With me being a “Burger Queen” (appointed and crowned by my hubby!), and the love my hubby and I both have for burgers, I decided to try my hand at entering the Bud & Burgers Championships contest this year!

The whole thing sounded so exciting and a LOT of fun! And quite a pile of loot at stake, to boot! It’s a “winner takes all” contest, and the lucky dog goes home with $100,000.00! Wow, eh??!!!

Uhm, yea, worth trying for!! Especially since burgers are one of my specialties! 😉

I tried to enter one of my burgers that I’m very proud of, my “3-Part Harmony Burger“, but it kept saying, “this photo has already been entered”. Hmmm. 😉 Contacting them about it got me nowhere, so I decided to just come up with yet another one. And NOT share my photo/blog with anyone until the contest was over. (Obviously cheating was abound and someone thought that right-clicking on someone else’s property suddenly made it theirs.) Tsk, tsk.

I don’t want to sound like “sour grape jelly”, so, moving on.

I decided to really go for it, and create yet another crazy concoction! The summer had just started, and I was ready to just have a blast with this! I figured that I would not get chosen, as every Tom, Dick and Shelby would be entering for that kind of big $$$$, but I knew that it would push me to create something fun that my hubby and I would enjoy at the very least. And that was all that mattered.

I decided to go with something that I still have a love for even after eating these sandwiches every single day throughout my whole entire childhood. (My mom was a working single parent, and we couldn’t afford much.)

Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches to the rescue. Always. 😀

But I gave the whole concept quite a bit of a SERIOUS makeover!  😉

I started off with some hot, sweet, salty, smokey, “soon-to-be-candied” bacon all ready for a quick trip under the boiler! 😀

I love black cherries, and believe it or not, black cherry preserves pair extremely well with onions cooked down, with a tiny bit of butter and a little beer, until they become ever so sweet together!

This sweet onion jam won my heart instantly!

I know, I am SO, SO SORRY about this next photo, all! I know it hurts your eyes! I didn’t have enough light and didn’t use my tripod, so major “camera shake” going on! 🙁

But just look at the beautiful grill marks that I got! It was such a pretty burger!!!

Heartbreaking that none of those photos turned out. Lesson learned. 😉

I thought hard about what kind of cheese I wanted to go with. Smokey gouda? Fontina? White cheddar? Brie??

I finally decided upon a nice, creamy-rich, velvety-smooth and easy-melting havarti….

…. I could not have chosen a better cheese for this.

I only melted the cheese most of the way, as I wanted to broil a second time after adding the other toppings! 😉

After topping and a second quick trip under the broiler for a minute longer, the cheese melted lusciously, and the black cherry onion jam and the candied bacon got a brief sizzling!

Absolute. Perfection.

Just look at all that ooey gooey cheese dripping down….makes you swoon doesn’t it?

Repeat after me…

“Don’t lick the screen. Don’t lick the screen. Don’t lick t”……darnit.

….And then I got brave and did something that I was afraid….might be a bit – – weird. I added the tomato!

And Oh. My. GAWD. As strange as it might sound, it actually MADE the burger, in that,  all of the ingredients suddenly came together as if they were just plain meant to be together!!

I can tell you this. I get bored easily with burgers. That’s why I’m constantly playing and creating new ones. There are VERY few that I say….damn, I want another one of those!

And SOON!!!!

Once I make one, I’m usually kinda done with it. Like a “been there done that moving on” kind of thing, if you get what I mean. There are just too many things to experiment with and play with, that, I don’t like to repeat things that I’ve already made.

But this one….yea, it was just that good! 😉 😀

Sadly, this masterpiece wasn’t even chosen to compete! My burger fell through the grates…er… cracks completely. I think Budweiser missed out. What do you think? 😉

*UPDATE: Here is a link to the winning recipe.
(The burger worthy of winning $100,000.00.)

And a link to the contest finals. Oopsie!
Better luck to Bud and the contestants next year!
(Events like this are NOT easy to plan, predict and execute!)

I feel bad for ALL involved, and kinda glad I wasn’t chosen….kinda. 😉
Maybe next year!! 😉

*Don’t be afraid of the ingredient list!! Ingredients are repeated and used throughout, so there aren’t that many, actually. 😉 Enjoy!! 😀

Yield: 1 (1/2 lb.) burger

"The Nutter Butter Burger" | Bud & Burgers 2015 Championships Entry

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Ingredients

For the Spicy Peanut Butter Aioli:

• 2 Tbl. creamy peanut butter (I like to use Peter Pan)
• 2 tsp. sriracha sauce
• 1 tsp. regular soy sauce
• 1 Tbl. + 1 tsp. Miracle Whip
• 2 tsp. Budweiser beer

For the Black Cherry Onion Jam:

• 1 Tbl. butter
• 1/2 of a large sweet onion (preferably Vidalia), sliced
• 3 Tbl. black cherry preserves
• 1 Tbl. Budweiser beer
• dash each salt and fresh cracked black pepper (or coarse ground)

For the Spicy Sweet Candied Bacon:

• 2 strips lean quality thick-cut bacon cooked crisp and drained
• 1 Tbl. dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp. spicy brown mustard
• 1 tsp. sriracha

For the Spicy Nutter Butter Burger:

• 1/2 lb. 80/20 ground beef
• 1 Tbl. creamy peanut butter
• 1 Tbl. frozen salted butter, grated or chopped finely
• 1 Tbl. Budweiser beer
• 1/2 tsp. soy sauce
• fresh cracked black pepper (or coarse ground), for inside and out.
• 1/2 tsp. sriracha sauce

Rest of Ingredients:

• 1 thick slice havarti cheese (or two thin slices) or a 1/3 cup crumbled
• 1 slice garden-fresh red-ripe large beefsteak tomato
• 1 piece kale torn to slightly overhang size of bun
• 1 split and grilled/toasted soft pretzel or onion poppy seed bun, whatever is available in your area

Instructions

For the Aioli:

Stir ingredients in small bowl until well mixed. Set aside.

For the Onion Jam:

In small saucepan, melt butter, add rest of ingredients, and sauté until onions are tender. About 3-5 minutes.

For Candied Bacon:

In small bowl, mix dark brown sugar, mustard, and sriracha. Spread evenly on both sides of precooked bacon and place onto a shallow dish or non-stick baking sheet. Low broil a minute or two on each side until bubbly, set aside.

For the Burger:

In medium bowl, add beef breaking it up. Smear the peanut butter over the top. Grate in butter. Drizzle evenly with beer, soy sauce, and sriracha. Add pepper. Mix lightly with hands, but combine and distribute ingredients well.

Shape into a nice round, thick patty making a small dent in the center. Sprinkle both sides with more pepper.

Place burger patty onto medium-hot grill and close lid. Grill 4-5 minutes depending on how hot your grill is. Flip with a sharp spatula and grill other side until done, about 4-5 more minutes depending on the doneness preferred.

When almost done, top with havarti cheese and melt most of the way with lid closed. Then top with candied bacon and onion jam, close lid and grill just a minute longer. (*The cheese, bacon and onion jam can also be broiled.) Remove from grill (or broiler).

Toast inside of buns on grill or under broiler.

To Assemble:

Top bottom bun with kale, then top with finished burger and tomato slice.

Spread inside of top bun (or bottom and top if you prefer), with spicy sweet aioli. Place top on burger and take a BIG bite!

Good, huh?!! 😀 😉