Party Time Sliders... or Anytime, Really

Om nom nom these sliders were a fantastic find on Pinterest.  We were planning on having friends over for a Bears game and I immediately thought of sliders.  Luckily, I had this little beauty stashed on my Pinterest boards!

See, I'm picky.  Any time the ingredients involve Velveeta, I'm out.  Done, moving on.  I realized how ridiculous it is for the woman who eats box macaroni and cheese, but I don't care.  Velveeta is gross.  Therefore, when I read recipe sliders, I usually abandon them because they incorporate some level of velveeta.  This recipe uses real cheese but still uses the oven.  The last thing I wanted to do with friends over was stand outside on the balcony and grill, so the oven was a must.

As you can see in the picture, we had a plethora of condiments for the sliders.  We tried bacon, onions,

ketchup, mustard, bbq sauce... it was all good, but I wasn't too wild about them.  Then, with the leftovers, we tried pickles.

Magic, my friends.  One pickle on the slider changes the entire taste.  Takes the mundane to fantastic.

And I'm guessing they were a hit because a few weeks later, we found a plate of them at my friend's party!  So try these out yourself.  You can make any changes you want.  Jeff suggested doubling the thickness of the patties, which would be easy.  We doubled it for our party and it worked great.  Try your own variations.

Party Sliders
Adapted from here

1lb ground beef
8oz block of cheddar or colby cheese
1 package onion soup mix
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 package slider buns (we used hawaiin rolls!)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine ground beef, onion soup mix, mayonnaise, and garlic powder.  Grate half the block of cheese.  Add to the bowl.  Mix together with your hands.
3. Form the meat mixture into a ball and place it in the center of a 9x13 baking dish.  Flatten the meat over the baking dish, trying to stretch it to all 4 corners.
4. Bake for 25-30min.
5. Remove from oven and slice meat into roughly 12 squares.  Place onto the slider buns.  Line the buns on a medium baking sheet.
6. Slice the rest of the block of cheese and top each slider with cheese and the top half of the bun.  Put it back in the oven for about 5 minutes or until cheese is melty.   

Mmmm look at that... you drooling yet?

The original directions encouraged covering the pan with foil.  I didn't and the buns were a bit toasted, but no one minded.  I think covering them with foil would keep them soft.  I would definitely suggest the pickles!