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The Ultimate Bacon-Wrapped Date Recipe

The Ultimate Bacon-Wrapped Date Recipe

These are like crack. Bad for you and incredibly addicting, but once you start eating them, you won’t care.

Okay, they are certainly not as bad for you as cocaine. But I bet if some scientist did a study, they would discover that they are, in fact, just as addicting. Although, the scientist would probably end up trying one and never finish his research because he wouldn’t want to share his bacon-wrapped dates with the subjects in the study.

I’m sure there are many ways to make bacon-wrapped dates. Some people probably just wrap their dates in bacon and call it a day. But I have tried different nuts and different cheese and found the most potent combination for addicting appetizers. Nutty robusto cheese enhances the flavor of the dates without stealing the show the way a blue cheese would, and pecans add structure and texture to the stuffing without being hard to bite into.

Serves: 6-8
Prep time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 24 mejdool dates*
  • robusto cheese
  • pecans
  • a package of bacon (12 strips, preferably one inch wide)
  • toothpicks

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 450.
  2. Pit the dates by cutting a slit along the length of each date and scooping out the pit with your finger or a knife.
  3. Cut the cheese into small rectangular blocks about an inch long and a quarter inch wide and deep.
  4. Stuff each date with a pecan and a piece of cheese.
  5. Cut the bacon strips in half so that they are half as long and take out a bunch of toothpicks (you don’t want to put your fingers in the toothpick box once you have touch the raw bacon).
  6. Wrap a half strip of bacon around the middle of each date and secure it by sliding a toothpick through the spot where the ends of the bacon meet.
  7. Place the bacon-wrapped dates on a baking sheet and pop in the oven (make sure it has finished preheating).
  8. Check on the dates after five minutes, the bacon should be just crisp.

Enjoy!

Note*: I often get a package of Trader Joe’s dates, but just make sure that they aren’t too hardened because they will be difficult to stuff.
Note**: Bonus points if you have a mini-cupcake pan. You can suspend each date over each cupcake well. Then the fat will drain off of the bacon and make your dates a more waist-friendly snack.


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