ham and cheese sliders

I woke up this morning and what did I see...

Not popcorn popping ~ in fact, very far from it!  Kind of made me laugh to see my kids trying out the sled Santa brought them when today’s recipe is ... sliders.  Get it?  Sliders?  Well, I thought it was funny.

In preparation for the many recipes I have planned to try this month, I made my monthly journey to Sam’s with Littlest.  It was an interesting experience for the two of us, as I usually drag Grandma along to provide some much needed adult conversation ~ not to mention a second grown-up for crowd control.  But Grandma has been sick and I didn’t want to stress her system further with a monumental grocery trek.  And my grocery treks are monumental.  Hey, I’m feeding a slew (sounder? convocation? bevy? ~ who decides what groups of animals are called anyway?) of hungry animals here, and I try to only go once a month.  And have you seen the size of the foodstuffs they sell in club stores?  They’re huge.  Yes, yes I am defensive.  I had several people comment on how much Littlest and I were buying.  Another reason to bring Grandma along; apparently people think some of my stuff is hers when she is with me.  But despite the amazed comments, Littlest and I enjoyed our one on one time immensely.

Anyway.  One of the items purchased during this monthly sortie was a box of a dozen large fresh-baked croissants.  (Planning on making breakfast with them tomorrow.)  Everyone saw them, coveted them, drooled over them... demanded that I make ham and cheese croissants immediately.  (My mother-in-law has a simple, delicious recipe for ham and cheese croissants that she made for special occasions and our family loves.  I’ll have to share that some time.)  Much to my disgruntled husband’s dissatisfaction, I was NOT making ham and cheese croissants.  I was making ham and cheese sliders, and no amount of persuasion was going to change my mind.  Honestly!  Just who do these animals think the cook is around here anyway?  This is not a restaurant where whatever anyone wants is made to order!  If I’m doing the cooking, then they’re going to have to suck it up and eat what I make!  Whew.  I had no idea I felt so strongly about this subject.  Now that I think about it, that could really be one of the reasons I hate the dreaded question so much.  (“What’s for dinner?” Aaaarrrrgggg!)

Boy, I digress again.  I’m a serious digresser today.  (Yep, that’s a word.  Look it up.)  This post is full of digression.  So, to make a long story short (too late!) I made Ham and Cheese Sliders last night, and the animals around here were planning on being unhappy about it.  I told my husband that it was quite possible that he would actually like them better than ham and cheese croissants.  He said not likely.  Then he took a bite.  I watched him with rapt attention.  He took another bite.  “So...?” I finally prompted.

“They’re good,” was the frustrating reply, muffled by melty cheese and bread.  He took another bite.  “They’re really good.”  Well, that was better...

“Enough sauce?” I asked, knowing that my husband is a saucy kind of guy and despite being bathed in a delicious poppy seed sauce, these sandwiches really aren’t very wet.

“Perfect,” was his gratifying response.

“Better than ham and cheese croissants?”  Yes, I’m ashamed to admit, there was a part of me that wanted my husband to like my cooking better than his mother’s.  I may be going to hell for this.

“You have to understand, I really love ham and cheese croissants,” he demurred.  My ego very slightly but satisfyingly stroked, his mother given her proper due, I allowed myself to be mollified and went back to my own dinner.  I was very surprised when, licking butter from his fingers a few minutes later he said, completely unprompted, “Those are amazing.  Restaurant quality.”  (I think out of the 12 I made, he ate 5.)

Wow.  Just wow.  Nothing I have ever cooked has EVER been compared to something you can get in a restaurant.  Even when I try out recipes strait from a restaurant!  What more need I say about these sliders?  Simple?  Yep.  Not too many ingredients?  Yep.  Most if not all ingredients already in the house (except maybe the rolls)?  Yep.  Fun to make with Oldest?  Absolutely!

Here’s the recipe so you can shock and amaze your own family.

Ham and Cheese Sliders

source: the girl who ate everything

24 good white dinner rolls

24 pieces good honey ham (I used black forest)

24 small slices Swiss cheese

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup miracle whip

poppy seed sauce:

½ tablespoon poppyseeds

¾ tablespoon yellow mustard

¼ cup butter, melted

½ tablespoon minced onion

¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise and miracle whip.  Spread onto both sides of the center of each roll.  Place a slice of ham and a slice of Swiss inside of each roll.  Close rolls and place them into a large baking dish or heavy cookie sheet.  Place very close together.

In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the poppy seed sauce ingredients.  Pour evenly over all of the sandwiches.  Just use enough to cover the tops.  Let sit 10 minutes or until butter sets slightly.  Cover with foil and bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Uncover and cook for 2 additional minutes or until tops are slightly brown and crispy.  Serve warm.

Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip?  Why does it seem that everyone likes one or the other, but not both.  Unexpectedly, this recipe calls for both, but I gag at the thought of Miracle Whip, so I balked and used just the mayo.  We didn’t measure it, just slathered it into the rolls, top and bottom.  Oh, and I guess mine weren’t actually sliders, since I used full-sized fresh-baked kaiser rolls.  Mmm.  They looked so inviting I just had to bring them home with me.  And I’m so glad I did.  We put one slice of ham and one slice of cheese inside and packed 12 of them onto a foil-lined standard sized cookie sheet.

 And I was going to use minced onion, I really was, but I couldn’t find it.  So I used ½ tablespoon minced garlic and a generous sprinkling of onion powder.  (I doubled the sauce ~ which I had halved from the original recipe at the author's suggestion.  But after I melted the butter I knew it wasn’t going to be enough.)

Try these.  Bake these.  Eat these.  Amaze and delight your family with these.