Cheesy Mini Puffs---aka party in your mouth!

First of all, I got a fun little comment/question about asparagus from a girl named Christy!

Dear Christy (and any other person who has a question about asparagus)--

Your blog post is coming! I am thinking about a few recipes to fiddle with tomorrow and then you should have your answer in Wednesday or Friday's post! Thank you so much for asking! I'm really excited to (hopefully) give you a few culinary answers and new recipes!

Sincerly,

Lo

Ok, now, lets talk about some fabulous food, shall we?!

Move over garlic bread! There's a new kid in town! Holy hannah, do I love my carbs.... especially when you add in lots of cheese and the occasional garlic flavor. Whip up some spaghetti or baked ziti (which is what we had tonight) and dinner is in the bag! These mini puffs are really really easy to make. I took this amazing garlic cheesy biscuit recipe which I got from my brother-in-law and adapted it to make these. (And, PS--that garlic cheesy biscuit recipe is a knock off from those Red Lobster biscuits! AND, its written below too! You are welcome my friends! I promise you will be thanking me later)

Now, I suppose you're thinking its more work to make mini versions of something that was once bigger, but let me explain myself. Yes, it is easier to just do the drop biscuit thing and be done with it, but my favorite part of anything cheesy is the crispy cheese on the edges or on the bottom. So, this afternoon I did some simple calculations is my head:

"If I make smaller ones and add more cheese......

(I think you see where this is going)

.....there is more surface area to make more crispy cheesy heavenly goodness!!! Eureka!"

Genius, right?!

Haha.....anyways, these are awesome and delicious and perfectly sized for my tofu loving daughter. (The whole tofu thing is a new discovery/development that transpired today....we're doing further investigating....)

Your next spaghetti/lasagna/manicotti/cannelloni/alfredo night, whip these up and see what you think! You might just give up on garlic bread altogether! No promises.

Garlic Cheesy Biscuits (Red Lobster knock-off)

yield: 8 medium sized biscuits

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt (*see recipe tips)

1/2 tablespoon garlic salt (*see recipe tips)

1/3 cup cold butter, cubed

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/2 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease large baking sheet. In large bowl, mix all dry ingredients to combine. Cut cold butter into flour mixture until course/corse (sp?...lost my brain). Stir in grated cheese and all milk. Mix until all ingredients are moist and flour is absorbed. Drop by large spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet. This should make around 8 good sized biscuits. Bake 12-15 minutes or until bottoms are browned and tops are starting to brown. Cool 5 minutes and remove from baking sheet. Serve warm.

For the Cheesy Mini Puffs

yield: 20 minis

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt (*see recipe tips)

1/2 tablespoon garlic salt (*see recipe tips)

1/4 cup cold butter, cubed

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/2 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease mini muffin tin. In large bowl, mix all dry ingredients to combine. Cut cold butter into flour mixture until course/corse (sp?...lost my brain). Stir in grated cheese and all milk. Mix until all ingredients are moist and flour is absorbed. Using small cookie scoop, drop dough into prepared muffin tin. You should get close to 20 mini cheese puffs. Bake 8-10 minutes or until sides are browned and tops are starting to brown. Cool 5 minutes and remove from tins. Serve warm.

Recips TIPS:

-**You can use garlic powder in place of the garlic salt, however, you will want to increase the salt to 1-1 1/2 teaspoons.