Crab Cakes (Baked) with 2 Dipping Sauces

This weekend we hosted a "Goodbye Winter" BBQ and I served these mini crab cakes as an appetizer. They were a perfect Spring appetizer. They were surprisingly light and the hint of lemon inside really made them shine.

I didn't feel like frying 30 crab cakes (Actually I never feel like frying anything, I hate it. It makes your house smell like oil and I always manage to get burned by the splats of hot oil). So anyway, I decided to bake these instead. I coated the outside with panko and then put them in the oven for about 15 - 20 minutes. Then at the end I broiled each side just for about a minute to make sure they got nice and brown.

(Before they went into the oven).

I served these with 2 dipping sauces: a spicy avocado dipping sauce and a spicy mayo. The spicy avocado was the clear favorite.

Crab Cakes: Recipe adapted from a bunch of places like here and here.
Ingredients:

• 1/4 c. mayo
• 1 tbls chopped chives
  
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp dried taragon
• 1/4 tsp Old Bay
• 1/4 tsp Dried thyme
• 1 tbls dijon mustard
• Salt and Black Pepper to taste
• 1 pound jumbo lump crab meat
• 2 cups panko breadcrumbs, divided

Directions:

1. Whisk together the first 10 ingredients.
2. Add in the crab meat, breaking up slightly.
3. Add in 1 cup of panko breadcrumbs.
4. Form into patties of desired size. At this stage, I actually spread the crab meat mixture out onto a sheet pan (about 1/2 inch thick) and used a small round cookie cutter to get the shape I wanted.
   
5. Using the remaining 1 cup of breadcrumbs, coat each crab cake with panko. Chill for at least 1 hour.
6. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes turning once halfway, on a parchment lined baking sheet. When they are almost done set the broiler on high to brown. I did this for about 1 minute on the first side, then flipped and broiled for another 30 seconds on the second side. Watch them carefully at this point because they brown quickly!
7. Serve with extra lemon wedges or dipping sauces (recipes below).

Spicy Avocado Dipping Sauce: Recipe Adapted from here.
Ingredients:

• 1 avocado, pitted and peeled
• 1 tbls mayo
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. sugar
• Half of a jalepeno (if you don't want it too spicy, remove the seeds and stems)
• 1/3 cup of milk

Directions:

1. Add the first 6 ingredients in the food processor and pulse a few times. Slowly add in the milk and puree until it is smooth and has reached the consistency that you want.

Spicy Mayo
Ingredients:

• Mayo
• Siracha Hot Sauce

Directions:

1. Mix together. I used a 3:1 ratio of mayo to hot sauce, but just start from there adjust to taste.