A Taste of Home: Spiced Up Fried Cheese Curds

Do you know what a cheese curd is?  If you don't, I'm sorry. You should go find them immediately.


Seriously, you can read this later.


They are the little lumps of cheese that have not been shaped into the bricks we usually buy them in.  They are good, better then a slice off one of those bricks, and they are highly appreciated in the Minnesota/Wisconsin area. 


They are good eaten fresh.  They are really good battered and fried, and this is the #1 item at any summertime festival in Minnesota with food vendors.


I have a co-worker also from Minnesota, and thru some favor trading I received a bag of cheese curds this week straight from home.  (For people outside the mid-west, I have also seen them at Trader Joe's.)


I ate a bunch of them fresh, but I could not resist the urge to fry some up.  Especially with a batter recipe right on the bag! I also could not resist the urge to add some cayenne pepper to the batter.


Things were a little tricky and messy at first. I don't fry things very often. And I found the batter recipe on the bag a bit too thin, so I added some more flour to thicken it up. This helped things a lot, and by the second half of my batch they were coming out beautifully.


I'm really happy with the added spices too. It wasn't too much pepper, just enough that you get a little tingle in your throat.  

Spiced Up Fried Cheese Curds

1lb Cheese Curds

2/3 cup Milk

1 cup Flour

¾ tsp Baking Powder

¼ tsp Salt

½ tsp Chilli Powder

2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Vegetable or Canola Oil (for frying)

Heat oil in a pan or deep fryer

Combine flour, milk, baking powder, salt, chilli powder, and cayenne pepper.

Coat cheese curds in mixture.

Fry in hot oil, flipping if needed, until batter is golden and transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

Eat while still warm. I would recommend ranch if you want to dip them in something, but I enjoyed mine plain.

Cheese Curd

This Pies For The Grown-Ups: Cayenne Spiced Pumpkin Pie

It may look like your typical pumpkin pie. But it's not. It's better then that.

Because I had this great idea, it was probably sub-consciously inspired by the potatoes, to put some Cayenne pepper in pumpkin pie.

I know, it can sound weird. But think about it – not too much, just a subtle amount of cayenne...with pumpkin...and cinnamon. Well, lots of people didn't believe in the idea, but I knew it would be good.

So I decided I would start with a basic pumpkin pie recipe that included plenty of cinnamon. Take out all the other spices, and just add the cayenne pepper a little at a time until it seemed to taste right.

So I started with:

1 15oz can of pumpkin (because canned is fine)

1 12oz can of evaporated milk

2 large eggs

¾ cup sugar

2 Tbsp flour

1 tsp cinnamon

And here is where I added some cayenne pepper, tasted the mix, added some more...finally settled on ½ tsp cayenne pepper.

I filled up a par-baked pie crust (because pumpkin pie filling is like water so if you don't par-bake the crust it WILL be moist).

I baked this for 15min at 425°, then turned the oven down to 350° and baked for another 30 min. And it was perfect, beautiful, the second time.

I learned an important lesson the first time I made this. People who say they use graham cracker crusts for pumpkin pie are idiots.

It's a liquid! And ground up crackers are not strong enough for liquid!

But the first time I made this I was a little burnt out by the typical crust, because I had been making a lot of them, and I wanted to do something different. So I put my trust in these reports. And it was a mess. Even with pre-baking it was a thick, soggy, cake-y layer sitting below my pumpkin creation.

I couldn't even decide for sure if it was good.

So I made it a second time, using the appropriate crust. And it most certainly IS good, although I will be the first to say this pie will probably not be appreciated by everyone. But those who do appreciate it, they will love you for it.

Anythings Game Now: Cheesy Spicy Mashed Potatoes

I mentioned before that I was not sure what to do with this blog; whether or not I wanted to expand its scope outside pie.

I have been putting together a number of recipes lately for Tasty Kitchen, and one food came along and made the decision for me.

I created these mashed potatoes. They taste amazing, are easy to make, and need to be shared with as many people in the world as I can possibly reach.

They include the two best ingredients on the face of the planet: cayenne pepper and cheese. Mixed in with one of that which I will hereby name The Cream Dyad: sour cream.

I thought of these potatoes, and then thought about them for weeks waiting for the opportunity to make them. They were all I hoped they would be. It is so satisfying to not be disappointed by dreams.

The Potatoes:

The Recipe

(Makes 4 Servings)

1lb Potatoes

4 Tbsp Sour Cream

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1½ cups shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese – the sharper the better and I recommend orange colored cheese to give potatoes that “yes, I am cheesy” hue.

Milk (a splash may or may not be needed)

Scrub potatoes and peel if desired. Cut into 1″ cubes.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Boil potatoes until soft, about 15 minutes. Drain.

Start mashing potatoes, going until you have achieved a rough lumpy mash using whatever method you

prefer. (I just use a pastry cutter and a fork).

Thoroughly mix in sour cream. If the potatoes are not creamy enough, add a splash of milk and stir to combine.

Stir in cheese, adding it in batches of 1/4-1/2 a cup at a time. Keep stirring until completely and evenly combined.

Add cayenne pepper and stir. (This much pepper will produce a mild level of heat for spice aficionados while still preserving the cheesy flavor, so scale back a bit if this is too much for you.)

Creative leftover idea:

I had a bunch of these to enjoy a second night, and wanted to do something different with them. So I made my favorite mashed potato dish – potato tacos!

I stuffed them into flour tortillas, folded in half and broiled to get the tortillas warm and a bit crispy. Then I topped them with some more sour cream, shredded lettuce, and tomatoes.

It was Yummy. But warning, as with all things cayenne spiced, they got hotter with time.