Goat Cheese-Stuffed Peppers with Honey and Bacon

Appetizers, Goat cheese, Tailgating Favorites

Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppers with Honey and Bacon

My little brother’s exasperation with/at goat cheese is the stuff that family jokes and big-sister-harassment are made of.

“Goat cheese? Like from a real goat? Is that natural? Can a goat make cheese?” [makes dramatic “icky face,” waves off delicious food with goat cheese]

But I still love him. And even though my mom didn’t exactly produce the most wilderness-worthy children – I don’t think I’ve voluntarily spent a night without electricity in my life – I’m extremely confident that he would die of dysentery LONG before I would.

But he might adapt. As a gun person, he could be useful. If properly motivated, he could switch from picking empty Bud Light (SERIOUSLY, HOW ARE WE EVEN RELATED?!) cans off of a fence post to bagging us a deer or something. Because milking a goat (or the fact that one can milk a goat) would never cross his mind.

Let’s just hope we never have to find out.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppers with Honey and Bacon

I took great big-sister-joy in bringing a dish with goat cheese to his weekend pool party, watching him scarf down half a dozen peppers, and then delivering a perfectly snarky, “Thought you didn’t like goat cheese?”

While he possibly tried to give me the silent treatment, I spent the next several minutes fielding recipe questions and compliments. Because the peppers were gone inside 30 minutes. And it’s no wonder.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppers with Honey and Bacon

The jalapeno popper itself is pretty awesome. It’s only downside is the bacon-wrapped version doesn’t get crispy enough. And we’re extra-crispy-bacon people. Like, so crispy it should shatter when I look at it.

So we improved a bit on the jalapeno popper: I used up some of the 108 (!) serrano peppers that I picked from the garden last week, went the “DIY honeyed goat cheese” route, threw in some leftover cream cheese for good measure, and then topped it with some crumbled so-crispy-it-shatters bacon.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppers with Honey and Bacon

The combination of Sweet + Tangy + Salty + Heat is insanely addicting.

I bet you can’t eat just 6!

Unless you were late to the party. And then you couldn’t even eat one. Because the goat cheese hater ate yours.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppers with Honey and Bacon

The jalapeno popper gets a simple makeover with the addicting combination of goat cheese, honey, and crispy bacon.

Ingredients

  • 2 dozen medium jalapenos (or large serranos), halved; pith and seeds removed
  • 10.5 oz log of goat cheese
  • 2 oz reduced fat cream cheese
  • 3 Tbsp honey, plus more for drizzling
  • Pinch of salt
  • 3 pieces of bacon, cooked to a crisp

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with foil.
  2. Cut peppers in half lengthwise and remove the pith and seeds from the center. (Protect those hands, even if you have to make "gloves" out of sandwich bags!)
  3. Place the peppers onto the baking sheet - if you have any wobbly peppers, cut a sliver off the pepper, creating a flat surface on the bottom.
  4. In a medium bowl, place the goat cheese and cream cheese in a bowl and microwave for 20-30 seconds, until softened.
  5. Add honey and salt and stir until combined and smooth.
  6. Transfer the mixture to the bottom corner of a large zip-top bag, snip the corner off, and pipe the filling into the peppers.
  7. Bake for 10 minutes and then turn the broiler on for 1-2 minutes.
  8. Remove from the oven and let cool a few minutes - if you had any peppers roll in the oven and lose their filling, use a spoon to put it back in place.
  9. Transfer the peppers to a platter, lightly drizzle a little honey over the peppers, and then crumble the bacon over top.
  10. Enjoy immensely. Warm or at room temp. Or cold. You can't go wrong.

Notes

Yields: 48 pieces

Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride

Estimated time: 45 minutes

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