Roasted Roaches

You are probably looking at this picture, squirming thinking how gross are roasted roaches. Well, thankfully they are not roaches but these scrumptious cheese stuffed, bacon wrapped dates that literally taste like candy! My girlfriend, Suzette who is an amazing cook, brought these yummy morsels to one of our dinner clubs and they were the HIT of the night. They are the perfect balance of salty from the bacon, sweetness from the dates a smooth tang from the cheeses. 

They might look a little intimidating because of all of the "brown" happening. It's likely similar to the reaction my kids get when they see green on their dinner plates, but don't let looks stop you from trying this delicious appetizer. If you are feeding a crowd make sure you double and triple the recipe below, they will go in a flash! Happy Halloween!

Roasted Roaches (Cheese Stuffed, Bacon Wrapped Dates)

Makes 12-16 
(slightly adapted recipe from Suzette Pedrin)

12-16 pitted dates
1/4 cup chevre cheese*
1/4 cup crumbled bleu cheese
6 slices of thin bacon, sliced lengthwise and halved

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the cheeses making sure to break up the bleu cheese crumbles so that they will easily pass through a piping tip. Transfer cheeses to a pastry bag and pipe cheese into pitted dates.

*I added goat cheese here so it would be easy to pipe into the dates but you can always substitute with cream cheese or just use all bleu cheese by itself, which is true to Suzette's original recipe.
 



Wrap cheese stuffed dates in bacon, securing with a toothpick. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, rotate and bake an additional 10 minutes. Remove toothpicks and rotate to ensure even browning and bake an additional 5 minutes. Remove from oven, cool and enjoy!
 

More Halloween inspired recipes to try, click here.