Bacon wrapped Jalapeño Popper with Cream Cheese filling

Bacon has this uncanny ability to make everything better - Aint that true? I bet this is a mutual observation among many of you as well. I love bacon but I hardly eat or buy any unless I am at a brunch buffet or having some friends over. This time the later scenario was my excuse to indulge in some greasy smoky slabs of meat, in the form of Bacon Wrapped Jalapeño Poppers. Yumm!!!

It has been 2 weeks since Super bowl but I am still talking about it because I have yet another appetizer that I had prepared for game day that I think you all might enjoy. I usually plan my menu well in advance and this game day party was no different. I planned to make the Asian meatballs, 3-cheese spinach and artichoke dip and these bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers. 

On Friday night, after work and picking up my daughter from daycare, I hit the stores to check off my long grocery list and seemed to make great progress until I realized that the store had run out of Jalapeños. There's no way I could make bacon wrapped jalapeños poppers without the poppy Jalapeños, is there ??? Well, its not in my DNA to give up so I decided to brave the freeze and snow and ventured out to a few other stores. Alas, almost every place I checked was out of this key ingredient and finally I dragged myself to the last option I had in the neighborhood. Well, the good news was that they did carry jalapeños but I found myself looking down at a small box of shriveled, slightly rotting jalapeños. Dejected and ready to call it a day, I wearily turned to head back out when I heard my daughter saying hi to a store-helper passing by and seeing my forlorn face he asked me if he could help. Well, as luck would have it, he went to the storage area and came back with a big box full of fresh jalapeños. I was simply overjoyed and grinning ear-to-ear by now. Noticing my uncontainable sense of joy, he asked me what I was going to do with these many jalapeños and when he heard about the bacon wrapped poppers I noticed a twinkle in his eye as he responded - "that definitely sounds good".

well, my friends - I present to you a mark of true grit, commitment and hard work -  "bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers" 

Yield: 40 appetizers
Ingredients
20 - Jalapeños, fresh
2 Tablespoon - Butter /Oil
4 Clove - Garlic
1 Cup - Green Onions/Scallions/ Spring Onions, sliced
8oz or 1 block - Cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1 Cup - Bread Crumbs or Panko bread crumbs
2 pounds - Bacon
Toothpick

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375F.
• Cut the jalapeños lengthwise into two and remove the seeds and membranes.
• Melt the butter in a non stick pan. 
• Add the chopped garlic and saute for a minute.
• Mix in the green onions/scallions ans saute until the are wilted, about 5 minutes.
• Add cream cheese and mix well.
• Take the pan off the heat and add the bread crumbs and mix.
• Stuff each jalapeño half with cream cheese cheese mixture. 
• Wrap each jalapeño with bacon and secure them with a toothpick. 
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. 

Notes and tips

• Immerse the toothpicks in water. Wet toothpick wont burn during baking process
• The seeds and the membranes of the jalapeños cause the heat so make sure you get rid of them. I advice to wear gloves while cutting the jalapeños. I did not and my hands were burning for at least a couple of hours :(
• If after 20 minutes the bacon doesn't look brown enough, turn on the broiler and keep an eye on them to avoid burning.