For part of the time I lived in Indiana, I stayed with a lovely couple who were both excellent and adventurous cooks. One of Tim’s many specialties was his bacon-wrapped, stuffed jalapeños. I’ve made these several times since for birthday meals or get-togethers with friends. These make great appetizers for football games or grilling parties.

Here’s my most recent batch, fresh out of the oven. (You can see I wrapped the bacon a little too tightly around the jalapeños and the cheese oozed out the ends. Oops. Still delicious!) If you’ve got some vegetarians around, just skip the bacon, like the ones on the far right. Or, if you don’t want to wrap the bacon around the jalapeños, you can precook the bacon and chop it into small pieces to mix into the cheese filling.

INGREDIENTS:

10-12 jalapeños (or no-heat jalapenos)
1 block of cream cheese
1 small piece of a hard cheese, grated (I happened to find a container of pre-grated Asiago)
1/2 package of bacon

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut jalapeños in half the long way (wearing gloves!) and remove seeds and membranes. Put jalapeño halves and the equivalent number of bacon strips on a baking sheet in the oven to begin baking. Meanwhile, put cream cheese into microwave-safe bowl and microwave for a few seconds at a time until softened enough to stir. Stir in grated cheese, approximately 1/2 - 1 cup of grated cheese). Pull jalapeños out of the oven. Cool to touch, then use a spoon to fill each jalapeño half with cheese filling. Pull bacon out of the oven and cool to touch. Wrap a strip of bacon loosely around each jalapeño, with the end tucked underneath. Place wrapped jalapeños back on baking sheet and bake until bacon is crispy, about 30 minutes.

Other optional additions to the cheese filling: minced onions or garlic, chopped chives or garlic chives