Friday, April 12, 2013

Taco Muffins!... Or Taco Cupcakes... or whatever.

So, I had planned to make my next post something with a little bit more substance but I saw this idea on Pinterest and had to try it.  The problem was that it was solely an image of the food with no instructions or recipe  linked with it so I had to PDCA (plan, do, check, and adjust) my way through it.  This made me think, "Hey, maybe someone else would not only enjoy these awesome om noms, but would also like a tutorial on how to make them."  So not only do I get to procrastinate coming up with more serious business to post, you get to make yourself a treat!

Stuff that goes in it:
  • 1/2 lbs Ground Beef
  • 1 16 oz Can Refried Beans
  • 1/2 Packet Lawry's Taco Seasoning
  • 24 Won-Ton Wraps
  • Cooking Spray
  • A couple hand-fulls of Tortilla Chips
  • 1/3 Cup of Water
  • 1/4 tsp - 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
  • 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp Bacon Salt
  • (Optional, buy you really ought to have something bacon-like in this food.)
  • As much shredded cheddar or taco mix cheese as you like!
  • Any tomatoes or chives or rabbit food you think you must add to this to make it look healthy.
    (I will not demonstrate this part, why ruin good food.)
  • A small amount of sour cream
You're going to want to start by cooking the 1/2 lbs of meat (I tried the recipe with 1/4 lbs, it was NOT enough) according to the instructions on your Lawry's packet, but basically brown the meat up in a skillet, drain the grease, add the 1/2 packet (because you're using 1/2 the amount of meat the packet is meant for) and the 1/3 cup of water, bring to a boil stirring well, and finally lower heat and let simmer uncovered for five minutes.
(Before bringing to a boil is where you will also add your 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper, or however much for how spicy/hot you want it, and your 1/2 tsp of Bacon Salt.)

Preparation and cooking steps (see image below for reference):
  1. Cook the meat with the spices (see details above).
  2. Spray a muffin tin (I used one with 12 spots for muffins) with cooking spray.
  3. Line each space in muffin tin with one won-ton wrap.
  4. Smash a small spoonful of refried beans into each won-ton wrap.
  5. Add a spoonful of your seasoned, cooked meat on top of the refried beans.
  6. Crumble up your hand-fulls of chips and sprinkle some on top of each pile of meaty-beany-goodness.
  7. Sprinkle some of your shredded cheese into each spot. (Don't go overboard with cheese just yet.)
  8. This is a fantastic time to start pre-heating your oven to 400º F it'll be ready just in time assuming you work at the exact same pace as I do, which is really slow.
  9. Smash another won-ton wrap on top of the mixture in each slot, make room for more fillings.
  10. Repeat steps 4, 5 and 7 (I left out the chips on the top layer) only don't smash the beans this time or the won-ton wrap will come up with the spoon because of the bean-stickiness effect. Also you can add more of your cheese on this layer than on the first layer because you don't have to fit anything more in the tin now.
    Go nuts!
  11. You will now place the muffin tin into your 400º pre-heated Oven for EXACTLY 18 Minutes.  If you put it in for any shorter they won't brown and hold together well enough, if you put it in for any longer I will find out from your Instagram photos of your food and I shall be very cross with you.
  12. After removing from the oven let them cool for about one minute and then dig them out and get them onto a plate or serving tray. (I used a butter knife and my fingers to dig them out, worked like magic.)
  13. You may then want to place a dollop of sour cream on each. I then sprinkled that sour cream with more cayenne pepper and bacon salt for good measure. (And because it looked awesome!)
  14. Add yet some more of your shredded cheese to the top.
  15. This step is where you can add some of your rabbit food if you absolutely must. ;^)
  16. Leave me a Comment below and let me know how they turned out!  I'd genuinely love to know what you think, even if you think I messed up and your way is better!  Enjoy!