Possibly more commonly know as burger sliders but a little smaller, these bite sized burgers are perfect for impressing your friends with your canapes, or for small Children. ...It's rare that these two different types of dish overlap, but with this recipe they do! The are perfect for children as they are a fun small version of a normal meal, and some less mature adults might also find them entertaining! The only real draw back of this recipe is that unless you can find a supermarket that sells miniature burger buns (unlikely!) you have to make them yourself, which can be a bit time consuming.

Remember the 4 Canape attributes:

Salty
Small
Circular
Four parts

Still interested ?

The next stage of the recipe deals with making the miniature burger buns. If you have by some miracle managed to find some the just go straight on to step 2.

Step 1: Miniature Burger Buns

Ingredients:

20ml of milk

75ml warm water

20g butter (unsalted)

210g flour

7g yeast

20g sugar

pinch of salt

1 egg

1 egg beaten with water for egg wash

sesame seeds

I have decided to break this recipe down in to 4 easy steps.

1. Mix the ingredients
2. Knead the Dough
3. Allow to rise
4. Bake

Step 1 Mix the ingredients

Mix all of the Dried Ingredients in a large bowl. Once roughly mixed add the wet ingredients. The water acts as a binding agent, so with that in mind add as much water as you feel you need. You only need your dough to come together in to a ball, and you don't want your dough to be too wet (there are few things that I find more difficult to work with then wet dough)!

Step 2 Knead the Dough

So this is the stage where you will end up building some muscle in you arms! You really need to work this dough until it feels soft,smooth and elastic to the touch. By the time you have finished kneading, all the extra flour on your work surface and in the bowl should be incorporated in to the dough. I like to use extra flour when i'm kneading; not only does this stop it from sticking to surfaces but the dough also tends to feel wetter when you knead it, so you need extra flour to get it to the right texture.

Step 3 Allow to rise

By this point you should have a nice firm and soft dough. As this recipe makes 24 miniature burger buns you should start to split your dough up in to 24 little balls. Once you have separated them all off you need to place them on baking paper and press sesame seeds on to the top. After this leave them to rise for an hour in a warm location.

Step 4 Bake

So this is the final step of the process, pre-heat the oven to 200°C 400°F Gas Mark 6. You need to drizzle on top your egg wash mixture (1 egg Beaten mixed with a couple tablespoons of water), this will give your buns a lovely shine when they come out of the oven. Then place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Step 2: Cheese Burger Canapes

Ingredients:

20 Mini Burger Buns Halved

250g Mince meat

6 cheese slices

2 Mini Gerkins

2 Tbsp Minced Onions (optional)

Ketchup

Mustard

Like the last recipe I have decided to simplify it to 4 simple steps:

1. Toast the burger Buns
2. Prepare Burger patties
3. Cook Burgers
4. Arrange Burgers

Step 1 Toast the Burger Buns

I have Chosen to do this by shallow frying them for about a minute in some oil, but if you think that you can fit them in your toaster then by all means do use that. I would however not recommend the use of the oven or the grill as this will leave them very dry and crunchy.

Step 2 Prepare the Burger Patties

The mince beef that you have should be enough to make around 20 miniature burger patties. The mince only needs a sprinkle of salt and pepper before its ready to go in the burger mix. The easiest way to make the patties is to divide the meat into 20 sections, get a lump, roll it in to a small ball and then flatten it. Then it's a simple matter of tidying up the sides a little bit and putting it in the hot frying pan

Step 3 Cook the Burger Patties

In a hot oiled pan add your burger patties. They need about 4 minutes on each side on a medium heat, but to be on the safe side always cut one in half first to check it's cooked through before you eat it. Burgers should only be turned over once otherwise you risk breaking them. Once you have cooked the first side and turned it over, its time to add the cheese. you should cut the cheese slices in to 4 pieces and place them on top of the burger patties whilst still in the pan - this lets them melt all over the burger covering it. Once cooked, turn off the heat and set aside

Step 4. Arranging the Burgers

Lay out all of your ingredients around a board for easy access whilst you are working. Start off by Laying your cut burger buns out and next to each other. Next you will need to add a small amount of ketchup and Mustard to the Top Half. Then add your minced onions and your gherkin slices. Finally add your cheese burger, cheese side down on top off all of the condiments, season for the final time with salt and pepper and then flip the entire thing on to the bottom slice. Serve immediately, as the burger buns will not last very long once they have been cut in half.