3 Cheese-Stuffed, Bacon-Wrapped Dates with a Rosemary Hot Honey
Yeah, the name is long. But after taking your first bite of these perfectly-sized, sweet and savory little nuggets, you won’t care what they’re called! You’ll just be begging for more! These are an excellent party food – for so many reasons. 1: you can pre-assemble the dates and stash in the fridge, baking them right before your guests arrive. 2: they are the ultimate finger food -or toothpick, if you’re fancy. 3 : they’re two bites, so they’re not so heavy they’ll ruin a meal but they’re hearty enough to fill your belly while sipping on a fun, refreshing cocktail (see recipe below) Now, all of the accolades aside – these do require some patience to put together but believe me, I’m the Queen of No Patience so if I can do this, so can you. You’ll have to cut little slits in the dates, YES – each and every one – but when you realize it’s to stuff CHEESE in that little hollowed out hole, you won’t mind. And you’ll have to wrap the dates, YES -each and every one – in bacon. But HELLO, bacon. Again, you won’t mind. Use any of the leftover hot honey for dipping when they’re hot out of the oven. Happy Hors d’oeuvre-ing!
The Ingredients List:
For the Dates:
- 3 ounces goat cheese
- 4 ounces marscapone
- 4 ounces whole-milk ricotta
- 25-30 medjool dates
- 1lb bacon, cut in thirds (we used Neese’s)
- freshly ground pepper
- piping bag and/or ziploc baggie
For the Honey:
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 TBSP freshly minced rosemary
- cayenne pepper – use as much, or as little as you’d like
- freshly ground pepper
For the Asparagus:
- 1 lb asparagus stalks
- 2 oz goat cheese
- 2 oz marscapone
- 2 oz whole milk ricotta
- 1 lb bacon, cut in half (we used Neese’s)
- freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Slice dates open, creating a pocket in the center of the date. Set aside.
- In a bowl, mix all three cheeses (best at room temp) together, adding freshly ground black pepper. Put cheese mixture in a piping bag (or plastic baggie and cut a small hole in the end)
- Combine honey, rosemary, cayenne and black pepper. Set aside.
- Cut bacon into thirds
- Pipe cheese filling in to each date, tightly wrap bacon thirds around each date, placing on baking sheet.
- Drizzle honey over each bacon-wrapped date
- place in 400 degree oven, bake for 20 minutes -or until bacon is crispy
*Repeat same process for asparagus. Lay out bacon horizontally on a baking sheet. Pipe cheese mixture vertically, creating a “glue” to hold the asparagus in the bundle, top with black pepper. Lay two asparagus spears on each piece of bacon and wrap tightly. Lay seam side down. Bake in 400 degree oven for 9-10 minutes – or until bacon is cripsy
Live Cooking Demo
The Cocktail
This refreshing little number has no official name. Or at least, not yet. And that’s because I made it up moments before taking to the filming of this cooking demo 🙂 We started with an excellent base – JOLO’s Golden Hallows – a crisp, light white wine (think Pinot Grigio) and from there, we just added flavors we thought would complement the dates and asparagus we were making. Rosemary. Ginger. Lemon. You get the idea. See below for approximate measures.
- 4 ounces white wine (like JOLO Golden Hallows)
- 1 TBSP rosemary & ginger simple syrup
- 1 lemon slice
- 1 ounce club soda/sparkling mineral water
- rosemary sprig for garnish
Final Say
I could eat small bites, paired with a fantastic cocktail for every meal for the rest of my life. They’re just perfection in my book. Not too big. Not too small. And the best part is that, you get variety. You’re not nailed down to a “one meat n’ 2 veg” kinda meal. These dates are a delicious finger food; that really go great in any kind of season or for any kind of event, The same goes for the asparagus. Truth be told, you don’t need to use three different kinds of cheeses here but I don’t love goat cheese on its own. Too tangy. I wanted to calm it down- so I chose two other cheeses I do love. I’d eat ricotta out of the tub, standing in front of an open fridge if I knew I wouldn’t get caught. Apparently, that’s “unacceptable” . That being said – if you LOVE goat cheese, just use goat cheese. You love bleu cheese? Use bleu cheese. The world is your oyst…..er….date. You make it how you like it.