bacon wrapped stuffed dates

Every Christmas Eve, we host an open house.  This year is no exception.  I do as many things ahead of time as possible, and this is a time we do the same foods over and over, with one or two surprises.

One of the regulars at our party is bacon wrapped stuffed dates.  I love them.  The sweet, chewy dates are offset by the salty crisp bacon and the almond in the middle keeps them nice and warm and gives it a good crunch.

These are so easy and I make tons of them ahead of time and keep them in the freezer.  Then I just take them out of the ziplock bags, plunk them onto parchment lined cookie sheets and bake them until the bacon is cooked and crispy.  It is a mindless job to do while watching t.v. or visiting with family.

My dear friend Donna is not a fan of bacon, (I know, but I love her anyway) but her husband is, so I make extra for him.  He stands close, but not too close, to the plate of bacony goodness and eats his fill.  He has to stand close because my brother in law is also jockeying for a position next to that coveted plate and neither one wants to miss out on their share.

We put them together assembly line style...first stuff the dates with almonds.
This year we had big dates and small almonds, so we put two almonds in each date.

After the sticky fun is over, we wrapped each date in a piece of bacon...

and secured it with a toothpick.

Then placed them on a cookie sheet for a quick freeze.

Once frozen, they go into gallon ziplock bags, stored in the freezer and ready for snacking goodness.

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Dates

whole almonds
dates
sliced bacon, cut in half or thirds (depending on the size of your dates)

Stuff each date with a whole almond.  Wrap each date with a slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick.  You can freeze them at this point or bake immediately.

To bake:
Preheat oven to 375°F.  Place bacon wrapped dates on parchment lined cookie sheets.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until bacon is cooked and slightly crisp, but still has some chew (You don't want the bacon to shatter when you bite into it).

Let cool at least 5 minutes.  These hold the heat a long time because of the almond.

1 year ago:   Deep Fried Halibut and Middle of the Night Power Outage
2 years ago:  Russian Tea Cakes and the Closing of School
3 years ago:  Chocolate Crinkle Cookies and Holiday Traditions

December 18, 2014  Sunrise 10:56 am  Sunset 2:39 pm  Temp: H 17/ L 4°F