one-bite mini sliders

over the weekend we had another birthday party again (it was our third birthday party, three weekends in a row). to change up the food from weekend to weekend i went ahead and did these mini burger sliders. i knew i wanted to do little sliders, but wanted something different for the bun. you can say i didn't really want to shell out $5 for 12 or 24 dinner rolls. plus, those would be too big for what i was trying to do anyway. so what did i do instead? make my own buns? umm.. yeah, you can say that. now, these buns are not your typical bready buns. i have yet to bake a single loaf of bread in my life (i believe it'll happen some day, just not this past weekend, or today, or anytime soon).

for these one-bite mini burger sliders i actually used a drop biscuit recipe. the recipe came from cook's illustrated's website. i say it's pretty good. no, make it excellent! especially if you eat it warm. the biscuit was just delicious and the small size was great, making it the perfect little bite in one mouthful.

below's the recipe for the biscuit should you want to make your own drop biscuits. for these mini slider buns, i actually used a tiny circle cutter and shaped them to get the biscuits to the right shape and size (about 1 tbsp or 1-inch in size). of course you can do what i did if you're going the mini bun route or just leave them as is (drop biscuits). both variations will be just fine.


these one bite burger mini sliders turned out fantastic!


don't they just look so good?


this drop biscuit recipe makes for the perfect alternative to typical burger buns


these biscuits are really good, especially right out of the oven when they're still nice and warm

best drop biscuits
recipe from cook's illustrated

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp table salt
1 cup buttermilk (cold)
8 tbsp unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly (about 5 minutes), plus 2 tbsp melted butter for brushing biscuits

DIRECTIONS:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees F. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in large bowl. Combine buttermilk and 8 tablespoons melted butter in medium bowl, stirring until butter forms small clumps (see tip).
2. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of bowl. Using greased 1/4-cup dry measure, scoop level amount of batter and drop onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet (biscuits should measure about 2 1/4 inches in diameter and 1 1/4 inches high). Repeat with remaining batter, spacing biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes.
3. Brush biscuit tops with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 12 biscuits. Enjoy!

Tip: When you stir slightly cooled melted butter into cold buttermilk, the butter will clump. Although this might look like a mistake, it's one of the secrets to this recipe. The clumps of butter are similar to the small bits of cold butter in biscuits prepared according to the traditional method and help guarantee a light and fluffy interior.

goat cheese garlic pizza with fresh greens

over the weekend i wanted to be a little bit adventurous with my party food options so i decided to try a totally random recipe. actually, there really wasn't a recipe for this particular pizza that i made here. i just sort of made it up. i think it turned out quite well. it's like killing two birds with one stone. you get a pizza and salad in one! the pizza was definitely a hit with the hubby. he absolutely loves pizza but such a tough critic at times. this time, he actually said there was a lot of flavor picked in one bite. so the overall verdict? yay! he loves it; and everyone at the party liked it too.

below's the recipe should you want to try this out yourself. i hope you'll enjoy it as much as everyone did here. enjoy! :)


on a whim i made this pizza topped with goat cheese, fresh spring salad mix, almond slivers, and drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette


a bite of this pizza packs quite the flavor punch


yum! try the recipe out for yourself and let me know what you think ;)


i think this is a new favorite, simple and easy to make


goat cheese garlic pizza with fresh greens, almond slivers + balsamic vinaigrette

ingredients:

1 ball of pizza dough
1/4 cup flour (or enough for rolling out pizza dough)
4 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp pizza or italian seasoning
1/4 cup mozzerella & cheddar cheese mix, shredded
1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled + 2 tbsp for topping
1-2 cups spring salad mix
1/2 an apple, sliced thinly
almond slivers, as much as needed

balsamic vinaigrette (for drizzle before serving):
1 tsp dijon mustard
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil

directions:

preheat oven to 450°F.

sprinkle some flour on a working area where you'll be rolling out your pizza dough. form dough into circular or any shape you'd like for your pizza. once you've shaped your desired pizza shape, put it on a pizza pan. make sure to dust your pan with flour or spray it with some oil before putting the dough on there so that the pizza doesn't stick once it's baked (that happens sometimes to me when i skip this part, it can be very annoying trying to get the pizza off the pan). once your rolled out dough is on the pan, mix the chopped garlic cloves and olive oil together. then brush (generously) 3/4 of the garlic oil mixture onto the dough (it's okay to leave the garlic pieces on the dough). once that's done, sprinkle in some pizza or italian seasoning. then add in the 1/4 cup mozzerella and cheddar cheese mixture.

put the pizza crust in the oven and let it bake for 5 minutes. after 5 minutes, take it out and brush the rest of the garlic oil mixture onto the partially cooked crust. sprinkle 1/4 cup of the crumbled goat cheese onto the crust and put it back in the oven for another 12-15 minutes or until golden.

once the crust is baked, take it out and let it cool for a few minutes before cutting. once cut, sprinkle the spring salad mix along with the rest of the crumbled goat cheese (2 tbsp), apple slices and almond slivers. then drizzle the balsamic vinaigrette over the topped pizza and serve. enjoy!

makes one whole 10-12" pizza (about 8 slices depending on how big/small you cut the slices).