Stuffed Mushrooms

I can't believe that Christmas is only 5 days away! I am really looking forward to seeing my kids' faces on Christmas morning as they open their presents. I think that I am more excited for Christmas this year than they are! With Christmas only being a few days away it may mean that your Holiday get to-gethers are winding down. If you still have a few more parties to attend and need an appetizer to share with loved ones, I have just the recipe for you! Stuffed Mushrooms! Stuffed Mushrooms are my favorite appetizer! My husband is very found of them as well. We both can't resist mushrooms to begin with, but combine mushrooms with maple sausage and cream cheese and place it in a mushroom, you have an hors d'oeuvre straight from heaven! These little bite-sized appetizers are hard to resist and will keep you coming back for more. You truly can't eat just one! Stuffed Mushrooms are elegant but are so easy to make. Your guests or family members will think that you spent hours in the kitchen making them when they only take a few minutes to prepare! Also another great perk about this recipe is that the mushrooms can be made ahead of time and then you can pop them right into the oven before your guests arrive or while you are getting ready to leave for your night out! I hope you enjoy this family favorite recipe of ours!

Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:

2 (12 ounce) packages white button mushrooms, cap size doesn't matter

1 (8 ounce) brick of cream cheese, room temperature

1 (8 ounce) packaged sausage, (I like to use Jimmy Dean maple flavored but any kind of sausage will work)

Stems from mushrooms finely chopped

1/4 c. melted butter, optional

Directions:

1). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2). Separate caps from stems while cleaning the mushrooms. If cleaning with water, let them drain for a little bit. 3). While mushrooms drain, chop mushroom stems finely and place them along with the sausage in a skillet and fry together until the sausage is golden brown. Drain off any excess grease and add your cream cheese and combine until the cream cheese has melted and all ingredients are incorporated. 4). Fill each cap with cream cheese/ sausage filling and then lightly brush melted butter over the tops. Add a small amount of water to the bottom of the pan, just enough that the bottom of the pan is covered. 5). Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the tops are crusty and the mushrooms have turned dark. After baking time is up, pull out of the oven and remove mushrooms with a slotted spoon onto desired serving dish. Serve warm.

*Variation #1:

Add dry bread crumbs to the mix to make a larger batch with out adding more cream cheese or sausage. Onions would also be a great addition to the mixture.

* Variation #2:

Use one 8 oz. brick of cream cheese and 2- 8 oz. pkgs. of sausage. It makes for a larger batch that is less rich but tastes the same.

*Fun Hint*:

The Cream cheese mixture is also very good served on crackers or bread! If you have any non mushroom lovers, set aside some of the sausage/cream cheese mixture for them to dip with.

I

Ashlee, The Culinary Queen