Bacon Wrapped Dates Stuffed With Almonds and Goat Cheese
"I watch Ted make these on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy tonight. Sweetpea has a similar recipes posted but they aren't stuffed. A nice balance of sweet and salt."
- Ready In:
- 28mins
- Ingredients:
- 4
- Serves:
-
24
ingredients
directions
- Move oven rack to upper third of oven and preheat to 500°F.
- Stuff each date with an almond, then fill the remaining space with softened goat cheese using a pastry bag.
- Wrap a piece of bacon around each date and secure with a pick.
- Place dates on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until bacon is golden and crispy, 6-8 minutes.
- Set aside to cool briefly before serving.
- For presentation, insert picks into half a pineapple sliced lengthwise.
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Reviews
-
These are divine. I also saw these on Queer Eye and was glad to find the recipe. I made these for a Christmas Eve party and won a "Most Martha Stewart-ish" award. The combination of ingredients at first seems strange, but together they form complex taste layers that are delicious. The salty bacon is countered by the sweetness of the dates and the creaminess of the goat cheese. The almond adds a nice crunch to an other wise "soft" mouthful. I did not present this on the pineapple, but they were delicious anyway. For novice chefs or people with a brain phase at the time of baking; make sure to bake these on a pan with SIDES. Otherwise you will have an oven fire from the bacon grease. Also, if you don't have a pastry bag, just slice the dates lengthwise to stuff with a spoon. The bacon hides the slice. These are easy to make and wonderful to eat. ENJOY!! -
I personally love dates and goat cheese, but I wasn't sure how they would be received because I know those are not universally appreciated. People were coming up to me all night asking for the recipe, and they were gone before almost anything else! There was some confusion with some people because they mistook the almond for a pit. Next time I may put a card next to the tray explaining they have an almond inside. -
Worried about the bacon (some reviews said it was hard to get it to be fully cooked) I used pancetta instead. Wow! I stuffed them a day ahead, using a cranberry goat cheese and smoked almonds, wrapping the thin pancetta and securing each with a toothpick. They came out of the oven just perfect! I then drizzled a bit of chocolate balsamic over the tops. These are great to eat while warm, but they sit well too and are just as delicious! -
Really delicious and so fast/easy to prepare and can be done in advance. One tip: to prepare for serving, don't do what I did and look at just the cooking time to gauge when they will be ready - heating an oven to 500 can take a LONG time, so remember to factor that in! Another thing, I used fairly large dates and ended up adding more goat cheese than necessary, so next time I'll use smaller dates for more balance of the flavors. Still tasty, though. The only downside: not the most attractive appetizer, so a little bit of a 'hard sell' visually until people taste them and word spreads - then they disappear! -
Loved these!! Made them for an office party and they were eaten up very quickly. Left the goat cheese out of half of them just in case people didn't like goat cheese, but both methods were very popular. The goat cheese adds a nice, creamy texture to the whole thing. Next time I would pre-cook the bacon just slightly, though, because I had a hard time telling if it was cooked all the way through!
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Tweaks
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Worried about the bacon (some reviews said it was hard to get it to be fully cooked) I used pancetta instead. Wow! I stuffed them a day ahead, using a cranberry goat cheese and smoked almonds, wrapping the thin pancetta and securing each with a toothpick. They came out of the oven just perfect! I then drizzled a bit of chocolate balsamic over the tops. These are great to eat while warm, but they sit well too and are just as delicious!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Cathleen Colbert
Bakersfield, CA
Strangely enough, I've become a better cook to lose weight. I joined eDiets and lost 100 pounds. Now I'm on the look out for tasty recipes that are easy to fix (I teach and often don't get home until after 5PM).
In addition to my kitchen, my favorite place is my garden. I have a combination flower/herb/veggie garden and love to grow a variety of vintage or unusual plants.
Because I teach I actually DO get a month off. I get up early to garden, sleep the hot afternoons away, then cook, read and watch movies.
My favorite cookbooks are Crazy Plates and Looneyspoons. They are full of delicious, lowfat recipes with tons of trivia and humor.
I teach science in a converted home ec kitchen. I love to use food as a teaching tool - making cheese to teach enzyme action, pickles to teach osmosis and diffusion, fudge to demonstrate igneous rock formation.
I love kitchen gadgets, KitchenAid, Le Creuset cookware and my cats.
