Green Chile Recipe of the Week

These are like little quesadillas with no tortilla. You
can make them crispy by spreading them out when
you put them on the cookie sheet (so they are
just loose clusters of shredded cheese and chiles),
or you can make them soft bites of cheese with
chiles by forming them into balls on the cookie sheet.

These are convenient little appetizers, just
bite-sized pop-in-your mouth finger food. I like to
serve them with sour cream and salsa to dip them
in. I made separate batches with mild, medium, and
hot chiles (Hatch Mild, Big Jim, and Sandia). I liked
the hot the best.

I had some left over, forgot were in the back of the
fridge, and found them a week later. I popped them
in the microwave for 30 seconds, dipped them in
sour cream, and found they were just as good as
when I first made them. But ... the crispy ones
were soft. The only way I could tell they had been
crispy is that they were flat instead of rounded.

Queso Chile Bites

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/3 cup diced green chiles
1 tablespoon all purpose flour

(double or triple to increase quantity)

Optional: sour cream &/or salsa on the side to
dip them in.

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Place all ingredients in a large jar or covered plastic tub.
Cover and shake to mix.

3. Open the jar. The chiles tend to clump up in a ball. Take
a knife and break the clump up to mix well with the cheese.
Cover and shake to mix again.

4. For crispy: Put scant tablespoons of mixture on a cookie
sheet (like cookies), making sure each pile is spread out
(like lace) so you can see the cookie sheet through each pile.
Bake until they turn brown around the edges, about 4-5 minutes.
You do not want them all brown. Remove from oven and let
sit for a minute, then use a spatula to move them onto a plate.

5. For soft: Form balls (like you would cookies and place them
about 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake about 4 to 5
minutes or until they are starting to brown around the edges.
Remove from oven, let sit for a minute, then use a spatula
to put them on a serving dish.

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Queso Chile Bites

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Recipe of the Week - 9/2/11

Queso Chile Bites