Ham and Swiss Sliders

I made these great little sliders for New Years Eve.. I got the idea off of Pinterest.com. Freaking LOVE that site. I tried the recipe the way I found it.. but I really didn't care for their version of the onion mixture.. which cooked the onions with mustard, from raw.. instead of caramelizing them first. It made them very bitter and spicy in my opinion. So I dumped them out and started over, doing my own thing. The sliders were such a big hit.. The husband asked me to make them again tonight. So that's what I did.. and this time I took pictures *and* made a kid friendly, no onion, version! :) Didn't get pics of the kid friendly, except for the final product, but it was really quite simple and not worth the photo.

Here's what you're gonna need:
1 small onion, minced
1 stick of softened butter, divided
heavy pinch of salt
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp Dijonnaise
1-2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
1 package Hawaiian sweet rolls(12 rolls)
8 slices of thin sliced ham, I like Virginia baked ham
4 slices swiss cheese (I use Kraft "big" slices.. it may take more of the smaller slices to completely cover the rolls and ham)

I started with some onion. Pretty much how all my good ideas start out.. slow cooking onion in butter. For this recipe I minced up a smallish one and cooked it over med-low heat in half a stick of butter with a heavy pinch of salt for about 10 minutes until it was nice and sweet.

Next you're gonna need these things: some ground mustard, garlic powder, worcestershire sauce, and some of this hellmans dijonnaise along with 2 tablespoons of that butter you see there in the back.. Now if you don't have the dijonnaise and you don't feel like buying it.. you could just use dijon mustard. Or regular mustard. You could even be crazy and put honey mustard in it. Or you could do no mustard if mustard isn't your thing.. but I don't recommend that. Because mustard IS my thing. Anywhoo.. once your onions are nice and caramelized, your gonna add in these ingredients, and give it a good stir and let it cook for just a minute then take it off the heat.

Next you're gonna take your rolls and slice them in half horizontally, leaving them intact with one another. Like this.. so you have a top and bottom bun.
And then you're gonna put the bottom half of your rolls into a foil lined baking dish and spread about 3/4's of the onion mixture onto it..
Then you're gonna take the remaining two tablespoons of softened butter and spread it on top of the onions.

Now just layer the ham on like this

Top it with the cheese

Then top it with the tops of the buns. Now just spread the remaining 1/4th of the onion mixture and whatever melted butter is left in the pan all over the tops of the buns. You're making homemade onion buns!! I love onion buns, so this just tickles my fancy to no end.
Now just cover it with some foil and stick it in the oven at 325 for about 15-20 minutes, until the cheese startes getting melty.. then pull the foil off the top and let them brown for an additional 3-5 minutes. Once they are done, just use a sharp knife to cut the sliders apart along the lines of the buns.


I didn't even serve them on a tray.. I just popped the baking pans on the table and let everyone go for it. LOL

As for the kid friendly version. I just omitted the onion mixture completely.. I took a stick of softened butter and mixed in a tablespoon or two of the dijonnaise stuff. and spread that on the bottoms of the buns, then melted what was left to brush across the tops. Worked great and the kids all loved it! Oh I should mention, I cook for a brood.. so that whole stick of butter was spread between two packs of rolls. One was the hawaiian bread and the other was a regular white dinner roll, for the pickiest eater in all the land.. who doesn't like hawaiian rolls. Turned out good. Because this time I had to get the "honey wheat" version of the hawaiian rolls instead of the regular hawaiian sweet bread.. And they got too dark on the bottoms. Didn't have that problem on New Years Even, or with the regular white dinner rolls I made tonight.. Just the honey wheat version.. even cooked a batch of each kind of bread in the same pan, so I know it wasn't the pan or the oven.. it was the wheat bread. So I honestly don't recommend it, even though it's healthier, unless you REALLY watch it or turn the oven down.

I confess this picture is of the ones from New Years Eve.. they were prettier. haha

Enjoy!