Easy Cheeseburger Sliders

When I see "potato buns" at my grocery store, I HAVE to buy them and I have to make sliders.  Thank goodness they don't have them often.  I haven't seen them there for a long, long while actually but I saw them today and had to make sliders for dinner.  It was a package of 6 and they were so fresh, I could smell them through the bag.  I picked up some extra-lean ground beef too.  I like this recipe as it really is easy.  I am very particular with my sliders.  I have to have Kraft processed cheese slices, hamburger pickles, French's yellow mustard and Heinz ketchup.  That's it for a perfect slider, for me.  My son thinks that is disgusting and only ketchup for him.

Tonight I used a 9" square cake pan and 1.5 lbs of beef.  Unlike the recipe, I sauteed a small onion first in a little olive oil.  I think you get more flavor from it that way and because you don't bake it for very long, it ensures that the onions are cooked.

I cooled them down.  I mixed them into a bowl with the hamburger, some kosher salt & freshly cracked pepper, and crushed ciabatta bread croutons, which made the breadcrumbs.  I like a good shake of Worcestershire sauce thrown in so I added that.

I pressed it into the cake pan and used a soup spoon to smooth the top and make it even.

I popped it into the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes.

Halfway through I drained the fat.  I was surprised how much fat came off after it being "EXTRA lean" since it must not exceed 10% of fat here in Canada...After 45 minutes (that's how long for my crazy oven),  I took it out, drained the fat off again - it was much less this time.  I topped with the cheese - I used 4 slices.

It had pulled away from the sides and shrunk down.  I put it back in until the cheese was melted.  I cut it into 6 even squares and served.
 

I served my son's with tater tots and I was going to have a spinach salad with mine, but just decided to eat the sliders alone.

Little packages of joy!  I think there is nothing better for a burger than a potato bun.  I was happy and glad for my Friday night splurge after snow day, today, which was totally unwanted and unwarranted!