Maple Bourbon Cocktail Meatballs

Bourbon, maple syrup, garlic, ketchup, soy sauce, dijon mustard and hot pepper jelly make a sweet and spicy sauce for meat balls that is out of this world! I took these meatballs to an event and they disappeared in a flash. Someone else brought meatballs too, so I was a little worried that mine wouldn’t get eaten, but I shouldn’t have worried. My meatballs disappeared rather quickly … and the other meatballs were there for the latecomers.

I love the holiday season … but things get so freaking crazy this time of year. I’m thanking my former self for making hot pepper jelly at harvest time because it sure came in handy when my friend was hosting a museum fund raising event and needed some appetizers. I totally volunteered for this job so I can’t complain. I just know how hard she works for this fundraiser event and I wanted to help ease her burden. Lucky that my mom and dad had just gifted me a bunch of ground venison (they told me I needed to take it ALL so they would have room for this year’s venison), so I thought it was the perfect time to use up some of that venison and make some sweet and spicy party meatballs.

I had intended to get to the event early and help my friend set things up, but my daughter decided to come along (which I was totally thrilled to hear) … and she wanted to contribute too (oh that’s awesome!) … so she was baking up her yummy thumbprint cookies, but still needed to shower. She had already cooked a bunch, and then asked me if she should make more and I said sure … oops! That was the wrong thing to say. I thought she meant should she make up all the dough she had, but no, she was out of dough so she had to mix up a whole new batch of cookie dough … which delayed her getting into the shower. I volunteered to take over to let her get clean so we could get going, but still, we did not get going anywhere near when I thought I would be leaving. We ended up arriving just after the event started. Not really a big deal, just not what I had planned.

My girl’s thumbprint cookies were a huge hit too, so everything worked out well. I didn’t hear any remarks about my meatballs from the party-goers, but I’ll take their quick disappearance to be a good sign that my own taste buds served me right. I’m pretty dang sure that these yummy sweet and (lightly) spicy meatballs will be the hit of the party wherever they go.

Maple Bourbon Cocktail Meatballs

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 10 - 12 servings 1x

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 cup oats
• 1 onion, peeled & cut into chunks
• 3 – 5 cloves garlic
• 2 carrots or 1 cup matchstick carrots
• 1/2 cup frozen spinach, thawed
• 2 lb. ground meat of choice (I used venison, but you could use grass-fed lean beef, chicken, turkey)
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons Red Robin Seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the maple bourbon sauce:

• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/2 – 1 cup hot pepper jelly
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 – 2 teaspoons horseradish
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
• 3 – 4 cloves garlic, peeled & chopped

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a large baking sheet (or two) with cooking spray or cover with a silicon baking mat.
2. Put the oats in a mini food processor and pulse to chop into tiny bits. Pour the oats out into a mixing bowl, then add the onion, garlic, carrots and spinach and process until all are cut into very small bits.
3. Pour the veggies into the bowl and add the raw ground meat. Using your hands, mush everything together until well mixed. Add the eggs and seasonings and mix some more. Form into balls and place on the baking sheet. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through.
4. While the meatballs are cooking, whisk together the sauce ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.
5. If you want to put these in a crockpot, warm the sauce in the microwave. Place the hot meatballs in the crockpot and pour the sauce over. Turn the crockpot on low or warm.

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Notes

My batch yielded 49 meatballs … assuming 4 – 5 meatballs per person, that’s 10 – 12 servings

You can make the meatballs and sauce ahead of time, refrigerate and reheat at serving time. If you want to use pretzel sticks for serving, insert them just before serving as they will disintegrate quickly.

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

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