I love these mushrooms for three reasons: l) The flavor is sensational; 2) They are quick and easy to make, with few ingredients needed; and 3) Bob, our friend who is a vegetarian, can eat them, so he doesn’t mind it when I ask him to whip up a batch in my kitchen!
Ingredients:
- 1 pkg. of cream cheese (8 oz.), softened
- 1 lb. button mushrooms
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese (either grated or shredded)
- 1/2 tsp. of a really great seasoning mix, such as Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute or Trader Joe’s Everyday Seasoning. If you don’t have something like that, you can use 1/4 tsp. garlic powder, a dash of salt, a few herbs like basil and oregano, or 1/2 tsp. Italian Seasoning herbs and a dash of salt
- 1 stick butter, melted
- Red pepper flakes or chopped parsley or finely diced chives
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Clean the mushrooms (with a mushroom brush, a damp paper towel, or whatever your favorite method is). Cut a small slice off the bottom so each mushroom will sit still without wobbling. Remove the stems. Finely chop both the stems and the slice you cut off the bottom. (I shouldn’t need to say this, but I don’t want any bad things to happen, so I will be very clear: Don’t chop up the mushroom caps. That’s what you’re going to stuff, silly.)
Mix together the cream cheese, parmesan cheese, and your seasonings while you melt your butter in the microwave. Place the melted butter into a shallow bowl for use in a minute. Meanwhile, after the other ingredients are thoroughly mixed, gently fold in the chopped mushroom parts.
Get out a cookie sheet. If you have a small cookie scoop (the kind you squeeze and it will drop out your ball of dough), use it to place a small scoop of cheese filling into the cavity of each mushroom cap. [Otherwise, slip on your food-safe gloves and roll your own balls and place them into the mushroom caps.] Roll each mushroom cap in the melted butter to coat, then place on the cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes. Do not expect them to get brown. The purpose of baking is to cook the mushrooms and melt the cheeses. When you take them out of the oven, top part of them with red pepper flakes, part with chopped parsley, and leave part without adornment. Something for everyone! (Unless you’re around my house, in which case you top them all with crushed red pepper flakes and call it good, because otherwise fights will break out.)
These probably keep well. The only thing I can attest to is that they’re good for breakfast the next day. I assume they would last longer than that, but I have no personal experience with them being around longer than that.
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