Best Ever Buffalo Chicken

I recently had the most clumsy evening of cooking I've had in a long while. Usually, the kitchen makes me feel quite graceful, whilst I sashay around in my cupcake apron tossing in a pinch of this and dollop of that, swirling about sauteing ingredients in a pan  on my burner with the flick of my wrist. It is my most natural element, this room full of spices and oils, fruits and coconut, plates and wine.

But this particular night, I was  no kitchen ballerina. I was an ox wearing stiletto heels two sizes too big.

 I decided to make buffalo chicken, as it just sounded good, and I had celery and blue cheese made up, so it seemed only right to make it.

First off, I dropped the mason jar full of super expensive honey on my bare foot, and spilled a small fortune all over creation.  I then proceeded to stick the chicken legs in the oven to bake, and my oven started on fire. Apparently the boy had made a pizza the night before, and a large chunk of crust fell back onto the burner. Our apartment filled with wretched black smoke, and the smoke alarms sounded loud and clear. Once things aired out and the smoke cleared, I finally got the chicken safely sizzling away in the clean oven. I started cutting my onion, and was blinded by the most intense onion eyes I've ever had. I mean, it just wouldn't go away, and I couldn't see behind the burning eyes. I had a sub- par onion ring recipe, so the battering process was a HUGE mess, and I couldn't really see through my burning eyes. ( So this is a reason there is no onion ring recipe attached to this post, because I need to find a better one....) So once those were in the oven, I cracked open the dinner wine.

Despite the huge mess I somehow managed to make, it was one of the best dinners I've made in a while. But maybe I was just relived to survive preparing it...

Best Ever Buffalo Chicken

-10-12 chicken drumsticks, wings or thighs

-1 T. olive oil

-1/2 t. garlic powder

- salt and pepper

-1 cup Frank's Red Hot ( I used the Buffalo Wings one this time and it was great)

-1/2 stick butter

-1/2 cup honey

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss drumsticks with olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper and bake 35-40 minutes until done. In a saute' pan over medium heat, heat hot sauce, honey and butter until simmering. Simmer 5 minutes stirring often. Toss with chicken and serve.

This is ridiculously easy for such a satisfying dish. You can reduce the amount of honey to make it as spicy as you like. My proportions are for a mild spice. Sweet and spicy collide, and dipped in homemade blue-cheese  http://3rdstorybakeshop.blogspot.com/2011/07/chunky-blue-cheese-dressing-and-orgin.htmlit really doesn't get much better than this.

This recipe is originally meant for chicken wings, and you can certainly use it for that. I just don't like wings, because they seem like a lot of messy work for a tiny sliver of meat.

The onion rings were OK, but I need to find something worth sharing first. I have also made this and shredded the chicken to make a wrap with lettuce and blue cheese.  It's also good with tofu, if you're into that sort of thing ;) Enjoy!