Meanwhile, back at the bacon wrapped jalapeños...

A couple of posts ago (http://kitchen-loulou.blogspot.com/2010/08/communal-table.html) I alluded to the life altering properties of cream cheese stuffed bacon wrapped jalapeños with a fleeting promise to discuss that recipe another day. Today is that day.

It all started with The Pioneer Woman’s Bacon Wrapped Jalapeño Thingies (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/?s=bacon+wrapped+jalapeno+thingies). My dear friend Sherry studied that recipe, and then searched the far reaches of the World Wide Web to compare other thoughts on the subject. She carefully culled her favorite parts of each recipe and came up with a masterpiece of her very own. They looked great, they smelled amazing, but I was convinced I didn’t like jalapeños, so I was hesitant. And, as it turns out, I was also wrong. Really, really wrong. I wish I could confess to you exactly how many of these tasty morsels I put away that night, but frankly, I lost count. Suffice it to say it was embarrassing, but I just couldn’t stop myself. Then I craved them all the way home. I woke up the next morning still craving them. For someone who began that evening thinking she didn’t like jalapeños I believe that’s what they call a one eighty.

A couple of weeks later we were on vacation, replicating Sherry’s version of this new favorite treat when it dawned on me that using Boursin (garlic & herb version) would be a delicious shortcut for the filling. (I do some of my best thinking on vacation.) So, in the spirit of experimentation, vacation thinking and takings things to the next level, here’s how Bacon Wrapped Jalapeños play out in our house:

15 Jalapeño Peppers (washed, ends trimmed, split lengthwise, seeds & membrane removed)
1 package Boursin Garlic & Herb Cream Cheese at room temperature
15 slices of bacon, cut in half

Soak 30 toothpicks in water in advance. Cover baking sheet with foil, preheat oven to 300 degrees. Fill each pepper half with Boursin, wrap with half slice of bacon, securing bacon with a toothpick. Place assembled peppers on baking sheet. Bake for 42 minutes, turn oven to broil for approximately 3 minutes or until the bacon is crisped up to your personal satisfaction. (We like it really crisp, watch the peppers closely during the broiling phase, you know how pork fat pops when it’s getting happy!)

Settle in on the sofa with a big plate of these babies and you, too, just might discover you like jalapeño peppers after all. Seriously, it happened to me, it could happen to you.