Bacon Wrapped Dates with Honey Mascarpone

These dates are the hit of our holiday party every year. I first made them after learning that Talula's in Arlington had stopped serving bacon wrapped dates. This was unacceptable, so I had to learn how to make my own bacon-date combination. This is what I have come up with. My first attempt I used thick-cut bacon. Despite being better in most circumstances , it throws off the proper bacon-to-date-ratio in this recipe. I choose mascarpone because of the texture, mild sweetness, creaminess, and because it handles heat well. Letting the cheese warm to room temperature really made filling the dates much easier and resulted in fewer broken bags, as it requires less squeezing. If your ziploc bag starts to ooze out the edges try cutting around the leak and placing a new bag over the old one to keep the spout small. This is much less messy then dealing with an increasing number of bag leaks or trying to change bags.

A word on selecting your dates: The easiest thing to do is buy the box of pre-pitted dates, but often the pitted organic dates are superior in size and deliciousness. The soft ones are really easy to pit as you slice them open. If your dates are a bit harder (such as the ones my parents bring me back from West Coast date country), they can be obnoxious to pit. I have no specific solution to this. The pre-pitted packages are the easiest to wrap and less dependent on tooth picks, but the awesomeness of a nice, plump date is worth noting. We use raw honey in this recipe. If you haven't stopped by an Appalachian road stand recently, regular honey works just as well.

It's warmth and friendliness makes this concotion a perfect candidate for a winter holiday treat. After all, the salt of the bacon and the sweet of the date combined with slightly sweet cheese is a perfect little bite, and great for grazing. Because you can make them ahead and they are relatively to churn out assembly line style once you get going, you can make as many as you want. I try to budget 2-3 dates per person. Some will eat more, some will eat less.

Bacon Wrapped Dates with Honey

Ingredients

2 Bacon Packages (thin sliced, about 32 slices) cut in half

2 lbs Medjool Dates (pref. pitted, better if large, and soft)

1 lbs Mascarpone cheese (2 8 oz tubs), at room temperature

1/3 cup Honey (raw honey if available)

      Olive Oil

      Coarse Sea Salt (such as Fleur de Sel)

Cooking time: 1 hour prep, 25 minutes to cook. Makes 64 dates.

Instructions

1. Mix together softened mascarpone cheese with 1/3 of a cup honey until soft, smooth and creamy.
2. Add cheese to gallon ziploc bag, placing cheese as close to one corner as possible. Snip the very edge (1/8") of the corner of the ziploc bag to create an impromptu pastry bag. If you have an actual pastry bag, use it.
3. Slice dates down the center on one side, revealing the center. If necessary, remove the pit. Open the date so the center of the pit is exposed.
4. Fill center of the dates with cheese. The dates do not have to close all the way and can have some overflow. The warmer the cheese is, the easier it will be to squeeze.
5. Slice strips of bacon in half. Try to select bacon with minimum fat content on the edges.
6. Place the date cheese-side down at the end of the strip of bacon and roll. Dates can be stored rolled up until ready to cook. If dates are large, pick dates with a toothpick to ensure that the bacon stays rolled prior to baking.
7. Cook at 375 degrees for 25 minutes on a wire rack place on top of a cookie sheet.
8. Serve immediately. If desired, sprinkle with quality olive oil and fleur de sel before serving.