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.

Menu: Christmas Party Menu

Another  year, another holiday party. This is the one party that we have taken to throwing every year, partially as an excuse to buy a Christmas tree. Partially because this time of the year just makes me want to make cookies, cookies, and yet more cookies. Yet again, we were a little insane in the amount of food we prepared, but there are so many things we've started looking forward to as "something we'll do for the holiday party" that it's just hard to stop yourself. We'll be posting recipes as we find the time, recover from our hangovers, and look with horror at the mess we made.

This year, we added a spicy nut mix, homemade liver mousse, and a second vegetarian option of spicy sweet potato (a recipe I made up and am still working on perfecting). We also made pignoli cookies, which I had for the first time during our recent Tuscany trip. I insisted on trying to replicate them. These aren't quite as good as the ones I had in Italy but were an excellent first attempt and stand up on their own. In addition, we had our old favorites. You just can't go wrong with this beef recipe, or with bacon wrapped dates that matter. There's bacon. There's date. It's perfect.


So enjoy, and have a happy holiday season!

Appetizers -

Bacon Wrapped Dates with Honey Mascarpone
Spicy Nuts

Chicken "Faux Gras" Mousse with Cucumber Gelee

Truffle Butter Popcorn

Pistachio and Cranberry Stuffed Brie with Raw Honey

Main Courses -

Spanakopita Triangles (Vegetarian) We made these smaller than the dinner-sized portions we usually make. Just cut the phyllo six ways horizontally instead of in half vertically.

Chipotle Sweet Potato Pockets (Vegetarian)

Brown Sugar and Citrus Cured Salmon

Ginger and Vodka Cured Beef Tenderloin

Cookies -

Peppermint Mocha Cookies

Pignoli (Pine nut) Cookies

Molasses Crinkles

Holiday Rice Krispie Treats

Beverages -

Mulled Wine

Egg Nog

Mocha Ice Box Cake (Cookie Cake)

I saw Barefoot Contessa make this cake on her show, and I thought, okay, this is so over-the-top crazy and rich, it just has to be good. Otherwise, how did it get green-lighted? The answer is that this is both completely unexpected and exactly what you think it is going to be. That is, an almost tiramisu like "cake" where chocolate chip cookies replace the lady fingers. The cookies absorb the whip cream and coffee liqueur while the chips remain for welcome chunks of chocolate. This is a diet killer, but if you're going off the diet, go big.

The recipe hinges on choice of cookie. While I make a pretty mean chewy chocolate chip cookie, its fraternal twin the crispy chocolate chip cookie is not something I've mastered. Plus, since the general ease of making this dish is part of its appeal, do you really want to have to make a whole other dessert just to start this recipe? So, the goal should be to score some crispy, thin (absorbant) cookies from the grocer's bakery or the food aisle if you can find it. I realize this can be a little hard to find (we get Otterbein's Chocolate Chip, which they sell at Giant and Calvert Woodley. Tate's cookies or Anna's Ginger Snaps, etc. are also good options). Ginger snaps are a nice variation from the chocolate chip version.

The mocha whipped cream is a rich and complex cream, and is a sneaky little tool to keep in your whip cream arsenal to drop on anything chocolate and sweet as a finisher. Brownie? Dab a little mocha whip cream on that. The shaved chocolate, which seems like a gratuitous thing, actually is more than garnish and really does add a distinct flavor profile to the cake. It's good without the shavings, but the dish tastes way more complete with them on. Again, the tiramisu comparison invites itself and is appropriate here. Before you know it, this recipe will be in your standards list of a quick and easy way to celebrate a special occasion in a classy yet comforting way.

Mocha Ice Box Cake (Cookie Cake) 2 cups cold heavy cream 12 ounces Italian mascarpone cheese 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup coffee liqueur, such as Kahlua 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, such as Pernigotti 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 3 (8-ounce) packages chocolate chip cookies, such as Tate's Bake Shop Shaved semisweet chocolate, for garnish Instructions Using either a hand mixer or standing mixer with a whisk attachment, combine the heavy cream, mascarpone, sugar, coffee liqueur, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and vanilla. Mix on low speed to combine and then slowly raise the speed, until it forms firm peaks (when the whisk is lifted out of the cream the cream remains stiff at the end of the attachment). To assemble the cake, arrange chocolate chip cookies flat in an 8-inch springform pan, covering the bottom as much as possible like a puzzle. (I break some cookies to fill in the spaces.) Spread a fifth of the mocha whipped cream evenly over the cookies.  Place another layer of cookies on top, lying flat and touching, followed by another fifth of the cream. Continue layering cookies and cream until there are 5 layers of each and you've hit the top of the spring form pan, ending with a layer of cream. Smooth the top, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. Run a small sharp knife around the outside of the cake and remove the sides of the pan.  Using a fine grater or rasp, grate thin shaving of chocolate on the top of cake. Cut in wedges, and serve cold.  Cooking Time: 12 hours Inactive, 30 minutes active

Polenta Cakes

There are two kinds of polenta in life. Creamy polenta, like grits, should collapse when ladled directly on a plate. Firm polenta is usually served shaped and is often fried to crisp the top and bottom. These would be the latter kind. From Thomas Keller's French Laundry cookbook, these polenta cakes are the kind of thing I usually think of as a restaurant dish, but it turns out are perfectly accessible and manageable to make in the home, especially for company.

This polenta cake recipe we paired with TK's fantastic short ribs, and the very rich sauce and very rich polenta really gave a wonderful restaurant quality feel. Although not a weekday item, they make a decent company side, because you have to chill them down and wait, and preparing things ahead is the key to successful dinner parties. You can even pre-cut the circles using a biscuit cutter, cookie cutter, or baking round, put them on a plate, and then just fire them up on the stove a few minutes before serving. And since the nature of the recipe kinda forces you to make a lot (you have to harden the polenta in a baking dish prior to cutting the cakes, and baking dishes can only be so small), it makes sense for guests, or to make some for now, and save the rest for a second meal later.

If you're not like me and don't have things like mascarpone cheese on hand (shocking, I know), you can try substituting equal parts cream cheese and sour cream. All this being said, just like sour cream is just not the same as creme fraiche (though easily substitutable for), nothing is truly like mascarpone. Just make sure to adjust any necessary firming times. Make sure to use regular polenta, not instant polenta. Extra fine polenta that is low in starch and has not been processed is also useable and will speed up your cooking time.

Polenta Cakes

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups chicken stock

3 cups water

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1 1/2 cups polenta

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tablespoons marscapone

2 tablespoons minced chives

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Flour

Instructions

1. Bring the chicken stock, water, and garlic to a boil in a saucepan.
2. Whisking constantly, pour in the polenta.
3. Return the liquid to a simmer and cook the polenta over very low heat, stirring occasionally, for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the polenta is thick and smooth.
4. When the polenta is cooked, stir in the marscapone, butter, chives, and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Spread the polenta in a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Let it cool to room temperature.
6. Once cooled, cover the surface of the polenta directly with plastic wrap to seal off air and refrigerate. Allow plenty of time for the polenta to fully firm up (at least three hours).
7. With a 2-inch round cutter or biscuit cutter (or similar size), cut 8 rounds into the firm polenta.
8. Heat about 1/8" of canola or vegetable oil in any ovenproof skillet to medium heat.
9. Add some flour to a round cake pan and gently coat the pieces of polenta with flour. Shake off any excess.
10. Add floured polenta round to the skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side (until evenly browned on both sides and hot. If they brown too quickly (before the center is hot), the pan can be placed in a 350 degree oven to finish cooking.
11. Serve warm. Any leftover polenta can be saved for three days.