Bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with Ibérico cheese and blanched almonds

This is a dish made for when you really want to eat something sweet, salty and savory all wrapped into two little bites.

Or, for when you have friends over and you plan on doing some drinking that will require some serious snacking later on, and you want that snack to be really delicious and not just chips and dip.

Or, for when you host a dinner or a celebration and you want to serve something impressively good for a starter, a nibble, or as part of your main spread.

 

 

 

If any of the above applies to you, then this dish is made for you.

There’s bacon, dates, cheese and nuts. There’s crunchy, crispy, soft, sticky and creamy textures. There’s sweet, salty, smoky, umami and sharp flavors.

 

 

 

Plump Medjool dates stuffed with blanched almonds and Ibérico (or Manchego) cheese, wrapped in bacon. Tell me that doesn’t sound good!

Who can resist a recipe that’s so full of flavor?!

 

 

 

 

Bacon-wrapped Medjool dates stuffed with Ibérico cheese and blanched almonds

The cheese I use to stuff the dates with in this dish vary. I usually use Ibérico cheese, but other times I use Manchego. Both are Spanish cheeses that are buttery, creamy and sharp. However, their flavor profile differs due to the type of milk used to make each cheese. Manchego is made just with sheep’s milk, whereas Ibérico is made with a combination of sheep’s, goat’s and cow’s milk.

I also sometimes use blue cheese in place of the above two cheeses, for a sharper, stronger flavor, and other times I use a combination of blue cheese and Manchego/Ibérico (I cut one small piece of each and stuff the date) when a more complex cheese flavor is what I’m after.

The choice is yours, depending on how sharp and pronounced a cheese flavor you want the dish to have. 

If you have troubled sourcing any of these two Spanish cheeses, choose a nice Greek Kaseri or Graviera cheese, a Swiss Gruyère, or a French Comté cheese.

 

 

 

Yield: 20 pieces

 

Ingredients

20 dried Medjool dates

Large piece of Ibérico cheese (or Manchego) – see above for more info about the cheese and substitutes

20 slices of smoked streaky bacon, not too thinly sliced

20 blanched almond halves, unsalted

 

Special equipment: large, rimmed baking sheet, baking paper, 20 toothpicks

 

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 200°C.

Line a rimmed, large enough baking sheet to fill all 20 bacon-wrapped dates, with baking paper.

Cut each date lengthwise on one side, being careful not to cut all the way through, and remove the pit.

Cut the cheese into pieces a little smaller than the cavity of each date. Push the cheese inside the date and add one or two almond halves depending on the size of the date. Press the sides to slightly close the dates.

Then, take a slice of bacon and wrap it around the date. You want the date to be covered with a double layer of bacon so depending on the length of your bacon slices you may need to cut each slice in half.

Secure with a toothpick and place each wrapped date, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet.

 

Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes on one side, then turn each wrapped date over and bake for a further 6-8 minutes, depending on the thickness of your bacon. You want the bacon to be caramelized all over, be crunchy and have a deep, golden color. Keep an eye on the bacon as you don’t want it to burn.

Remove from the oven and let the dates cool in the baking sheet for about 5 minutes. Then, transfer onto kitchen paper to absorb some of the grease. Then transfer onto a serving platter.

Serve warm or at room temperature and enjoy!