Corcoran Street Kitchen: Baked Buffalo Wings

In Part One of our Two Part, Super Bowl "Cheaters-Never-Prosper" series here on Corcoran Street Kitchen, I am going to give you a recap of the Battle Chicken Wing that happened last night. Mark and I wanted to stay home for the Super Bowl, but we also wanted to do something fun to make is special. We battled it our wing-style by both making a dozen wings and putting our skills to the test. Mark went the classic Buffalo Wing route and they were a sensation. Great, crispy skin and the classic spicy wing sauce. We also made a simple blue cheese dipping sauce to go with. The cool thing that he did was bake the wings, instead of frying them. This made things 1. Easier 2. Just as delicious and 3. Much healthier. That way, I didn't feel bad eating so many. It was wonderful.

Baked Buffalo Wings
Ingredients:
12 chicken wings
salt and pepper
1/2 stick butter
6 Tbs. hot sauce
Blue Cheese Sauce:
1/2 cup plain non-fat yogurt
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles

1. Rinse the wings and pat them very dry with paper towels. The skin should be very dry, which will help keep them crispy.
2. Mark placed a cooling rack on top of a baking tray to allow the wings to be lifted off the baking surface, and essentially get crispy all the way around, mimicking the "fried" texture.

3. Spray your cooling rack with non stick spray so that the wings do not stick and line your baking tray with foil for easy clean up.
4. Sprinkle the wings lightly with salt and pepper.

5. Roast in a preheated 425 degree oven for 1 hour, or until the wings are nice and crispy.

6. To make the Buffalo Sauce, melt butter in the microwave and then stir in the hot sauce. If your hot sauce was is refrigerated, you might get some clumping since the cold hot sauce is mixing with the hot butter. Just pop it back in the microwave for 10 seconds and all will be right with the world.
7. In a large bowl, toss the crispy wings with the hot sauce until they are evenly coated.