Easy Barbecue Cups

This is one of those easy things that goes back to my own adolescent days of first learning to cook - I think it may have started out as either a Bake-Off recipe or something on the back of a product, but I've long since forgotten for sure.

I continued to make these occasionally for my own kids when they were growing up - they hit all the right buttons for a busy parent. They're fast to put together, easy to get the kids involved with preparation, are highly modifiable according to tastes, you can pick them up to eat them and they taste great!

It's been a long time though - but this past week, we had some child-sized houseguests and one was having a birthday, so I pulled out this old standby.

Mind you, this version uses commercial products on purpose, because it's meant to be fast and easy - but of course, you can make your own sauce, season the meat with something other than barbecue and make it as homemade as you like.

Easy Barbecue Cups

2 cans Grands! Refrigerated Biscuits
1 bottle barbecue sauce
2 lb ground meat (I used 1 lb ground beef and 1 lb pork sausage meat)
1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded or thin sliced

Brown the meat until it is thoroughly cooked.  If you like, toss some veggies in there too - onions, mushrooms, minced carrots and celery are good choices.

Once the meat mixture is cooked and any veggies are softened, add the sauce and mix well to blend.  If need be, let it simmer a bit until it is thickened and not too 'saucy', like Sloppy Joes.

While the meat is cooking, prepare the biscuits:  One biscuit at a time, gently pat a biscuit until it is large enough to press into an ungreased muffin pan to create a shell.

That's the part the kids can help with!

Fill each shell with the meat mixture up to the top, and then top it off with the cheese.

Cook at 350F for 15-17 minutes, or until the biscuits are browned and the cheese has melted.  Let cool on a rack for a few minutes, and then remove to serve.

That's it! Easy peasy!

Variation:  Easy Tuna Melt Cups

A slightly more adult-friendly version is also good:

Instead of barbecued meat, make your favorite recipe for tuna salad, not too wet (I like mine with bits of crunchy celery).  Switch the Cheddar for Swiss cheese.  Yum!

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