Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Crab Cake Canapes

These remind me of my Mom.  

She has been making them for as long as I can remember.  I didn't really acquire a taste for seafood until I was a bit older and am furious I wasted so many years not trying these.  Actually, that's probably why I'm not morbidly obese.  Moving right along...

These are so incredibly delicious.  That's the funny thing about these actually.  People who don't really like seafood (my husband, my brother in law, insert picky relative here) love these.  Like won't stop eating these, love these.

I hope you are getting the picture here because you need to make these.  Like now.

Here are our ingredients.

Premium Lump Crab Meat 
Butter
Mayonnaise 
Garlic Powder
Thomas' English Muffins 
Kraft Old English Spread

Leave your butter out over night so it's at room temp.  If you forgot, no bigs.  Just pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds or so.  Cream in the cheddar spread and half the mayonnaise.  So it's important you get the Kraft Old English spread.  I have tried making this with other cheddar spreads and it doesn't come out right. It's sharp, creamy and delicious.  Do not get imitation, imitation cheese please.

Add the garlic powder.

Add the rest of the mayonnaise. See how adding the second half of the mayo after made it all creamy and fluffy?  This is my new trick.  Charlie actually asked if I did something different.  After making these the exact same way for seven years, I think this small change made a big difference.

You can use regular canned crab meat, but I prefer premium lump crab meat.

Fold the crab into the cheese mixture.

Yum.  Resist the urge to spread this in between your hands and eat them like a sandwich.

Ok so you must use Thomas' English Muffins.  I know that sounds odd, but the whole nooks and crannies thing - it really makes a huge difference for this recipe. The butter/cheese/crab mixture melts into the muffins and magic happens.    I've used other ones out of pure desperation, and they just don't come out as crispy.  I use a serrated knife to cut them in half even though they are "pre cut".  Otherwise you will have one big half and one anemic looking one.  You know what I'm talking about.

Spread the mixture on top of each of the muffin halves and shove four in your face.  I mean put them in the oven.

Place the sheet pan in a 400 degree pre heated oven on a low rack.  You want the bottoms crispy crispy CRISPAYYY.

Once the bottoms are nice and golden brown (about 20 minutes or so), move them up to a higher rack so the tops get golden brown.

Uhuh.  Ok.  Yes.  Yes please and thank you.

So this is what the bottom looks like.

Notice how you can see the grains of the English muffins?  That's because the topping melted into the muffin.  I can't really describe it.  You'll just have to try it for yourself.

Once you do, you can just write me a love letter.  My address is 423 I love Cheese Street, in Crabville, USA. Stay hungry!

Crab Cake Canape Recipe 

1 Can Premium Lump Crab Meat 
1 Stick Butter
1/2 Cup Mayonnaise, separated  
1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder
1 Pkg Thomas' English Muffins 
1 Jar Kraft Old English Spread

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cream room temp butter, cheese spread, and half of mayonnaise together.  Add garlic powder.  Fold in the rest of the mayonnaise and then add crab meat.  Cut the English muffins in half and spread the crab mixture on the top of the muffins.  Bake on a low rack for 20 minutes, or until the bottoms are very crispy.  Move muffins to a higher rack for another five minutes or so, so tops become nice and golden brown.  Server immediately and enjoy!

3 comments:

  1. i made these last night for dinner...as i was mixing, my husband kept looking over my shoulder, i could tell he was thinking, "this is not what i had in mind for dinner, but she's cooking so i'll keep my mouth shut". during dinner the kids were so excited, "these are so good mom!!!"...my husband kept looking at me like he was thinking, "these are really good, i'm impressed". normally we eat real food for dinner, but last night it was an appetizer kind of night. very yummy!

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  2. Oh wow, those look soooo good! I have to try these this weekend. Thank you so much for sharing.

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