have a great appetizer recipe to share with you just in time for Thanksgiving and holiday parties.

We had a party last Saturday and these were a huge hit.

I should have made more because they were gone in approximately 5 minutes.

So now I'm sharing the recipe with you in hopes that you will go forth and make them at your next gathering.

Please enjoy.

Three Cheese Stuffed Peppers

Here's what you need:

Olive Oil
1 Shallot
2 Cloves of Garlic
5 Slices of Prosciutto
1 Teaspoon of Worcestershire Sauce
8 oz. of Cream Cheese
Dash of Oregano
¾ Cup of Shredded Cheddar Cheese
16 Large Jalapeño Peppers
2 Tablespoons of Panko Bread Crumbs
2 Tablespoons of Grated Parmesan Cheese
Dash of Smoked Paprika

Grab a frying pan. Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to it and put it over medium-low heat.

Dice the shallot into very small pieces.

Throw them into the pan.

Put the garlic clove into the garlic press and squish it into the pan. (If you don't have a garlic press you can dice the clove into a very fine dice but I was feeling lazy and I have a garlic press.)

Give it stir and let it cook ever so slightly. Make sure your heat is really low here because garlic burns really quickly and once is burnt, there is no going back.

Chop the prosciutto into bite sized bits.

And throw them into the pan with the shallot and garlic.

Let the prosciutto crisp up a bit. Then add a splash of worcestershire sauce. Mmm, I love me some worcestershire sauce. It adds a little sumthin', sumthin' to all kinds of dishes. It's that subtle background flavor that makes people say "hmm, what's in here?". But in a good way.

Now turn off the heat and add the cream cheese.

Break up the cream cheese and mix everything up.

Keep on stirring until the cheese is melted and the mixture is combined.

Now add a dash of oregano.

And some freshly cracked pepper. No need for salt here thanks to the prosciutto and all the cheese.

Speaking of cheese...

Add about a half cup of the shredded cheddar into the cream cheese mixture.

Mix everything together until well blended.

And the filling is complete. Set the pan aside and allow it to cool while you prepare the peppers.

Grab a baking sheet and cover it with tin foil.

Why?

Because you're lazy and don't like to scrub burnt cheese off of a sheet pan.

Oh, wait that is me.

But I'm sure you don't want to scrub burnt cheese off of your sheet pan either so just cover it with foil, okay?

Okay good.

At this point you'll want to preheat your oven to 300℉.

Now, since we don't want to singe our eyeballs later tonight after we've forgotten that we touched a whole bunch of hot peppers and accidentally rub our sleepy eyes, let's wear gloves.

Great!

Grab a pepper and a paring knife and cut off the stem end of the pepper.

Slice it down the middle.

Gently run the tip of the knife under any seeds and ribs. Unless of course you are making these peppers for someone like my husband who likes a whole lot of heat.

Why do you think he married me?

Ha! You knew I'd take it there, didn't you?

Anyway.

Take out as much of the ribs and seeds as you'd like. The ribs and seeds are where the heat lives so adjust accordingly.

I took out all of the seeds and most of the ribs but not all because we like a little spice around here.

Don't look for a deeper meaning in that please.

Once you've got all the peppers prepared to your liking, grab your filling and two spoons.

Use the spoons to fill the peppers.

Until they're all filled.

The concept is simple enough, it just takes a bit of patients and finesse. Persevere though, it's worth it!

Now grab a zip top bag and add the remaining cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese and bread crumbs. Zip it up and give it a good shake to mix it up.

Now sprinkle the cheesy breadcrumbs all over the tops of the peppers.

Ohhh man, these are starting to look good.

One last thing before we get these babies in the oven.

Give the peppers a good sprinkling of smoked paprika.

If you don't have smoked paprika you can use regular but then you should go to the store and buy some because it tastes really flipping good.

Pop these beauties into the oven and bake them for 30 minutes.

Sounds like a lot, I know.

But you will thank me, I promise.

Roasting the peppers gives them an amazing depth of flavor and makes them nice and soft.

If you make these be prepared for the instant popularity that comes with them.

Clear your calendar for all the party invitations because everyone will want these peppers again and again.