Stuffed Mushrooms

I am a big fan of mushrooms, especially stuffed mushrooms. I have made stuffed mushrooms in various different ways and they always turn out good, but I believe these are the best I have made so far. I never thought to try it with cream cheese, and when I saw this recipe I immediately thought that I had to try it. Next time I make these I will try sprinkling bread crumbs on top, I think they will be even better. I served these with grilled steak with rosemary, it was great. The recipe is for 12 large mushrooms, but I had smaller ones and it was enough for 24 mushrooms.

Ingredients

• 12 large mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Clean the mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully break off the stems and chop stems extremely fine.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and chopped mushroom stems and fry until any moisture has disappeared, taking care not to burn garlic. Set aside to cool.
3. When the mushroom and garlic mixture cools, stir in the cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper. The mixture should be very thick. Using a teaspoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing.
   
4. Place the mushrooms on a lightly greased cooking sheet and bake in a preheated oven of 350˚F for 20 minutes, or until mushrooms are piping hot and liquid starts to form under the caps.

The original recipe was from http://www.allrecipes.com.