Stuffed Mushrooms With A Kick

Need a New Year's Eve party appetizer? These stuffed mushrooms are a hit. What makes these different from your average stuffed mushroom? The unexpected kick courtesy of cayenne pepper. I like spice so these were perfect for me, but if you aren't a big fan of heat the cayenne can be adjusted. Let's just say that when I made these, none of them made it back home and to me that's a sign of a successful dish. No leftovers = good stuff!

As usual I took a recipe I found and tweaked it just a bit. The original recipe can be found HERE. I added yellow onion and used baby portobello mushrooms to give it a meaty texture and flavor.


What you need:

18-20 fresh mushrooms whole (I used baby portobello)
1 small yellow onion
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (2-3 medium sized cloves)
1 (8 oz package) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (this can be adjusted if you don't like a lot of spice)



What you do:

Clean mushrooms. Carefully remove stems and set aside (you will use these later).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray.

Chop off and discard rough end of the mushroom stems. Finely chop the remaining mushroom stems. Mince garlic and chop onion.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, onions and finely chopped mushroom stems. Saute until moisture disappears. Stir frequently to avoid burning the garlic. Set aside to cool.

After the mushroom mixture has cooled completely, combine it in a medium bowl with cream cheese, parmesan cheese, black pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper. Give it a good stir. Mixture should be nice and thick.

Using a small spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous heap of the cream cheese stuffing. Arrange mushrooms in prepared baking dish or cookie sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes in preheated oven. Mushroom should be piping hot with a bit of liquid forming under the caps.