The Reckless Chef

Bacon. Wrapped. Dates. With. Goat cheese. And. Almonds.

These are 100% as simple as they sound, and also absolutely delicious.

Mmmm, bacon-wrapped.

The Recipe:
Bacon-Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese and Almonds

1 package center-cut bacon
1 can pitted dates
1 tub crumbled goat cheese
1 can whole almonds

Do This

Preheat your broiler to the regular or high setting. Cover a baking sheet in aluminum foil.
Slice each strip of bacon in half, so that you have two pieces approximately 5″ long. Make a pile of bacon strips for your mini-assembly line.
Slice each date in half longwise. Since they’re pitted, they should be pretty hollow. Make a pile of dates, making sure to keep matching halves together.
Gather three more piles: goat cheese, almonds, and toothpicks. Arrange your piles in this order: dates, goat cheese, almonds, bacon, toothpicks. Hooray, prep work is done!

Grab a date, and stuff each half with as much goat cheese as possible. Smush an almond into the center of one half, and cap it with the other half. Some of the goat cheese will squish out, but that’s okay. Wrap your stuffed date in bacon, and secure with a toothpick. Place on the foil-covered baking sheet and continue to stuff and wrap more dates.
When the baking sheet is full, place it in the broiler. Check after every minute, and when the bacon is visibly cooked (but not burnt!), flip the dates and return to the broiler. When the other side is also cooked through, remove, cool, and serve.

These things cook in a flash, so you’ll need to park yourself by the broiler. It’s worth it, though, and if you make them for a party, the entire tray will be gone in under a minute. Make several batches, so you can eat some, too. The ingredient list is intentionally vague so you can be sure to have as many batches as the bacon package will yield (if you get standard sizes of each, there will be extra goat cheese, dates, and almonds).