Cinco de Mayo is coming up this Saturday and I’m helping with a coed baby shower that has a Mexican menu. This is one of the appetizers we will be serving to the guests. I usually make these in small individual baking dishes for the guests to help themselves at the buffet but since we are passing them to the guests, I had to redo my recipe so a baking dish was not needed. I tested my new recipe today and it came out so fabulous.
One note if you plan on making these, I only used my silicone mini cupcake baking pans, I don’t think I would event try a metal one, I really wanted this to come out the first time around and not stick. I made this easy for the home cook by using a cornbread mix for the crust. I happen to like the one you just add water to it, I like the sweetness of this crust paired with the spiciness of the beef mixture.
3 Pepper & Beef Filling
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound of ground beef
1 cup of chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 bell pepper, diced (I used ½ an orange bell pepper and ½ red)
1 chipotle chili pepper, minced
(from a can of chipotle chilies in adobo)
1 cup corn, drained, canned or frozen
1 7 oz. can of chopped green chilies
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2/3 cup red enchilada sauce
1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
Sour cream for garnish
Sliced olives for garnish
Cornbread Crust
3 3/4 cups “just add water” corn bread mix
1 ½ cups of water
Equipment needed:
Mini muffin pan, preferably silicone
Directions
- Pour the olive oil into a large skillet over medium high heat, add the beef and onions and sauté for 5 minutes, breaking up the beef into small crumbles
- Add the garlic, bell pepper, chipotle pepper, canned green chili peppers, corn, chili powder, cumin, dried oregano and enchilada sauce and simmer, stirring occasionally until all the liquid has been evaporated, turn off heat and set aside
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
- Mix the cornbread crust ingredients in a medium mixing bowl,
- With a silicone mini muffin pan set on a cookie sheet, spray lightly with a non-stick oil spray and spoon a small teaspoon amount in the bottom of each mini muffin cup, follow that by spooning a teaspoon of beef mixture on top of that and again spoon a small teaspoon of cornbread batter on top of the beef, followed by a little sprinkling of shredded cheddar cheese
- Place in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, let cool for another 10 before taking each mini tamale tart out, garnish with a dollop of sour cream and an olive slice
- Makes 3 pans of 24 mini tarts for a total of 72, enough for a party of 15 to 20 as an appetizer or alternatively you could make full size muffing pan size and that would yield about 30
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