On Fridays, we host our friends for some nerd fun. I love hosting things, so its my way of getting to try out new recipes on willing samplers. This week I tried a new dessert and a new dinner item. I planned ahead and made this Funfetti Sheet Cake on Thursday night, because I had a busy Friday. I love a sheet cake and funfetti is always a happy way to end a week. After preheating the oven and preparing my pan, I creamed the butter with my trusty stand mixer. I added in the sugar, vanilla, and eggs, mixing between each ingredient. Finally, I mixed in the yogurt, the last of my wet ingredients. I mixed the dry ingredients together and alternated adding the dry ingredients and milk, stirring between each. After my batter was nice and fluffy, I folded in the sprinkles. I poured the cake into my jelly roll pan and baked the cake for about 20 minutes. While the cake was baking, I mixed the frosting. I creamed the butter and added in milk, vanilla, salt and powdered sugar, mixing until the consistency was right. I covered the frosting and placed it in the fridge overnight. I tightly wrapped the cake after it cooled. On Friday, I let the frosting warm up to room temperature and gently spread it on the cake, garnishing with more sprinkles. The results were a moist, fluffy, sweet cake that paired nicely with our savory snacks and beer. It has also paired nicely with milk or coffee as a delightful breakfast treat.

Our Friday fun started at 6:30 pm, so I wanted to be sure that I served dinner. It’s getting hot here, so a crockpot meal was a must. I decided to try these Beer Cheese Chicken Sliders. The key was making sure that I had pretzel buns. I think I bought all the sliders and buns that my Target had, but I wanted to make sure I had plenty for my crowd. I started the chicken early on Friday. I put about 3 lbs of chicken in the crockpot, along with salt, pepper, minced garlic, and beer. I selected Whitestone’s Long Gone Blonde, because I think that a blonde brings good flavor for marinades and beer cheeses. I cooked the chicken in the crockpot on low all day. About an hour before my guests arrived, I pulled out the chicken and shredded it with my Bear Claws. I put the chicken back in at low to absorb more of the beer and seasonings. Right before my guests arrived, I made the beer cheese sauce. This beer cheese was different from my normal beer cheese dip, but it still was tasty. I started by melting butter and then adding the flour to form a roux. I added in the beer and milk and let it thicken a bit. Finally, I added the cheese in by handfuls, stirring until it was completely melted. We served the chicken on pretzel buns with beer cheese sauce on top. I added a little bit of Dijon mustard too, for an added tanginess. I really liked this meal. The chicken had great flavor from the beer and garlic. The beer cheese was thick and creamy. This was a great meal for us to eat and play and not have to worry about it getting cold. The leftovers were great too and I repurposed the chicken and cheese to beer cheese nachos, which were also yummy. Once again, we had fun times and great food. I can’t wait to see what I find for our next event.

The New Austonian