“Better Than” Better Than Sex Cake with Triple Fudge Dark Chocolate Cake, Dulce de Leche Soaking Cream, Toffee Bits, Mascarpone Whipped Cream, Salted Caramel Whipped Cream, Salty Bourbon Caramel Sauce, & Ruffled Potato Chips

“Better Than” Better Than Sex Cake with Triple Fudge Dark Chocolate Cake, Dulce de Leche Soaking
 Cream, Toffee Bits, Mascarpone Whipped Cream, Salted Caramel Whipped Cream, Salty Bourbon
 Caramel Sauce, & Ruffled Potato Chips

Hey y'all, it's been a superrrrrr long time ((sorry about that)). BUT but but... I have a new recipe today, yay!! I'm usually the first person to turn their nose up towards anything easy or store-bought. However, I have always had a place in my heart for "better than sex cake". You know, that cake where its soaked in sweet condense milk and topped with whipped cream + toffee bits? Well, I always thought to myself, someone should make a gourmet version of this. Thus, I introduce to you my “Better Than” Better Than Sex Cake with Triple Fudge Dark Chocolate Cake, Dulce de Leche Soaking Cream, Toffee Bits, Mascarpone Whipped Cream, Salted Caramel Whipped Cream, Salty Bourbon Caramel Sauce, & Ruffled Potato Chips. It's the perfect balance of sweet + salty. Ya know how?? Through the toffee bits, salty bourbon caramel sauce, & ruffled potato chips. I love love love the addition of potato chups, like fo'real y'all. It might sound super weird, but just go with it, I promise that you'll adore it! I fancied it up a bit by using Dulce de Leche (versus caramel) in multiple components. You can either make this from scratch or buy a good brand from your grocery store (I prefer the La Salamandra brand myself). Now some of y'all might be shocked, but I actually went the cake-box-route, which I absolutely never do. But, I find this type of cake most conducive for the soaking method. Every time I soaked a homemade, high-quality cake... it always turned out grainy + soggy, not moist and de-lush-cious. I will say though, you still make a great cake from box mixes!! I do this buy subbing in some heavy cream and coffee liqueur, and boosting the flavor with pudding, vanilla, and salt. It turns out great every time, AND it takes much less time--yippee!! Don't get too excited though, I have ya busy doing a whole bunch of homemade toppings (sorry about that, it's so worth it in the end). Just promise me one thing... don't leave out the potato chips. Okay? Deal? Deal!! Enjoy :)

For the Salted Caramel Whipped Cream:

1C Heavy Cream

2T Sugar

½C Dulce de Leche 

Pinch of Salt (or to taste)

1t Vanilla

For the Dulce de Leche Soaking Cream:

1 Can of Sweetened, Condensed Milk

1C Dulce de Leche

1t Vanilla + Bourbon

Pinch of Salt

For the Dark Chocolate Cake:

2 Boxes of Triple Fudge Chocolate Cake

1 Box of Dark Chocolate Pudding

1C Vegetable Oil

6 Eggs, Beaten

2C Heavy Cream (or Buttermilk) + 1C Kahlua Coffee Liqueur

1t Vanilla

1t Salt

1 Bag of Heath Bar Toffee Bits

Cape Cod Ruffled Potato Chips, For Topping

Homemade Chocolate Ganache or Chocolate Syrup, For Drizzling

For the Salty Bourbon Caramel Sauce:

1C Sugar + ¼C Water

½C Heavy Cream

1t Smoked Sea Salt

1T Bourbon

For the Mascarpone Whipped Cream:

8oz Mascarpone Cheese

½C Confectioners’ Sugar

Pinch of Salt

1t Vanilla

1 ½C Heavy Whipping Cream

Directions:

1. Prepping for the Salted Caramel Whipped Cream: The night before you make the cake, heat a small pot over medium-low heat. Add in the heavy cream, sugar, dulce de leche, & a pinch of salt to taste and whisk constantly until the dulce de leche has dissolved into the cream and has become smooth (it should be a light khaki color). Remove the heat from the pan and add vanilla extract. Pour this dulce de leche infused cream into and container and let it chill overnight.

2. Firstly, make sure the cream is thoroughly chilled. Add it into the bowl of a standing mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, and whip on high-speed until a fluffy, yet thick whipped cream. Season it with some sugar, vanilla extract, and salt if needed (really it’s up to your tastes).

3. For the Dulce de Leche Soaking Liquid:  In a saucepan, heat the sweetened condensed milk over medium heat. Add in the dulce de leche and whisk until it has completely melted into the milk. Add in the vanilla, bourbon, and a pinch of salt and whisk until combined. Turn off the heat and continue whisking.

4. For the Dark Chocolate Cake: In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the two boxes of cake mix and pudding mix. Quickly add in the vegetable oil, eggs, heavy cream, coffee liqueur, vanilla, and salt. Mix until everything is just combined and a smooth batter is formed. Spray a 9x13 pan with Pam and pour the cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes until the cake is cooked through, but not overcooked. Let the cake cool for 20-30 minutes, and then using a straw, poke the cake full with holes and pour the slightly warm dulce de leche soaking liquid over the cake evenly. Let it soak for 4 hours before assembling the rest of it.

5. For the Salted Caramel Sauce: In a large saucepan, bring it up to medium-high heat. Pour in sugar and water, and whisk until the sugar begins to melt and the lumps dissolve. Let this simmer until the sugar begins to turn a light caramel color, at this point add in the salt. Finally, take the pan off the heat, and pour in the heavy cream (once again, it will bubble, but just keep stirring) and stir until it is a smooth, consistent sauce. Add in the bourbon and return the caramel to the heat for another minute or so. Pour this caramel into a bowl and set aside.

6. For the Mascarpone Whipped Cream: In a mixing bowl, combine the mascarpone, confectioners’ Sugar, salt, and vanilla. Stir together until smooth and set it aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form. And then, gently fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture until combined.

7. Assembling the Cake: Once the cake has cooled & soaked, sprinkle the top of the cake with half of a bag of heath bar toffee bits. Spread the top with mascarpone whipped cream  + salted caramel whipped cream, and then drizzle with the salted caramel bourbon caramel sauce and chocolate ganache (or store bought fudge sauce). Swirl the two sauces together with the two whipped creams. Once again, sprinkle the top with the other half of the bag of toffee bits. Push the ruffled chips into the whipped cream, so that they stay up and the cake has a jagged top. Again, drizzle the top with more salted caramel sauce + chocolate ganache. Place into the refrigerator and chill for 1-2 hours or until you are ready to serve.

8. Cut the cake into square servings and enjoy!!

Dark Chocolate Covered Stout Marshmallows with Caramel & Crushed Peanut Butter Pretzel Topping

Dark Chocolate Covered Stout Marshmallows with Caramel & Crushed Peanut Butter Pretzel Topping

It's my midterm week, and it's absolutely dreadful. I feel like every single teacher has assigned five projects for me to complete before Thursday. Ugh, c'est la vie. But luckily enough for me, I get to head up to our family mountain house for an extra-long weekend. We're bringing friends with us and it will be filled with cookouts, hiking, drinking, and bonfires. This of course calls for homemade marshmallows for some daggum s'mores. I always make Vanilla Bean Marshmallows, but this time I decided I would also make some beer marshmallows for some variety. I know, beer flavored 'mallows? Are you in heaven yet? They do exist and they are utterly delicious. The ones we will be using for s'mores will be plain, but I ended up making a batch of some geeked out beer marshmallows that would knock anyone's socks off!! I topped the pillowy squares with a homemade layer of chewy caramel, and then dipped them into tempered dark chocolate, so that they were completely coated. While the chocolate was still soft, I garnished them with crushed peanut butter pretzels, a drizzle of white chocolate, and a sprinkle of vanilla bean fleur de sel. And then, I went all crazy and added some potato chips to a few, and they were awesome!! I will leave it up to you with how over-the-top you want to make yours... I mean you could easily just make the beer marshmallows and call it a day. I won't hate!! Anyway, we will be enjoying these this weekend, so I'll make sure to come back and post some of the pictures of these epic s'mores, just you wait!! Enjoy :)

Crushed Pretzels & Salty Potato Chips... The perfect marshmallow topping. 

For some variety, I made some white chocolate covered marshmallows... 

And then drizzled them with dark chocolate :) 

This is one big bite... Do you see the caramel layer??

For the Beer Marshmallows:

3 ½ Envelopes Unflavored Gelatin

1C Chocolate Stout Beer, Divided (It needs to be cold and flat for this recipe)

2C Sugar

½C Dark Corn Syrup

¼t Salt

2 Large Egg Whites

1T Vanilla

For the Caramel Layer:

2C Sugar

2C Heavy Cream

1C Light Corn Syrup

½t Salt (plus a little extra for sprinkling the top of the finished caramel)

4½T Unsalted Butter

For the Dark Chocolate Coating:

10oz 70% Bittersweet Chocolate, Coarsely Chopped

Peanut Butter Pretzels, Roughly Chopped For Garnishing

Fleur de Sel, For Sprinkling (optional)

For the Marshmallows:

Prepared Beer Marshmallows

Dark Chocolate Coating 

Melted White Chocolate, Optional

Vanilla Bean Fleur de Sel, For Sprinkling (optional)

Peanut Butter Pretzels, Roughly Chopped For Garnishing (or potato chips can be substituted)

Directions:

1. To flatten the beer, take the cap off the bottle and leave open overnight, or pour beer into a bowl and whisk vigorously to remove some carbonation… just make sure it is cold.

2.  For the Marshmallows: Oil bottom and sides of a 13x9 rectangular metal baking pan and dust bottom and sides with some confectioners’ sugar. In bowl of a standing electric mixer or in a large bowl sprinkle gelatin over ½C cold beer, and let stand to soften. In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, second ½C of cold beer, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers 240°F, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.With standing or a hand-held electric mixer beat mixture on high speed until fluffy, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about six minutes if using standing mixer or about 10 minutes if using hand-held mixer. In separate medium bowl with cleaned beaters beat egg whites (or reconstituted powdered whites) until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat whites and vanilla (or your choice of flavoring) into sugar mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into baking pan and don’t fret if you don’t get it all out (learning from my mess of a first round). Sift ¼C confectioners sugar evenly over top. Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least three hours, and up to one day.

3. Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large cutting board. Lifting up one corner of inverted pan, with fingers loosen marshmallow and ease onto cutting board. With a large knife trim edges of marshmallow and cut marshmallow into roughly one-inch cubes. (An oiled pizza cutter works well here too.) Sift remaining confectioners’ sugar back into your now-empty baking pan, and roll the marshmallows through it, on all six sides, before shaking off the excess and packing them away.

4. For the Caramel Wrapping: Lightly butter an 18" X 13" sheet pan. In a large heavy sauce pan (the caramel will more than triple in volume, so you need plenty of space) over medium heat combine sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1C heavy cream. Stirring constantly with a silicon spatula or wooden spoon, bring the mixture to a boil. This will take some time. It is important that you don't turn up the heat because candy requires patience. Once the mixture boils add the remaining 1C cream in a slow trickle so that you do not cool your caramel mixture and it continues to boil uninterrupted. Reduce heat to medium-low and allow it to boil for 5-6 minutes without stirring. Add butter one tablespoon at a time, stirring after each melts. Clip on your candy thermometer and allow to boil over medium-low heat until the mixture just hits 250°F (or the Firm Ball stage) stirring occasionally. This should take about 30-40 minutes; if your temperature is climbing too quickly you might need to reduce heat all the way to low. By the same token, if you're not hitting 250°F by 40 minutes you might want to increase the heat a bit. Once you've hit the right temperature, quickly remove from heat and pour into your prepared pan or onto the greased stone slab, spreading it out in an even layer. To prevent any crystallization, don't scrape the pan as you pour, just allow what clings to the pan to remain in it (you can scrape it into a smaller dish and eat it later, odds are it won't be crystallized). Allow your molten caramel to cool to room temperature. Once it has cooled, invert the caramel out of the pan onto a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut the caramel into squares (exactly the same size as your marshmallows) and place a caramel square on top of a marshmallows until all of them have been covered. Let the caramel sit on the marshmallows in the refrigerator for about an hour (this will help the caramel stick to the marshmallows). After they have chilled, begin to cover them in chocolate. 

5. For the Dark Chocolate Coating: Melt ¾ of the chopped chocolate in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Remove the bowl from the pan and add the remaining chocolate, stirring until smooth. Cool the chocolate until a thermometer inserted at least ½inch into the chocolate registers 80 degrees. Return the water in the pan to a boil and remove it from heat. Set the bowl with cooled chocolate over the pan and reheat, stirring, until the thermometer registers 88-91 degrees as necessary. Remove the bowl from the pan. Stick a marshmallow on a fork or skewer and submerge in the melted chocolate, letting the excess drip off and scraping the back of the fork against the rim of the bowl if necessary.  Place the coated marshmallow onto a parchment lined baking sheet to stand until the chocolate is set, about 1 hour. Make sure to top the marshmallows with crushed pretzels and a sprinkle of fleur de sel while the chocolate is still soft. Repeat with the remaining marshmallows until all of them have been coated with chocolate.

source: caramel wrapped marshmallows. beer marshmallows.

Creamy Chorizo-Corn Dip

Creamy Chorizo-Corn Dip

I never get sick of dips. Like ever. I pretty much make a dip every week during football season. I mean, you can get sit and snack on it all day and it never gets old. Well, one of my tried and true recipes is my Spicy Sausage Dip. It is so easy to make, but everyone always gobbles it down. So, I thought I would change it up a bit and use spicy chorizo sausage in the dip instead. I also added some charred corn and diced pimentos for sweetness. Serve this dip warm or cold and with chips for dipping. It surely won't disappoint!! Enjoy :)

A Yummy & Easy Dip

For the Dip:

1 Sweet Onion, Sliced & Caramelized

1lb Ground Chorizo Sausage

8oz Diced Pimentos, Drained

2T Candied Jalapenos, Diced

1C Fresh Corn, Grilled or Charred

2 8oz Packages of Cream Cheese, Room Temperature

Hot Sauce (to your liking)

Chips, For Serving

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, caramelize the onions until golden brown & sweet. Drain from the pan into a bowl and set aside. Next, cook the chorizo in the same pan over medium-high heat until evenly browned and no longer pink. Once cooked through, drain the sausage into the same bowl with the onions (discarding the excess oil). Reduce the heat to low and add the onions & sausage back into the pan with the pimentos, candied jalapenos, corn, cream cheese, and hot sauce. Stir until evenly blended and creamy. Cook until just heated through.   

2.  Serve warm with some chips. 

Grown-Up Gourmet Monster Cookies

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas y'all. Except for it's like sunny & about 70 degrees here in Savannah. We probably should just decorate palm trees here, it seems more fitting. But unfortunately, I've been hit with a bug and haven't been feeling very festive. Finally though, we got around to buying a christmas tree, hanging ornaments, and putting up other holiday decorations. What are some of your Christmas traditions? We have a few. I always have to bake cookies & make apple cider to enjoy while we are doing the heavy labor, and after the decorations are finished, we enjoy a large pizza and just stare at the lights while listening to Christmas music.

Also, the man of the house always has to put the angel on top of the tree when it is all dressed up. So, here are some action shots of my Mountain Man doing his manly duty (even though it's not so manly).

We took a few family portraits with our baby, Eloise. Taz wasn't been too cooperative because he's a cat.   I wish we would take a really tacky Christmas picture like the ones I've seen floating around the internet. Maybe like the one below? I mean how hilarious is that picture. I want to meet these people either because they aren't being serious, which is brilliant. Or they are being serious... and I will love them even more. Do you realize she is holding a goat? Yes, a goat. I can't even make this up. So, put this on the to-do list for our Christmas card next year. Classic.

The Mountain Man is really enjoying pizza, can't you tell? And if you're wondering, which you probably are... it's a pizza with pesto, sundried tomatoes, italian sausage, and pineapple with NO CHEESE. We realize it is the weirdest combination ever, but it is our favorite and that's why were probably dating, haha.

Don't you love our little Christmas apartment? I do. I never want to leave because it's just so festive & cozy. Anyway, the rest of this week I will be featuring some Christmas cookie recipes that I made while we were decorating. The first cookie that I will be posting are my Grown-Up Gourmet Monster cookies. As a kid, Peej and I always made monster cookies during the holidays. You know the ones with oatmeal, peanut butter, m&m's, and lots of other things. So I thought why not make an adult version of the monster cookie with gourmet and trendy ingredients, instead of the gimmicky ones. There's definitely nothin' wrong with the original recipe because they truly are delicious. I browned the butter, and then added in biscoff spread (instead of peanut butter), toffee bits, milk chocolate truffles, bittersweet chocolate, chocolate covered espresso beans, potato chips, and pretzels. I especially love the chocolate covered espresso beans. It made the cookies taste exactly like Java Chip Ice Cream. I think I'm going to add the espresso beans into my chocolate cookie recipe next, but that's for a different day. Make these cookies for yourself, or they would be great to give out as gifts to friends & neighbors!! Enjoy :)

Grown-Up Gourmet Monster Cookies

For the Cookies:

2 Sticks of Unsalted Butter

1 Stick of Melted, Browned Butter

¼C Gourmet Raw Bourbon Vanilla Sugar

¼C Granulated Sugar

1 ¾C Light Brown Sugar

2 Eggs + 1 Egg Yolk

1C Biscoff Spread

2t Vanilla

1t Sea Salt

2C Cake Flour

1C Bread Flour

½C AP Flour

1 ½t Baking Soda

3C Gourmet Baking Ingredients: (1C Toffee Bits, 3.5oz Chopped Milk Chocolate Truffles, 4oz Chopped 70% Chocolate, and 1C Roughly Chopped Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans)

2C Gourmet Snack Foods: (1C Cape Cod Plain Potato Chips and 1C Chopped Pretzels)

Fleur de Sel, For Sprinkling     

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 365 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with Pam, then set aside.
2. To Brown the Butter: Heat a thick-bottomed skillet on medium heat. Add the sliced butter, whisking it frequently. Continue to cook the butter. Once the butter has melted, it will foam up a bit, and then subside. Watch it carefully as lightly browned specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan. You should smell a nutty aroma and it should be golden-brown in color. Remove from heat and let it completely cool before adding it to the cookie dough.
3. Cream the 2 sticks of butter and browned butter with the gourmet vanilla sugar, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the mixer then add the two eggs and egg yolk one at a time, incorporating each one completely before adding the next. Scrape down the bowl. Mix in the Biscoff spread, vanilla and sea salt.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the cake flour, bread flour, AP flour, and baking soda.
5. With the mixer on the lowest speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until just incorporated (don’t over mix).
6. Fold or beat in your choices of the gourmet baking ingredients until it’s completely incorporated and the ingredients are evenly dispersed throughout the dough. Lastly, lightly beat in cape cod potato chips and chopped pretzels until just combined (don’t beat it too much or your won’t have chunks of snacks). Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for at least 4 hours, but preferably 24-48 hours. Once chilled, scoop the dough into roughly ¼C balls (or I used a large ice cream scoop), and then using your fingers crimp the tops of the cookies to make them more jagged (this will make them look more homemade). Because the cookies are quite large, I only put 6 cookies per sheet tray, so that when they cook & spread, they will not touch each other.
7. Sprinkle the fleur de sel on top of the cookie dough balls, then bake the for 12-14 minutes (cook them for 6-7 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees, and cook for another 6-7 minutes), until it is slightly golden brown on the edges, but still soft (slightly undercooked) on the inside. Leave the cookies on the sheet tray for 10 minutes, so that the cookies will finish baking.
8. Once the cookies have rested on the sheet tray, move the finished cookies to a cooling rack, and let them completely cool completely before eating.

Buffalo Chicken Chips

I think that Buffalo Chicken Wings are the most popular game day snacks. And now you can turn this classic into just about anything. I love making My World Famous Buffalo Chicken Dip. It's just the best ever. So instead of whipping up that recipe, I decided to put my twist on nachos & bleu cheese chips that are also popular bar snacks. I used a huge bag of Cape Cod Potato Chips, instead of tortilla chips, and topped them with a thick layer of shredded buffalo wing cheese (you can also substitute sharp cheddar cheese), buffalo chicken, hot buffalo sauce, crumbled blue cheese, crispy bacon, ranch dressing drizzle, and fresh chopped chives. You can make these chips as spicy as you want, and we like it spicy so theres always a little extra hot sauce on the side. This appetizer is super easy too because you just layer the chips in a baking dish and throw it in the oven when you're ready to eat! Enjoy :)

Buffalo Chicken Chips

For the Chips:

1 Large Bag of Cape Cod Original Potato Chips

2C Buffalo Wing Cheese, Shredded (or you can substitute sharp cheddar cheese)

1C Blue Cheese, Crumbled

1 Warm Rotisserie Chicken, Shredded

1C Buffalo Wing Sauce

8 Slices of Bacon, Cut into Cubes & Fried until Crispy

Ranch Dressing, For Drizzling

Fresh Chopped Chives, For Garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking dish with Pam. Spread the cape cod chips into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the shredded buffalo wing cheese on top of the chips. In a small mixing bowl, mix together the shredded chicken and buffalo sauce until combined, and then layer the buffalo chicken on top of the cheese. Sprinkle the blue cheese and crispy bacon on top of the chicken in an even layer.
2. Bake the chips in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the cheese is melted and the chips are hot & crispy. Broil in the oven for a few minutes to get the cheese golden brown and bubbly. Remove from the oven and drizzle more buffalo sauce and ranch on top of the chips. Garnish with fresh chopped chives.
3. Serve immediately with hot sauce & ranch dressing on the side for dipping!

Chili Cheese Bacon Burgers with Potato Chip Crusted Onion Rings

Tonight was one of those manly dinners that Clayton looks forward to every week. Since we had some left over chili, we made some Chili-Cheese-Bacon Burgers with Potato Crusted Onion Rings (yes we know, a heart attack between buns). If you happen to live near a Fresh Market, I would definitely recommend their stuffed burgers. Depending on the day, they have all different kinds of burger patties, like portabella-gouda,   bleu cheese, and cheddar-bacon (which is what we chose because we felt that went best with the homemade chili). However, if you don't have a Fresh Market, you can always just top your burger with cheddar cheese and bacon. But this burger is layered with a homemade cajun sauce, an onion ring that holds in the homemade chili, and some chopped raw onion. The onion rings were by far my favorite because by using the crushed up potato chips and panko bread crumbs, you achieve the most amazing crunch. And I highly recommend dipping the onion rings into the Cajun Sauce because it's a perfect combination. Well, enjoy!

Chili Cheese Bacon Burgers with Potato Chip Crusted Onion Rings and Cajun Sauce

For the Cajun Sauce:

½C Mayo

2T Ketchup

2T Horseradish

¼t Paprika

½t Cajun Seasoning

¼t Garlic Powder

¼t Dried Oregano

Dash of Black Pepper

Dash of Cayenne Pepper      

For the Onion Rings:

½C AP Flour

1 Egg

½C Buttermilk

1T Hot Sauce

½t Paprika

1t Cajun Seasoning

¼t Cayenne

¼t Pepper

2C Crushed Kettle-Cooked Potato Chips (Preferably Cape Cod)

1C Panko Breadcrumbs

1 Large Sweet Vidalia Onion, Cut Into Thick Rings

Salt, For Sprinkling

1Q Peanut Oil

For the Burgers:

1 Burger Bun

1 Cheddar-Bacon Burger Patty (or any patty of your choice)

1 Large Onion Ring

¼C Turkey Chili (See Previous Recipe)

2T Cajun Sauce

Chopped Fresh Onion, Optional

Directions:

1.   To Make the Onion Rings: heat your deep fryer to 375 with the peanut oil.  Next you have to set up a battering station. I use 3 pie tins for all of my stations. For the first station, I mix the flour & the seasonings. For the second station, whisk the eggs, buttermilk, and hot sauce. For the third station, pour 2 cups of crushed potato chips and panko breadcrumbs. Dredge each onion ring in the flour, then the buttermilk, and then coat them in the chip-breadcrumb mixture, making sure the onion rings are completely coated. Fry the onion rings in the hot oil for roughly 5-6 minutes or until golden brown. Salt them immediately once they are out of the oil.

2.   To Make the Cajun Sauce: whisk together all of these ingredients, then cover and refrigerate until serving time.

3.   To Make the Burger: cook the burger on high heat in a sauté pan with a little bit of oil. Brown each side for about 2 minutes on each side. Next, place an onion ring on top of the cooked burger patty and pour in the cooked chili (this will help the chili from spilling everywhere). Place the burger underneath a broiler to heat the chili and melt the cheese, roughly 2 minutes. Once the burger is done cooking, top with the chopped raw onion and slather the Cajun sauce on both sides of the burger bun. Serve hot with the potato-crusted onion rings and a side of the Cajun Sauce for dipping.

Here is a labeled version of the burger

source: cajun sauce