Cook: Bacon Wrapped Dates

I made these for J as part of Valentine's Day dinner and they were a huge hit! They are simple, delicious, and make a fantastic appetizer!

For the first batch, I didn't use enough bacon (only enough to cover the date) and overcooked the dates. The result was a overly crunchy and not entirely enjoyable morsel. We ate them all anyway. I learned from that batch, and made some changes for second batch. This time around, I omitted the almonds (was trying to stuff too much into a little date) and got the timing just right!

Here is my recipe for Bacon wrapped dates stuffed with blue cheese:

Ingredients:

• 1 package of bacon - cut slices in half
• dates - however many dates you want to make. we ate 20 between the two of us easily, but I think a "normal" serving size is probably something like 3-6 dates per person.
• blue cheese - whatever kind you like

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

2. Slice dates in half and open them up (if they aren't already pitted, remove the pit).

3. Pinch off pieces of blue cheese and place them in the center of the dates. Close the halves of the dates.

4. Wrap a half-slice of bacon around the outside. Secure with a toothpick.

5. Arrange in a 9x13 baking pan covered with aluminum foil (for easy clean-up) - (If using a baking sheet, make sure your pan has sides to keep the grease from dripping into your oven!)

6. Bake for 15 minutes - turn dates over for even cooking

7. Bake another 15-25 minutes until bacon is crisp. Watch carefully not to overcook!

Remove from oven, allow to cool for 5 minutes, then enjoy!