Bacon-wrapped Dates

Well, its good because its wrapped in bacon. In my book, anything wrapped in bacon is worth making.

Here is the entire recipe: Cut 1 lb of bacon in thirds. Take date, stuff with almond, wrap with bacon, secure with toothpick, bake at 375 for about 15 minutes or until crisp and brown.

Thats it. The rest of this post is fluff. But I like fluff so I'm throwing it up anyway.



You start with some almonds. We had raw almonds and roasted them. You could really use any kind. I'd like to try some spicy ones.

There is something to be said about natural light. Although I had to hold the bowl over the garbage disposal to get this picture.



Grab a bunch of dates. I bought these at Costco for $5. Now a lot of stores will carry the fancy, plump Medjool dates. Those are great for eating plain but the simpler, dare I say drier-looking ones are better for this.



Now I need more recipes with dates in them. I'll have to go search. But really these things last forever and I eat them as a dessert of sorts. They are also a great source of fiber. How old am I? Shall we talk about prune juice next?



Then you have the magic ingredient. Bacon. Cut it into thirds. Here you see the thick cut but I actually prefer the regular as it wraps around easier and you get more dates wrapped. Not to fear though, I used this whole package and a whole package of regular. If you could get your hands on peppered bacon that might be good too.



Grab a date. Get yourself aquainted. Make sure it doesn't have any rogue stem attached.



Now stuff an almond in it! Don't be gentle, just get to it. If the date breaks we don't care a bit.

This would be condsidered torture by a Fruitarian. The heartless murder and post-mortem torture of this innocent date.

William: And, ahm: what exactly is a fruitarian?
Keziah: We believe that fruits and vegetables have feelings so we think cooking is cruel. We only eat things that have actually fallen off a tree or bush - that are, in fact, dead already.
William: Right. Right. Interesting stuff. So, these dates...
Keziah: Have been murdered, yes.
William: Murdered? Poor dates. How beastly!

OK, I admit they weren't talking about dates but its my blog and I'm taking some artistic liberties here.



Wrap that puppy up in a piece of bacon. Make it nice and cozy.



Eeeeeeeekkkkkkkk! About the 34th time I walked into the living room to turn up the music I noticed this thing on the ground. Gah! Gross! He was dead on the rug. I apologize for post in the middle of our appetizer making but it couldn't be ignored.

I writhed in the kitchen for a few minutes wondering if I had inadvertantly stepped on it... multiple times... in my bare feet. Then I cursed the world of men and mountain biking and the things they drag into the apartment.

But I never dropped the date in my hand. Lets not lose our head here.



When I stopped feeling creepy crawlys all over my body I resumed the date prep. Secure the bacon with a toothpick thru the bacon and the date. Line 'em up on a cookie sheet covered in foil. Ok its actually a jelly roll pan. You need that lip or you'll end up with an oven full of bacon grease.

Don't over crowd or you'll end up with bacon braising in grease instead of getting crisp and brown.

To save time you can actually do this ahead of time and bake them off the next day.



Bake 'em up at 375 until they are brown and crispy. Usually about 15 minutes. Now the date does give off some sugar so the bottoms will get pretty dark. If you are OCD you can flip them and brown the other side.

This was the only clear picture I got because the first batch went so fast I had to make another one.

Thank you mom for the recipe!

Variation: You can also fill these with goat cheese and basil as my friend Tina does. So good. They are a little more time intensive and the texture will be softer.

Enjoy!