BBQ Beef Cups or How I Gain Brad's Favor Through Food

This post might blow any perceptions the public formerly held about me being into "good" food. Barbeque beef cups are amazingly tasty, but there is nothing gourmet, interesting or creative about them.

Around our house, New Year's Day tends to be an all-out appetizer-fest. Starting around 3:00 p.m., we load the kitchen island to the gills with dips, salsas, and calorie-laden spreads that need carbs of varying shapes and sizes as their scoopers.

Brad put in his usual request for the beef cups and I obliged because I then I would also get to eat some.

They taste just like the chopped beef brisket at one of our favorite Texas joints:

(Didn't notice the kids standing in front of the handicapped sign...that is not an editorial comment on any of their abilities.)

Brad got the idea for these beef cups (which might remind you of a barbecuey, beefy, cupcake) from a co-worker. After coming home from a sales meeting he threatened to leave me if I didn't make them. (Obviously, I am kidding, but I can't stress how much he loves these and I didn't want to joke about him taking my life in order to demonstrate my seriousness.)

So, this is all you need:

Biscuits from the store (but not the Grands because they are too big unless you have a popover or Texas muffin pan, in which case you should change the name to Giant BBQ Beef Cakes.)

Pepper Jack cheese, grated

Barbeque beef

Now, the barbeque beef is probably the biggest variable in how these Manly Cupcakes taste. The top choice would be some delicious, chopped, leftover brisket smothered in a slightly sweet and tangy sauce, but that isn't always available, especially in the North. In a pinch, I highly suggest the Lloyd's chopped barbeque beef found in your grocery store. It's usually in the section with sausages and whatnot.

Here's the very scientific method: Flatten each biscuit and place it in a muffin tin kind of like you would a pie crust. In each little cup o' buttery goodness, put a heaping scoop of barbeque beef. Bake at 400 (or whatever the biscuits call for) until the biscuit is golden and the beef is bubbly, then top with pepper jack until melted.

Now put on some elastic-waisted pants and try not to eat the whole pan.

Here is the finished product approximately two hours after it came out of the oven and after I snatched the last two out of Brad's kung-fu grip while racking my brain for blog topics. All that to say, the cheese looks like cheese does after a few hours at room temperature, so just imagine it fresh from the oven and bubbly.