FLAMIN' HOT CHEETOS
OK OK OK I KNOW I TOLD YOU WE WERE GETTING OUR SHIT TOGETHER BUT IT’S THE SUPER BOWL THIS WEEK. The. Super. Bowl. The holy grail of junk food and gluttony and we will participate like the good little sports fans (or commercial watchers) we are! So make a run to your nearest store and grab Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and a large pair of sweatpants. See you soon, gremlins!
HOT CHEETO JALAPENO POPPERS
DIRRTY DIRTY LITTLE PARTY POPPERS
Fried Hot Cheeto Poppers
Recipe - 2-3 Servings
6 large jalapeños
1 cup hot Cheetos
1 tsp salt
1 tsp tajin seasoning (optional)
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used Cheddar)
1/2 cup shredded habanero cheddar
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
2 cups canola oil or vegetable oil
1 stalk green onion
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice a “T” in to each jalapeño, just wide enough to deseed and shove some cheese in. Stuff with cheese, pack in as much as you can. It’s ok if they won’t close back up completely.
In a food processor, combine cheetos, salt, and tajin. Pulse until finely processed, they should look like the texture of breadcrumbs or panko. Put on to a plate. Then get your beaten egg in to a shallow bowl and flour seasoned with salt and pepper on another plate. That is your prep station. Get all this shit ready before frying and only fry once all the jalapeños are coated. Otherwise you’ll be running around the kitchen like an orange fingered lunatic. Now heat up your oil. The ideal temp is 350 but if you don’t have a candy thermometer at home set it to just under medium. Now roll each jalapeño in the flour mixture, then egg, then cheeto mixture. Repeat egg and cheetos once more so they are fully coated.
Once you’re ready to fry, have a plate with a paper towel ready to set hot poppers on. Also have a baking sheet ready to go in the oven once they are all fried. Now, test your oil by dragging one popper over the surface, if it starts to lightly bubble you’re good to go. Fry a couple at a time. Once finished place all poppers in to a 350 degree oven for 5-7 minutes. Place on serving dish and garnish with green onion. I served mine with a simple cheese sauce but you can totally do ranch or bleu cheese or nothing!
BAKED HOT CHEETO POPPERS
NOT EVERYONE LOVES
FRYING STUFF…TOTALLY FAIR
Baked Hot Cheeto Poppers
Recipe - 2-3 servings
6 large jalapeños - halved lengthwise
1 cup hot Cheetos
1 tsp salt
1 tsp tajin seasoning (optional)
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used Cheddar)
1/2 cup shredded habanero cheddar
1 stalk green onion
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice jalapeños in half, lengthwise. If you don’t want them to be SUPER HOT FIRE FLAME SPICY, you’ll want to deseed them. Set aside.
In a food processor, combine cheetos, salt, and tajin. Pulse until finely processed, they should look like the texture of breadcrumbs or panko. Set aside.
Now get your cheeses together, you can really use whatever mixture you want as long as its crumbled or shredded. Pack as much cheese in each jalapeño as they can hold. We ain’t messing around here. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet. Make sure you use something on your baking sheet unless you’re some kind of masochist that loves scraping baked cheese off. Place in oven and set timer for 10 minutes. Then take out and top with cheeto mixture. Put back in oven for another 5 minutes.
Once out of the oven, top with green onion and serve with ranch or bleu cheese. Whatever you’re into. I served mine with tajin spiked ranch because its not socially acceptable to just eat tajin by the spoonful.
HOT CHEETO CRUSTED
MAC N CHEESE
So much cheese so much gooey-ness
Hot Cheeto Crusted Mac n Cheese
Elbow macaroni
1 cup Hot Cheetos
2 cups sharp cheddar or Mac n cheese shredded mix
1/2 cup parm
10 slices velveeta
2.5 cups milk
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons flour
Bread crumbs
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 tbsp dry mustard
1 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp hot sauce (I used Cholula and Joe Beef)
Salt and pepper
In a food processor blend together hot cheetos, salt pepper and a pinch of paprika. Set aside. Heat a dutch oven or heavy bottom pan to medium heat. In a separate pan, boil pasta and set aside. Then make a roux with the melted butter and flour. I like to add my dry spices here so they cook a little. Then slowly add milk. Add cheeses a handful at a time, wait until previous handful is fully incorporated before adding more cheese. Once all spices and cheese are incorporated into the cheese sauce, add dijon mustard, hot sauce and more salt. Sauce should be fairly loose still, it will thicken up once you add the noodles and it sits for a bit. Combine noodles and cheese then top with hot cheeto mixture and broil for a couple minutes.
