charlys-room: Jalapeno Poppers

Last weekend, as part of our early Father's Day barbecue, I made one of my husband's favorite appetizers to share...Jalapeno Poppers. With a spicy kick, cheese and bacon, what more could you ask for in an appetizer? Although they do take some time to prepare, the reward is so worth the effort! I did not create this recipe, but use the recipe from the Pioneer Women's cookbook, "The Pioneer Woman Cooks", which is one of my favorite, all-time cookbooks. It`s filled with scrumptious recipes and incredible photographs that are enough to make anyone want to don a cowboy, run away to a ranch, and live there. Forever.

First off, if you have never worked with fresh jalapeno peppers before, be careful! The oils in the peppers and seeds are hot and if you happen to, say, cut 40 jalapeno poppers in half and clean out the seeds, and then thoughtlessly scratch your eye. You will DIE. Of extreme pain. Worse than childbirth. Seriously. Been there. Done that. I had to run my eye under cold water for about 35 minutes. So please wear gloves. Or at least don't touch your eyes and wear glasses if you can. If you don't wear gloves, your fingers will throb afterwards from the heat of the oils in the peppers. Again, I speak from experience. But I don't let this scare me, I make them anyway. And my fingers throb if I can't find my gloves. {But I am pretty sure that beer will dull the pain. Just sayin'.}

Jalapeno Poppers

Ingredients:

25 fresh jalapeno peppers

1 large tub cream cheese

1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

4 green onions, sliced

2 packs of bacon

2 cups favorite BBQ sauce

Directions:

1. Rinse peppers. Cut in half with sharp knife and clean out seeds with a spoon or small knife. If you leave the seeds in, your poppers will be SUPER HOT.

2. Arrange the peppers on 2 cookie sheets as you work.

3. With mixer, combine cream cheese, green onion and shredded cheddar cheese. Stuff peppers with cream cheese mixture using a spoon or flat knife.

4. Cut bacon strips in half. Wrap bacon slices around poppers and secure with toothpicks. Brush with favorite BBQ sauce. (You can make the poppers early in the day and cover with saran wrap or waxed paper until oven time.)

5. Cook in 300 degree oven for 1 hour or until bacon is sizzling. Check the poppers at 40 mintues to see how they are doing. Please don`t make the mistake of turning the oven up to 400 degrees. This will cause the cream cheese mixture to bubble up and out of the jalapeno peppers, and the result will be cheese all over the cookie sheet and empty peppers. (But no one in this house has done that. Ever)