Spicy Honey Lime Chicken Wings

Over the years, I have probably eaten more than my weight in chicken wings. OK, I have definitely eaten more than my weight in chicken wings. They're just so darn good. They're the perfect, sticky, messy finger food. Aside from my usual order at my favorite pizza place (who does the best oven-baked chicken wings on the face of the earth, by the way), I'm getting really bored with wings. Hot sauce. Hot sauce. Hot sauce. That's all I ever put on them. When I came across this recipe for Spicy Honey Lime Chicken Wings, I'll be honest... my mouth started watering just a little. You have got to try these. They're not your typical wings, but they are delicious! (And now I'm wondering if I can convince my favorite pizza place to adopt this recipe.)

Chicken wings in North America are chicken wing sections (either the wingette or drumette) that are generally deep-friend, sometimes breaded, sometimes boneless and usually coated in hot sauce. They're traditionally served hot along with celery and/or carrot sticks and blue cheese dressing, to help tone down the heat of the hot sauce. There are several claims about how the dish of chicken wings was invented, but one of the more popular was that Teressa Bellissimo of the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, needed a fast and easy snack to prepare for her unannounced son and his college buddies, so she came up with the idea of deep-frying chicken wings (which, until that point, were normally thrown away or reserved for stocks) and tossing them in hot sauce. Whatever the real story is, I'm thankful someone was creative enough to �invent� them.

Tiffany of the food blog �Creme de la Crumb� happily 'owns' this amazing spicy honey lime chicken wing recipe, though. She asks �So what's the deal with these really incredible chicken wings?� And then... she tells us. They're baked to �crispy perfection� and then coated with �the most addictive honey lime sauce�, which is sweet, spicy, tangy and, most importantly, sticky. Tiffany says �Gotta have sticky fingers when you're chowing down on chicken wings, it tastes better that way.� I couldn't agree more.

What makes this sauce so sweet and sticky? Well, that would be the honey. Real honey. You know, the kind made by honey bees who use nectar from flowers. Aside from adding sweetness and stickiness to any recipe, honey also has various medicinal traditions in myths and folk medicine to treat ailments, including gastric disturbances, ulcers and other skin wounds and burns. And what makes this sauce a little tangy? The juice of 3 limes. (Side note, don't put lime on skin wounds or burns. I had a paper cut on my finger. It burned. My god, did it burn!)

With football season upon us, chicken wings are the perfect dish to serve. But put out a bowl of these delicious spicy honey lime wings and watch your gang's reaction. Suggestion: serve with wet wipes!