This weekend I held a kombucha-making class at my house.  It was just a small gathering with a couple of friends, some bacon wrapped dates, a little wine, and some cheese. Although I make efforts to be as dairy-free as possible, the evil Trader Joe’s cheese sampling woman MADE me buy not one, but three types of cheese.

I had tried bacon wrapped dates at a restaurant about a week ago and decided to try to replicate it that evening, so we had bacon wrapped dates and sliced of cheese served on sliced apples with a little sprinkle of cinnamon, a little kombucha and a little crunchy momma talk… you know chicken coops, charter schools, fluoride poisoning our water, and my failed attempts to create an urban edible garden.

When picking the dates for this dish, try to find soft and moist dates so that they don’t get too hard when baking them. I recommend medjool unpitted dates, they are usually a little bit larger that the deglet type and the unpitted ones tend to be more moist. I made a few dates without the cheese and also turned out delicious

Ingredients:

Dates
Nitrate-free bacon
Blue Cheese or feta cheese (optional)
Walnuts
Toothpicks

Preparation:

• Soak toothpicks in water for at least 10 minutes to prevent them from burning
• Preheat oven to 375 F.
• Cut a slit lengthwise on each date, remove pit and stuff with walnuts, or cheese or both
• Wrap the dates with a ½ slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick
• Set wrapped dates in a baking dish or cookie tray (no greasing necessary but you can use parchment paper for easier clean up)
• Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the bacon is crisp on both sides (turn the dates half way through the cooking time

For other appetizer ideas click here