Instructions: Spread the cheese in a single layer on a small plate, cover it with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 1 hour, or until the cheese is hard.

Lay the bacon slices in a large skillet and set over medium-low heat. Cook, turning once or twice, until crisp, about 8 minutes. Drain the bacon on absorbent paper, cool, and coarsely chop it. Pour off all but 3 tablespoons of the bacon fat in the skillet. Set the skillet over medium heat, add the onions, celery, and thyme, cover and cook, stirring once or twice and scraping the bottom of the pan, for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the ground beef with the onion mixture, frozen cheese, eggs, hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, bread crumbs, and chopped bacon. Divide the mixture into 12 equal portions. Shape each portion into a ball (try to enclose any large nuggets of cheese completely with the meat mixture to help prevent their melting away) and place each ball in the cup of a muffin tin. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the mini-loaves are lightly browned and an instant-reading thermometer inserted into the center of a loaf registers 145 degrees. Let the meat loaves rest on a rack for 10 minutes. Serve hot.

This recipe yields 8 to 10 servings.

Comments: These cute meat loaves, baked in the cups of a standard muffin tin, are about the size of tennis balls. They bake fairly quickly at that size, a boon if youre in a hurry, and automatically look festive on a plate. Freezing the cheese helps keep it from melting away, though there will still be some for kitchen foragers to scrape off the fan. Hot blue cheese is pungent, which adults will like, but if youre feeding kids, consider substituting diced cheddar, which will give your loaf the more familiar ingredients of a bacon cheeseburger - and dont forget to pass the ketchup.

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