Man Dip

Earlier this year I tried "man dip" at a friends bachelorette party. The dip was a hit among 20 girls and was the first dish we finished. It tasted just like chicken wings, without the mess! I've been wanting to make this for a long time now and with the start of football season, it was the perfect opportunity! I didn't have the exact recipe, so I visited my friend Google. I found a few recipes and decided to go with a recipe from All Recipes (Buffalo Chicken Dip) and made a few minor changes. Below is the recipe from All Recipes. I used blue cheese dressing instead of ranch, I used buffalo sauce instead of hot sauce, and added blue cheese crumbles to the top of the dish before I baked it. I served it with tortilla chips and it was also delicious with Fritos. This dip was amazing, and I have a feeling I will be making a few more times before the end of the football season!

Man Dip

INGREDIENTS:

2 (10 ounce) cans chunk chicken, drained 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened 1 cup Ranch dressing 3/4 cup pepper sauce (such as Frank's Red Hot®)

1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese 1 bunch celery, cleaned and cut into 4 inch pieces 1 (8 ounce) box chicken-flavored crackers

DIRECTIONS:

1.

Heat chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat, until heated through. Stir in cream cheese and ranch dressing. Cook, stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in half of the shredded cheese, and transfer the mixture to a slow cooker. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, cover, and cook on Low setting until hot and bubbly. Serve with celery sticks and crackers.

S'mores Cupcakes

I came across this recipe on Facebook and it looked delicious. I needed a dessert to bring to a football party and this was the perfect recipe to test out! I had never made cupcakes from scratch before, so I was a bit nervous. I followed the directions to a T and the cupcakes were easier to make than I thought they would be. I brought them to the party and they were enjoyed by everyone. They were a little messy (lots of crumbs), so next time I will use less batter so they can be more of a one bite cupcake. I will definitely make these again!

S’mores Cupcakes
Yields 30 cupcakes

For the graham crust:
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 20 squares)
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 - 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

For the cupcakes:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

For the topping:
Marshmallow Frosting (recipe below)
Finely crushed graham cracker crumbs
Chocolate sprinkles (jimmies, for those of us from New England!)

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease muffin cups or line with paper liners.
2. Combine 1/4 cup sugar,graham cracker crumbs and melted butter in a small bowl.
3. Spoon 1 tablespoon of graham crakcer mix into the bottom of each muffin cup. Press crumbs firmly, using the bottom of a small glass. Save the remaining mixture for topping.
4. Top graham cracker mix with several bittersweet chocolate chips.
5. Bake graham mixture for about five minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside.
6. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl.
7. In a large bowl, combine eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Stir until well blended.
8. Add flour mixture to large bowl and beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes.
9. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
10. Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4 full with batter (about 1/4 cup).
11. Sprinkle batter with small amount of remaining graham cracker mixture.
12. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely

Marshmallow Frosting
Yields enough frosting for 30 cupcakes

2 1/4 cups marshmallow creme (about 8 oz.)
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Cream together shortening and marshmallow creme.
2. Beat in about 1/2 of the water, followed by half of the powdered sugar.
3. Add the remaining powdered sugar and enough water to bring the frosting to a smooth, spreadable consistency.

Assembling the cupcakes:

1. Spoon a small amount of frosting onto the center of the cupcake and spread towards the edges with a knife. This frosting is very soft and will run down the edges of the cupcake if too much is applied.
2. Sprinkle frosted cupcakes with crushed graham cracker crumbs and chocolate sprinkles.