The Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich for CCC

Woohoo! Its time for the Crazy Cooking Challenge again. Wondering what the CCC is? Well, its this great monthly challenge hosted by Tina of Mom's Crazy Cooking. Every month, Tina chooses a classic dish and challenges each of us to make the "ultimate" version of it. People then vote on their favorite by clicking on their favorite dish in the blog hop down below!! So, if you like what you see here today, be sure to find me in the blog hop at the bottom of this post and click on me!!

My past entries in the challenges have been:

Earl Grey Blueberry Muffins

Mint Chocolate Chip Cake

And these recipes are delicious! So check them out - I'll still be here when you get back. :)

This month the challenge was to make the Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich!! How fun is that? There are so many opportunities to get creative and turn something ordinary into something extraordinary! I made a crispy chicken jalepeno popper grilled cheese with cheddar sauce. Overkill? Yes. Delicious? Heck yes!! You've got to try this once. For all the guys in your life! They will LOVE it.

*DISCLAIMER: This is not something to make for ladies night! Its messy, hugely full of calories, and unbelievably huge. Make it for your husband and his buddies on game nigh or your teenage sons as a treat! I guarantee it will win you some mega brownie points!

I have to apologize, I didn't document this recipe very well, so measurements are lacking a little bit! But here's an overview of what I did and the ingredients I used. :)

Funnily enough, my inspiration for this sandwich didn't really come from a grilled cheese post... I saw a couple jalepeno popper grilled cheese recipes on Pinterest... and I liked the flavour combo, but it just didn't seem "ultimate" enough. Then I saw this Crunchy Cheddar Chicken over at the Happy Little Tomato. I knew the flavours would go perfectly sandwiched between two jalepeno popper grilled cheese sandwiches and the cheddar sauce would make the perfect condiment for my crazy sandwich. Check out this cute little blog! There's lots of delicious looking recipes on there. :)

Jalepeno Popper Grilled Cheese with Crunchy Cheddar Chicken

Step 1: Make bacon. Lots of it. I think we made 1 lb of bacon and used about 2/3rds of it for three sandwiches. You'll need about 4 pieces of bacon per chicken sandwich you make. Be sure to make your bacon crispy! Thats the best way to do it for sandwiches.

Step 2: Make the crunchy cheddar chicken. Get it into the oven to cook while you make the other parts of this sandwich. If you time it right, the chicken will be done when you are ready to assemble the sandwiches. The only thing I omitted from the recipe was the parsley. Too healthy for this sandwich right? ;)

Step 3: Make some garlic butter (or buy prepared) by combining butter, olive oil, kosher salt, fresh chopped basil and some minced garlic. Mix well and set aside.

Step 4: Make your jalepeno popper filling by combining a couple spoonfuls (about 1/3 cup each) of mayo and sour cream in the bowl of a food processor. Throw in some red chili peppers (I used two) with seeds removed. Toss in about 3/4 cup shredded jalepeno jack cheese. Whirl until red chili's are worked into the rest of the ingredients. Sauce will be semi-smooth. Set aside.

Step 5: Make the cheddar sauce from the crunchy cheddar chicken link in step 2.

Step 6: Grill your grilled cheese. Assemble each sandwich as follows: Grab two pieces of bread - spread one side of each piece with garlic butter. Top non-buttered side of bread with a little shredded cheddar, a few spoonfuls of the jalepeno popper filling, two strips of bacon, a little more cheddar cheese and then top with remaining piece of bread (butered side out). Grill until lightly golden on both sides and cheese is melted. Make two grilled cheese sandwiches for each chicken sandwich your prepare.

Step 7: To assemble chicken sandwiches - start with one grilled cheese sandwich, top with one piece of chicken. Drizzle with a spoonful or two of the cheddar sauce, top with some banana pepper rings and finally top with remaining grilled cheese sandwich. Grab a big knife and cut this bad boy in half. You'll need to in order to eat it! Enjoy (but not too often because these are really bad for you!!).

So, that's my version of a crazy, ultimate grilled cheese sandwich! Hope you enjoy. :) Don't forget to vote for me below. Happy Cooking my Friends!

Blueberry Earl Grey Muffins for the Crazy Cooking Challenge

 After sitting the last Crazy Cooking Challenge out, I've had a chance to get back into the swing of things. I'm super excited to be participating in this month's challenge - to make the Ultimate Blueberry Muffin. And I think I've done it - Blueberry Earl Grey muffins with a Lemon Earl Grey Glaze! Yep, a little over the top, but none-the-less, delicious. My sister thinks these taste like a london fog from a fancy coffee shop and my good friend K thinks these taste like "Afternoon Tea".

If you're wondering what the Crazy Cooking Challenge is - every month a group of bloggers gets together and tries to find the Ultimate version of an every-day favorite dish. Some of the past challenges have been chocolate cake, spaghetti with red sauce, macaroni & cheese, and others. If you're interested, head on over to Mom's Crazy Cooking and check out Tina's informative page.

It is really funny - this month I was browsing around and I was inspired by the same blog I was in the month we did the Ultimate Chocolate Cake! I didn't realize it at first until I went to look up the recipe again to write this post. So funny to see how I am constantly drawn to the same style of blogs and recipes. :) Any way, the blog I'm featuring is Raspberri Cupcakes. Its great! Head on over to check out some of the yummy treats she has been baking up.

Blueberry Earl Grey Muffins
Recipe adapted from Raspberri Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 4 earl grey tea bags
• 1 cup milk
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 2 eggs lightly whisked
• 1 heaping cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 earl grey tea bag
• juice of one lemon

Method:

1. Warm the milk until nearly boiling. Remove from heat and add first four tea bags. Steep and let cool for one hour. Remove tea bags and discard.
2. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners. Place the flour and baking soda in a large bowl. Add the milk, vanilla, brown sugar, butter and eggs. Stir gently to combine. Fold in blueberries. Spoon evenly into prepared muffin pan. Bake in preheated oven for 25-27 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Don't overbake these muffins or they will dry out.
3. Cool on a rack. While muffins are cooling, prepare the glaze. Mix the icing sugar, earl grey tea and juice of one lemon together in a bowl until it reaches the desired consistency to drizzle on the muffins (you may have to add more icing sugar or more lemon juice, but adjust it til you like the consistency).

This post has been linked up with the Recipe Party at the Sweet Spot. Head over and check out the other goodies bloggers have linked up this week.
Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoy my version of the Ultimate Blueberry Muffin! I know we did. :)
Happy Baking my Friends!

Crazy Cooking Challenge: The Ultimate Chocolate Cake!

Surpise!! I've joined yet another cooking and baking challenge group. I love these things!! You get to try new things with a supportive and encouraging group of fellow bloggers. You learn new things and get to have fun doing it. This time the challenge is the Crazy Cooking Challenge hosted by Tina of Mom's Crazy Cooking. She posts some amazing things on her blog, so I knew the challenges would be great too.

The Crazy Cooking Challenge is a new dish each month of which each participant can make their own rendition of for the challenge. For example, some of the past challenges have been Macaroni & Cheese, Fudge, Mashed Potatoes and Chocolate Chip Cookies. YUM!! This month the challenge was to make the ultimate chocolate cake. It didn't matter what we did to the cake (i.e. icing, decorating, filling, recipe), but it had to be chocolate and it had to be cake. How fun right?!

I was on Pinterest (I love followers, so feel free to follow the link and follow me on Pinterest) the other day and I saw this cake - Mint Chocolate Chip Cake. Ummmmmm thats so my favorite kind of ice cream!!! So, it was settled, I was totally making that for the Crazy Cooking Challenge. I found this recipe on Raspberri Cupcakes (along with dozens of other amazing looking recipes). She had adapted the chocolate cake recipe from David Lebovitz's Devil's Food Cake, so I knew it was going to be delicious.

Yep, this is a pretty ugly piece of cake. It was the only piece leftover after serving it to my guests and I realized that I had better take a photo showcasing the lovely chocolate inside of the cake to show that my recipe is actually CHOCOLATE CAKE in light of what this challenge is about!!!

So, here is my entry into the Ultimate Chocolate Cake Crazy Cooking Challenge! Mint Chocolate Chip Cake. It seriously tastes just like the ice cream, so if you're a fan (and probably even if you aren't), you'll love this cake!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cake
Recipe minimally adapted from Raspberri Cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

• 9 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-raising cake flour)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 115g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup strong coffee
• 1/2 cup cream

For the Frosting:

• 280g + 1/3- 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 4 cups icing sugar
• 2 tsp peppermint extract
• 150g dark chocolate chips, run through the food processor until finely chopped
• green food colouring
• waffle ice cream cones to decorate (minis if you can find them!!)

Method:

1. Butter and line the base of a 9" springform pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350F. Sift together the cocoa, cake flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Using a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the sugar for about 5 minutes or until very fluffy and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each addition until fully incorporated.
2. Mix together the coffee and the cream. Stir half the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Add the coffee-cream mixture. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 35-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean (be careful not to overbake). Remove from oven and cool in baking tin for 5 minutes. Remove from baking tin to a wire rack and cool completely.
4. Prepare the mint icing: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat 280g of butter until fluffy and lighter in colour. Add the icing sugar one cup at a time and beat until smooth after each addition. Beat in additional butter (hence the 1/3 - 1/2 cup extra butter) until the icing is a nice spreading consistency. Beat in green food colouring until evenly distributed and coloured to desired green food colouring level. Stir through finely chopped chocolate until evenly distributed.
5. Using a serrated knife, cut the cake in half to form two layers. Place one layer on a cake plate. Spread 1/4 of the icing on top of first layer of the cake. Then place the other half of the cake on top (trim top if necesary to get a nice flat surface). Ice the entire cake with the remaining icing. Use an ice cream scoop to make "scoops" of any extra frosting and arrange artfully on top of the cake. Top with the mini waffle cones.Can be served immediately or stored in an airtight container overnight. Serve at room temperature.

Mmmmm this was a deliciously moist cake and the frosting tasted so much like mint chocolate chip ice cream. It is a super cute cake that has a bit of a wow factor to it. I served it for a ladies get together at my house and it was a hit. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

This post has been linked up with Mouth Watering Mondays over at the Sweet Spot. Head on over there to check out some of the other mouth watering dishes fellow bloggers have cooked up this week. :)

This post has also been linked up with Fusion Fridays over at Jennifer Cooks. Head on over to check out her favorite submissions from last week and what other bloggers are linking up this week.