Shop The 12 Days of Christmas Sale Here

Blue Cheese Bacon-Wrapped Dates

Blue Cheese Bacon

Prep time:

30 minutes

Cook time:

20-25 minutes

Difficulty level:

Simple

Where do I start with this …  the tang of the blue cheese, the saltiness of the bacon, the spiciness of the jalapeno and the sweetness of the dates…… BAM!  Blue Cheese Bacon-Wrapped Dates = party in your mouth.  These usually don’t even make it to a plate when I get done cooking them at my house.  People usually just help themselves right off the grill and like that, they’re gone.  I actually make a few different batches each time I make them, because some people just don’t like blue cheese (WHAT?).  I will stuff some of them with goat cheese or cream cheese. For the little ones, just leave out the jalapeno in a few and they will eat them up too!  Either way, cheese is amazing.

I tried them with all different kinds of cheese and found that blue cheese is the best way to go for me. It complements the sweetness of the dates and the saltiness of the bacon. By far one of my favorite go-to’s for a fun appetizer for Valentine’s Day or the Super Bowl…. wait…who are we kidding, it’s one of my favorite things at any time of year.

Dates can sometimes be a little difficult to find in some parts of the country, but most of the time, you can go to your local produce person at your local grocery store and they can order them in for you if you need a large enough quantity.  What is a date?  Glad you asked…  it is the fruit from a date palm that has a ridiculous amount of nutrients and vitamins that are packed into a tiny little body.  Date palms are tricky trees that require several harvests because not all fruit is ready to be picked at the same time.  Some of the first harvests for these palms are 7-10 years after they have been planted initially.  Ok, enough about the dates…. now hurry and go make these scrumptious little treats!

Ingredients

  • ½ lb dates – preferably pitted
  • Hasty-Bake Rub and Spice
  • Blue cheese – we used Maytag
  • 2 fresh jalapenos
  • ½ lb bacon
  • Pecan wood, 1-2 fist size chunks (dry, not soaked)
  • Toothpicks

Instructions

  1. Prep your Hasty-Bake for grilling – no heat deflector
  2. Wash dates, split in half, if not pitted, remove the seeds – set aside
  3. Place jalapenos on the grill directly over the flame and char – 5-10 mins
  4. Pull jalapenos from grill, remove the waxy skin and set aside to cool
  5. By hand, stuff the pitted dates dates with blue cheese, enough that you’ll get a good bite, but not too much where it melts all over the grill
  6. Once the jalapenos have cooled, cut into small strips that are about the size of the length of the date to place inside dates on top of blue cheese
  7. Once dates, are stuffed, it’s time to wrap them in bacon… we cut the raw strips of bacon in half since the dates are so small and for faster cook time – then secure the bacon with a toothpick all the way through to the other side – sprinkle with Hasty-Bake Rub and Spice
  8. Add 1-2 pieces of pecan wood directly into fire. Place dates on cooking grills over the flame 20 mins, flipping half way through. Bacon should be mostly cooked with a nice crisp.
  9. Finally, finish cooking the bacon, by moving dates to the opposite side of the grill or up to your warming rack (not directly over flame) and lower firebox down to smoke. Finish cooking for 10-15 minutes.
  10. Remove from grill, let cool slightly, and ENJOY!
0 0 votes
Recipe Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Similar Recipes

0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x