Recipe: Bacon Wrapped Dates

Sweet and savory things go well together. It's a fact of life. Cheese-stuffed dates are great on their own, but wrapping them in bacon is a delicious indulgence. The creaminess and tang of the cheese and the sweetness of the dates are extra amazing with smoky, crispy bacon. This recipe is what happens when I put my grandmother's famous blue cheese dip inside a date and a piece of bacon and completely ignore the suggestion to serve it with vegetables in place of a salad course. But hey, you only live once. Make a whole bunch of these next time you have a party and watch them fly off the plate in seconds.

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Dates
About 20 Medjool dates, pitted
1/2 cup blue cheese or goat cheese, pick your poison
1/2 cup cream cheese
Bacon, slices cut in half

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the goat or blue cheese with the cream cheese. If you're using goat cheese, use about half as much cream cheese. Mix with a fork until the cheeses are blended. If you have to taste this to adjust the ratio or make sure they're combined well enough, it will be delicious.

If the dates still have pits in them, take them out. Slice the dates vertically so they're open on one side.

Spoon the cheese mixture into the dates so that the cheese is almost contained within the date.

Wrap half pieces of bacon tightly around the dates so that they cover the cheese.

Put the dates on a baking sheet seam side down and cook for 10 minutes, then flip and cook for another five, or until the bacon is crispy and brown and the cheese starts to ooze out of the date just a little bit.

Use a paper towel to remove excess grease and serve with toothpicks to hold the date together. Party on!