Cooking for Zo

Taste Level: VG
Cost: $20 and under
Serves: 4-6
Prep Time: 20-25 min. (2-3 hours if you take the heat out of the pepper)
Cook time: 25-30 min.
Difficulty: 2

Jalapeno poppers are just not spicy enough for me, so I made two half batches of these poppers. One I took out the heat and the other I left alone. All four of us eating these peppers are fans of spicy food and we still thought the ones with the heat left in were really dang hot! So if you are a fan of spicy foods and I mean spicy that will almost make you sweat then cook them without removing the heat. If you like semi spicy foods then remove the heat and enjoy the flavors without the burn (after removing most of the heat it will be about as hot as a pepperoncini to mild jalapeno.) Either may they are really tasty but when the heat is still there I suggest you have a beer and a shot of milk handy to cool off your mouth! Feel the burn!

Ingredients:
20 Habanero peppers (preparation detailed below)
Buttermilk ranch for dipping (also helps cool off the poppers)

Stuffing
2 1/2 slices prosciutto (diced)
2 jalapenos (diced)
4 oz cream cheese (softened)
1/2 cup mild cheddar (shredded)
1 green onion
1 tsp salted Irish butter

Buttermilk Wash
1/2 cup butter milk
1/8 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp Cayenne

Flour Coating
1/2 cup flour
fresh crack pepper (to taste)

Breadcrumb Coating
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder

Habanero Preparation
Cover hands with latex or vinyl preparation gloves. Using a fillet knife carve out stems and make an incision half way down the side of all peppers. Using your index finger scrape out the seeds and veins from all peppers. (If you stuff them right after this step they are going to be really spicy. If you are not a fan of really spicy foods then move to the next step. You will still have the great flavor but much of the heat will be removed.)

To take away a lot of the heat place peppers into a sealable container and cover with 80 proof alcoholic beverage of your choice (vodka, tequila ect.) and let sit for 2-3 hours (shaking around every 30 minutes.) After letting sit for 2-3 hours, pour out alcohol and cover in cool water, seal container and shake for 1-2 minutes. Pour out water and repeat 2-3 more times.

Stuffing
In a small sauce pan melt butter over medium heat. After melted cook prosciutto, jalapeno and onion for 5-7 minutes. Add to a medium bowl. In the medium bowl mix together the prosciutto with the rest of the stuffing ingredients and sit to the side until ready to use.

Wash
In a medium bowl whisk together butter milk with seasonings.

Flour coating
In a medium bowl whisk together flour and seasonings.

Breadcrumb coating
In a medium bowl whisk together breadcrumbs with seasonings.

Poppers
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stuff each pepper with filling and dip into the buttermilk wash and then roll in flour coating. Place peppers rolled in flour coating onto a baking safe dish and let dry for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes dip into Buttermilk wash once more and roll in breadcrumb coating until coated well. Place peppers bake onto baking safe dish and bake for 25-30 minutes (or you can deep fry the peppers for 2-3 minutes.)

Serve while cheese is still hot and melted!

If making in advance, bake and then freeze. You will want to reheat them at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.