Pimento Cheese Fritter Burger With Hot Pepper Jelly

Ingredients

Pimento Cheese Fritters

8 oz sharp cheddar cheese - grated

2 oz softened cream cheese

7 oz diced pimento peppers

1/4 C mayonaise

1 Tbsp hot sauce

1 Tbsp freshly cracked black pepper (more or less to taste)

1/2 C all purpose flour

2 eggs - beaten

2 cups panko bread crumbs

Enough vegetable oil to fry (fill your pot 1/2 way full and at least a couple inches deep)

Hot Pepper Jelly

1 green bell pepper and 3-4 jalapeños (~3/4 lb total)

4 cups sugar

1.5 C Water

1/2 C apple cider vinegar

juice of 1 lime

1 Tsp salt

1 packet of pectin powder

Burger

1 lb ground beef (whatever cut you like)

hamburger buns

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 C sour cream

2 Tbsp finely chopped chives

Preparation

Alright so both the pimento cheese and jelly recipes make a lot so prepare to have extras! Also the fritters with the jelly and sour cream are amazing even without the burger.

1. For the jelly, roughly chop the peppers and puree them in a food processor for 1 minute.

2. Add this to a medium size pot (~5 qts) along with the water, vinegar and pectin. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly.

3. Then add the sugar and bring back up to a rolling boil for exactly 4 minutes, stirring the entire time. If it starts to bubble over (use a larger pot next time) briefly remove from heat and skim off the foam. Do not leave it off the heat for too long though! And stir gently, this will help keep it from boiling over.

4. After 4 minutes, remove from heat, skim off any foam and allow to cool for a few minutes before pouring into glass jars and refrigerating for at least 4 hours (it will take this long at a minimum to set). This is not shelf stable, you need to do proper canning for that.

5. Make the pimento cheese by mixing together the cheddar, cream cheese, pimento peppers, mayo, hot sauce and black pepper in a bowl.

6. Then mold the cheese into ~1/2 inch thick patties as large as your buns, place on a silicone sheet and freeze for at least 1 hour. Refrigerate the rest of the pimento cheese.

7. When the pimento cheese patties are chilled and firm, take them out of the freezer and bread them. To do so, place the flour, eggs and bread crumbs in 3 separate containers (preferably wide). Coat the cheese patties in flour, making sure they are completely coated. Shake off excess and place in the beaten eggs. Again, coating thoroughly. Then coat with the breadcrumbs. Repeat the egg and breadcrumb coating.

8. Fry them in 350 degree F oil until deep golden brown (about 6-8 minutes). Don’t burn them but make sure they are nice and dark in color or the inside wont be warm yet. Place on a paper towel lined plate and let cool for 5 minutes.

9. During this time, make the beef patties. Place a skillet (stainless steel, cast iron, etc.) on medium high heat and put your buns in while it heats up to toast them. After you’ve removed the buns and the pan is hot, place 2 roughly 3 oz balls of beef in the skillet and smash with a spatula. Season and cook for 1-2 minutes and then flip and repeat. If you smash them thin, they should cook quickly! Also you can cook your burgers however you want.

10. Now plate it up. Mix the sour cream and chives together and spread on the bottom bun. Top with the beef patties and pimento cheese fritter. Smear a good amount of hot pepper jelly on the top bun and that’s it.