Gameday Grub | Buffalo Chicken Bites

Oh my.

These... well, these were fantastic. They are, already, a gameday snack requirement. I mentioned yesterday how important gamedays are in our house. If only you could see the boyfriend, completely decked out in Bruins gear, screaming at the top of his lungs - the Bruins just tied the game.

I don't know if our dogs will ever recover. The big one is under the coffee table.

Great. Now I'm not allowed to move from my seat. He thinks I'm good luck. I swear, I just sat down for a minute! Thankfully, I have nothing in the oven.

Oh well, I love hockey. And, let's be honest, I don't really want to clean the house, anyways.

Back to the point. The best part about gamedays is the food. We always have something special on gamedays: jalapeno poppers, chicken wings, fried just-about-anything. They're a big deal.

These delicious, creamy, cheesy, spicy Buffalo Chicken Bites pretty much top the list of the hundreds and hundreds of gameday snack recipes we've played with this year.

They are just wonderful and the dough can be used for so many things. It's even good with nothing stuffed inside it. I can't wait to try different fillings, like potato, cheese, and bacon (and a little ranch, of course!). So versatile.

Plus, these little bites are great to freeze. Just cook them halfway, baste, cool, and freeze. Costs a third of the frozen snacks. In our house, this is ridiculously important. Snacks are a way of life.

The best part about these: I was able to fix 'em up so they weren't too time-consuming. Did I mention you can freeze them?

A very special thanks to What's Cookin' Chicago? for introducing me to this snacktastic recipe. Find the original here. My adaptation, below, is a little creamier and cheesier, and a little quicker. Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Bites
Yield | Roughly 48 bites

Prep Time | 15 minutes, plus 2 hours to rise
Cook Time | 6-8 minutes
______________________________________________________________________

Ingredients:

1 packet rapid rise yeast
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup warm milk
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup cooked chicken
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup hot sauce*
4 tablespoons bleu cheese dressing (or ranch, if you prefer!)

Stir brown sugar into warm milk until completely dissolved. Pour into large mixing bowl. Now, as a note, I don't have a mixer, like the original poster, so these are the directions by hand. If you have a mixer, fantastic! Use it, as I live vicariously though you. I'm jealous :) Luckily, these aren't too difficult at all to make by hand.

Add flour and yeast to bowl and stir until mixed well and dough. Pour onto lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 5 -7 minutes.

Spread a light coating of oil over a large bowl. Place dough in bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set in a warm place and let rise for roughly two hours.

While the dough rises, make your filling. Combine the remaining ingredients. I used canned chicken to cut down on time and it turned out great because it shreds up so easily. And we *always use Franks! So good.

"We put that sh*t on everything" is practically our household motto.

Preheat over to 400 degrees F.

After dough has doubled in size and bubbles have formed on the surface, set dough on floured surface and cut into four pieces. Take the first piece and roll until it is roughly 12 inches long, like a long rope. Use your rolling pin to stretch it out until it is 4 inches wide, 12 inches long.

Scoop 1/4 of the filling onto the 1/3 of the dough.

Fold in half and pinch to close on all sides. Roll into a 12 inch-long "rope."

Cut the "rope" into 12 pieces and place on lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake for 6-8 minutes, until golden brown. Melt two tablespoons butter or margarine and brush over bites, salting lightly. Let cool for a couple minutes and devour.

So very, very tasty.

If you want to freeze them, bake them for 4-5 minutes, or until the dough is hard but not yet browning.

EDIT 4/24/2012: Reheated my frozen ones - SO GOOD. Very pleased with this recipe!


Next time: Hawaiian Shoyu Chicken & Grilled Pineapple... one of my all-time favorite chicken marinades. I love anything with soy sauce, though, and pineapple only makes it better!