Zucchini Whoopie Pies: My Own Creation!

I really love my new whoopie pie pan! I mean, don't get me wrong. I love a good, misshapen, free-form whoopie pie as much as the next gal. But come on, how cute are they when they're made in these perfect little circles, complete with puffy middles and nice, symmetrical sides? Thank you, Williams-Sonoma, for my new toy!

So once I had gotten my whoopie pie pan broken in by making some muffin tops in it, I decided that I should probably make actual whoopie pies in them next. I mean, that is the pan's intended purpose, right? And I still had so much zucchini on my windowsill, staring at me every day. The answer was obvious: make zucchini whoopie pies!

A quick Google search yielded plenty of options for me. Who knew there were so many variations on the zucchini whoopie pie, let alone two or three? I found endless possibilities, and based on what I found, I decided to just make up my own recipe! I couldn't find any variations that contained chocolate, and I really wanted to do a batch of regular and a batch of chocolate. I played around with ingredients and came up with what I think is a great whoopie pie. Two, actually.

For the first one, the regular zucchini whoopie, I found that I could make the cake/cookie part more delicate and cakelike by using cake flour as well as some all-purpose flour. In the past, I have found that whoopie pies can become rubbery after a day, and I'd much rather they retain that light, nearly crumbly texture I've come to expect in a whoopie. I used a nice combination of warm spices to flavor the cookies, and cut down on the amount of buttermilk I used. I figured that the excess moisture from the grated zucchini would make up for it.

The chocolate whoopie, in my opinion, turned out even more delicious than the regular variety. I used some Dutch process cocoa powder, some espresso powder, and then all the ingredients I had used in the regulars, albeit in different proportions. These turned out incredibly moist, super chocolatey, and almost too decadent to call them zucchini whoopie pies. After all, the word "zucchini" implies healthy. Nutritious, even. But these little babies definitely taste like dessert. A yummy, naughty dessert.

To fill all the pies, I made an orange-flavored cream cheese frosting. Oh, was this good! It doesn't require that much orange juice to make the citrusy flavor really come through. It offset the spicy outer shells so well; total yum. I'm still shocked that I was able to come up with something so delicious, all on my own! There's hope for me yet with this baking stuff, I think!

Zucchini Whoopie Pies

created by Bri

makes 12-15 whoopie pies

Ingredients

1 cup cake flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 egg

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 cups finely grated zucchini, squeezed to release excess moisture

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix together both flours, the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and baking soda in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and shortening until well-combined. Add the brown sugar and mix on medium speed for 3-4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in vanilla and egg; mix until fully incorporated.

3. Turn the mixer down to low. In two separate additions, add in the dry ingredients, adding in the buttermilk in between the two additions. With a rubber spatula, fold in the zucchini and the walnuts, if using.

4. Using a whoopie pie pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, drop tablespoon-sized dollops of the batter 1-2 inches apart. Bake for 11-13 minutes, rotating the pan and switching it from the bottom to the upper rack halfway through baking.

5. Allow to cool on the pan for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. To fill, pipe desired amount of Orange Cream Cheese Frosting onto one whoopie pie shell (recipe for frosting follows). Sandwich a second whoopie pie shell on top to complete your whoopie.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

8 oz. (one package) cream cheese, cold, cut into 1-inch cubes

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups (or maybe more) confectioners' sugar, measured and then sifted

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. fresh orange juice

Directions

1. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until fully incorporated. About 1/3 at a time, add in the confectioners' sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Make sure each 1/3 is completely mixed in before adding the next. Once combined, mix in the vanilla extract and orange juice, just until it is all mixed in. Do not overbeat.

Chocolate Zucchini Whoopie Pies:

Ingredients

1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa

3/4 cup cake flour

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. espresso powder

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. dark brown sugar

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 cups finely grated zucchini, squeeze to remove excess moisture

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, chopped

Directions

1. Make whoopie pies according to the above directions for the regular whoopie pies. The only difference: add in the cocoa and the espresso powder with the other dry ingredients. Then proceed as directed above. Sandwich with the Orange Cream Cheese Frosting and enjoy!

CEIMB: Fettuccine with Crab and Asparagus

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe was chosen by Jessica of Johnstone's Vin Blanc. We made Fettuccine with Crab and Asparagus, from Ellie's book So Easy. As you may know by now, I am not really the biggest fan of seafood. I eat shrimp, and I love it. Other than that, it's all pretty much outside of my comfort zone. However, I decided to go for it this time and try the crab in this dish.

I did have to cheat a little bit, and buy the package of imitation crab instead of the pure, real thing. Actually, the kind I bought said it was made from crab and other types of fish. I hope I still got the full effect, though, because I did end up liking it. It didn't taste very fishy, which is something that typically bothers me about seafood. It was very nice with the lemony flavors in the dish.

The dish as a whole, however, I felt was a bit lacking. I am not quite sure what it was, exactly. Maybe I wanted it to be saucier; I don't know. As it was, I just found it to be a bit dry. I liked the way it tasted. I adore asparagus, the lemon and the white wine added some good zing, and I thought the tarragon was really interesting in this. I did not buy fresh herbs for this recipe, so I just used my dried tarragon and dried parsley.



I haven't decided if I would make this again. It was good, it just wasn't amazing or memorable. Maybe if the sauce were more of a scampi-type sauce, this would have been better. I guess it wouldn't have been as healthy that way, though, so it would have defeated the purpose of cooking an Ellie meal!

Thanks, Jessica, for this week's pick! She's got the recipe posted on her blog. Check out the other CEIMBers in our blogroll.

Sloppy Bombay Joes

Being the Food Network-aholic that I am, I was following this past season of The Next Food Network Star. It's your garden variety reality competition series, in which foodie finalists compete to win the grand prize of their very own cooking show. Said show is then aired on weekend mornings on the channel, and if their first, six-episode season turns out to be a success, then the winner continues their cooking show. It's a pretty cool concept, and I've enjoyed watching for 3 or 4 seasons now. I can't say, though, that I have ever been as excited to make the winner's food as I was to make Aarti's food.



Food blogger Aarti Sequeira took home the title this year, and her cooking show, Aarti Party, began two Sundays ago. In her show, she tries to take the mystery and challenge of cooking Indian food, and turn it into something accessible for the home viewer. She likes to put an Indian spin on ordinary American dishes, thus showing the home cook how to utilize Indian techniques and spices to turn the familiar into the exotic. It sounded like a great way to branch out and try new things. Plus, I thought Aarti was great when I watched her all season long. She has a very calm, soothing presence on camera, and she definitely seems knowledgeable and creative in her cooking.



The first main dish she made on her new show was this: Sloppy Bombay Joes. She turns the average, everyday sloppy joe into international cuisine by transforming the messy, tomato-ey sauce we're used to in this dish into an Indian-style sauce. I was intrigued, and the food looked delicious on the show.

As it turns out, I loved these sloppy joes! The flavors were at once familiar and unknown, as the Indian spices mingled with the traditional tomato sauce and the meat and veggies. Her addition of raisins and pistachios was, I thought, inspired. The idea of extra textures in my sloppy joe was a welcome one; it made the meat mixture more interesting and much more flavorful. I didn't know how I'd feel about all these components working together, but it was fantastic.

If I had any gripes about this dish, they'd be very trivial. I felt like the slop was almost too sloppy, if that's possible. I mean, just by looking at this recipe's title, you'd think I'd be prepared for a mess. But I think I made my sauce a tad too runny. I'm sure I could have simmered everything longer and thickened it up a bit more, but I guess I was just eager to eat! I just served the meat mixture up with a slotted spoon to drain some of the excess liquid, and it was fine. My buns began to fall apart while being eaten, but I can imagine that the joes could be served up in pita bread or even tortillas, and still taste great.

Now that I've tasted her food, I can't wait to see what else Aarti's got in store for us. I'm sure this was just the first of many of her creations that I'll be trying out!

Sloppy Bombay Joes

adapted from Aarti Sequeira's recipe, found on Food Network.com
makes 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients
For the sauce:
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 serrano chile, seeded and finely minced (save the other half for the turkey)
1 tsp. garam masala
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup water

For the turkey:
3 to 4 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/4 cup shelled pistachios (about a small handful)
1/4 cup raisins (about a small handful)
1 tsp. cumin seeds (I had to use ground cumin; I had no seeds)
1/2 white onion, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
1/2 serrano chile, seeds intact (not chopped)
Kosher salt
1 lb. ground turkey
1/2 tsp. honey
1/4 cup half-and-half (I used 1% milk)
Small handful cilantro, chopped (soft stems included)
4 to 6 hamburger buns

Directions
1. Begin by making the sauce: Warm the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, until it shimmers. Add the ginger, garlic, and serrano pepper. Saute until the ginger and garlic brown a little. Add the garam masala and paprika and saute for 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until thickened, about 15 minutes.

2. Begin the turkey: In a large skillet, warm 2 Tbsp. of oil. When shimmering, add the pistachios and raisins. Cook until the raisins swell up and the pistachios toast slightly. Remove from the pan and set aside.

3. Return the pan to medium heat, add 1 to 2 more Tbsp. of oil, and warm until shimmering. Add the cumin seeds and allow them to sizzle for about 10 seconds, or until some of the sizzling subsides. Stir in the onions and bell pepper; saute until softened (since I had ground cumin, I just threw the cumin in with the onions and peppers). Add the serrano pepper. Saute for another couple of minutes, seasoning with the salt. Stir in the turkey, breaking up the big lumps. Cook until opaque, about 5 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, your sauce should be ready. Pour the sauce into the skillet with the turkey. Stir and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the mixture has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes.

5. Once the turkey has cooked and the sauce has thickened a little, remove the serrano pepper. Add the honey, half-and-half, pistachios, and raisins. Stir through and taste for seasoning. Before serving, garnish with fresh cilantro (I stirred my cilantro in at the end).

6. Toast the buns, fill with the turkey mixture, and serve. Eat (with your hands!) and enjoy!

Oatmeal Zucchini Muffins

So there is a blogging group out there called Tuesdays with Dorie. Once a week, the group makes a selection from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook Baking: From My Home to Yours. Even though I don't belong to the group, there are plenty of blogs I read whose authors do bake along with it. Each Tuesday, I get to drool over the week's selection, looking at beautiful pictures of the baked goods and envying the treats and goodies of others. The truth is, if I did belong to TWD, it would probably cause me to gain 50 pounds. It's hard enough for me to find ways to pawn off the baked goods I already make, and if I had a new one each and every Tuesday, I'm afraid I'd find myself eating most of it myself!

Anyway, I digress. What I am trying to tell you is that after all this time, with me following along with the TWD bakers, I finally decided to make one of the recipes! I kept seeing variations on Dorie Greenspan's Oatmeal Breakfast Bread, which the group made two weeks ago. It looked like a great, healthy way to feed my kids some breakfast, and it sounded like something I would love, too.

The recipe was chosen by Natalie of Oven Love, and she decided to turn her bread into muffins. I thought this would be the way to go, so I made muffins, too. I liked Natalie's idea of substituting a half-cup of the flour in the recipe for whole-wheat. I did that, too. I used dried cranberries in my variation, because the recipe allows you to use pretty much any dried fruit you like. Then, I made the riskiest recipe change of all: I added zucchini.

When I saw the recipe on other bloggers' sites, I had visions of zucchini floating in my head. I had two big, beautiful zucchini (is it zucchini or zucchinis? I don't know!) sitting on my windowsill, and my head always turns to baked goods immediately when I think of how to use ingredients. There are other things I made with the zucchini (which I'll be blogging about soon), but I really wanted to try some in this recipe first. So I did!

The other fun spin I put on these muffins was the pan I used to bake a few of them. I had just purchased a Whoopie Pie Pan from Williams-Sonoma, and I was really excited to take it out for a test drive. I thought, if it'll work for whoopie pies (you know, those fun little sandwich cookies you make by putting a fluffy filling in between two cake-like cookies), it should work for muffins, too. I thought it would be cute to make little muffin tops; they'd be a great size for my younger son, and I'd get to practice using the new pan. That picture above features the cooled muffin tops; I thought they turned out great! Below are the full-size muffins, which I made 16 of.

I'm really glad I thought to use the zucchini in these, because it worked flawlessly. The flavors are similar to those you find in zucchini bread, or even carrot cake, which I always think of as a close cousin to zucchini bread. I really enjoyed the cranberries in there, too. It gave a nice, tart burst to the muffins, which was a nice counterpoint to all the sweetness.

So, even though I am not a part of Tuesdays with Dorie, I am happy to have finally tried out one of Dorie's recipes. I'm definitely interested in trying out some more of her stuff; maybe I can find one of her books at the library or something! Thank you, Natalie, for posting the recipe and for providing me with inspiration and ideas on how to make these muffins so good. Below, I have provided the recipe as I made it, along with a link to Natalie's post about the bread (muffins).

Oatmeal Zucchini Muffins
adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Oatmeal Breakfast Bread
makes about 20 muffins (I made 16 muffins and 8 muffin tops)

Ingredients
For the topping:
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

For the muffins:
2 large eggs
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup flavorless oil, such as canola or safflower
1/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
1/3 cup dried, sweetened cranberries (Craisins)
1 cup oats (old-fashioned or quick oats, I used a bit of each)
2 cups lightly packed, finely grated zucchini, squeezed to release excess liquid

Directions
1. Place rack in the center of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees. Spray your muffin tins (or whoopie pie pan!) with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a small bowl, use your fingers to toss together the sugar, nuts, and cinnamon until evenly mixed. Set aside to use as your topping.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, applesauce, oil, and milk until well blended.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cloves. Remove 1/2 tsp. of the mix and toss it with the cranberries, just to coat; set aside. Stir the oats into the large bowl. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry and, using a large rubber spatula, stir just until everything is evenly moistened. Do not overmix. Stir in the zucchini, then scatter the cranberries over the batter and stir to blend.

5. Divide the batter evenly among your muffin tins or whoopie pie pans, if using. Evenly sprinkle the topping mixture over each muffin, pressing gently so the topping sticks.

6. Bake for 20-24 minutes, or until the tops are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean (the muffin tops take about 12-16 minutes). Transfer the tins to a rack to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove the muffins from the tins. Continue to cool the muffins on the racks. Serve at room temperature. The muffins will keep well in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

CEIMB: Individual Mixed Berry Cobblers

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe was a little something different for us. Typically this summer, the recipes we've been making for the group have been savory meals. We've had some truly fantastic dishes, as a result. But now it was time for a fantastic dessert!

This week it was Pamela of Cookies with Boys' turn to choose, and she decided to go for Mixed Berry Cobbler, from Ellie's So Easy book. Since I knew that the original recipe was going to make much more cobbler than we could handle, I decided it would be fun to use my adorable little ramekins again and make mini, individual mixed berry cobblers. Plus, I had just enough of an open, frozen bag of mixed berries hanging around to make two ramekins' worth. Score!

However, since I was cutting the recipe down to a third the amount, I had to do some fancy estimating to cut all the ingredients back. It was proving difficult, for example, to cut 1/4 cup flour down to a third of that amount. I tried my best to be accurate, but I had my doubts as to whether or not the biscuit topping would work out well.

I'll be curious to see how the other CEIMBers' biscuit topping looked, since mine appeared a bit too thin before I baked it. I was still worried while it was in the oven and I kept checking on it, assuming (correctly) that my little single servings would not take nearly as long to bake as Ellie's 8x8 baking dish would. I took them out after about 22 minutes, and they looked great! The fruit mixture was thick and bubbly, and the biscuit had browned very nicely and definitely had not melted or disintegrated into the fruit, as I had feared it would. In place of regular granulated sugar, I had sprinkled some turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw) on mine, and it gave the tops of the cobblers a nice, golden shimmer.

This cobbler was a dream to make, in terms of difficulty level. For a seemingly complex dessert, it took nearly no time at all to put together. The hardest part, for me, was just cutting everything down to one-third. If I'd made the 8x8 dish, this would have been even more painless!

Since the hubs loves desserts that include fruit, I had a feeling he'd love this, and he did. I'm much less of a fruit-in-my-dessert fan, but I'm super happy with the way these turned out. Ellie's done it again!

Thanks, Pamela! It was nice to make an after-dinner treat for a change. To see how the other members of the group fared, you can check out the blogroll, here. Ellie's Mixed Berry Cobbler can be found on Food Network's website, here.

Pancakes Two Ways

I love pancakes and I'm always trying to find new and exciting ways to make them. Recently, I decided to make not one, but two new recipes when I made breakfast for dinner. Breakfast for dinner is probably one of my favorite meals! It doesn't even matter what the breakfast is, so long as it is served at dinnertime.

Anyway, I wanted to make green tea pancakes with the brand-new container of matcha powder that I bought not too long ago. I had worked with matcha powder years ago, when I was an employee of Starbucks. It's basically very finely ground Japanese green tea, and it contains a lot of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals for a powerfully healthy kick. In addition, it imparts such a lovely green shade to anything you add it to (as I'm sure you can tell from my pictures).



Now that I had my first type of pancake, I had to come up with one more. I figured my children weren't going to eat the green tea pancakes, and I was right. So what would I make for them that would be a big winner?

Cinnamon pancakes, that's what! My kids are gigantic cinnamon fans. I mean, just enormous. I'm almost inclined to start sprinkling cinnamon on their veggies, just to see if they'll be more enthusiastic about eating them! Not a bad idea....



So I had my two ideas, and I was ready to start mixing up ingredients. I was fortunate enough to find two successful recipes on other blogs. The green tea pancakes came from justJENNrecipes, and the cinnamon pancakes were found on Sugarlaws. Go check both of them out if you get the chance; both are great!

I didn't want to become too experimental my first time making either, so I stuck pretty close to the original recipes. However, in an attempt to give mine a bit more fiber, I added a bit of wheat bran to each batter. The kids didn't seem to notice, and I thought it gave the pancakes a nice little extra something, an added texture that would otherwise not have been there. I also studded some of them with slivered almonds. I sprinkled a few on the pancakes just before flipping them to their second side. Xander wanted almond faces, but I just wasn't that talented this time. Instead, my almonds are a bit more free-form. Next time, perhaps!



As expected, my kids did love the cinnamon variation. They are especially good with a bit of cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top, along with the maple syrup. It's almost like dessert.

And the green tea pancakes were a hit as well! When Andy first saw them, he thought I had simply put green food coloring in them, so he was intrigued when he found out that the color came from matcha powder. The green tea flavor is present, but not at all overwhelming. It gave the pancakes a bit of earthiness, mixed with a mild grassy-ness that was subtly sweet. It's hard to describe, but suffice it to say, they were pretty awesome. I think I'd like to make some matcha cookies or a matcha cake for my next green tea endeavor. I just love the taste!




Green Tea Pancakes
adapted from justJennrecipes
makes about 6 large pancakes

Ingredients (Note: I cut the original recipe in half. Also, this includes the variations I made.)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup wheat bran

1/2 Tbsp. baking powder

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. matcha powder (powdered green tea)

1 egg

3/4 cup milk

1/2 Tbsp. Smart Balance 50/50 Blend, melted

slivered almonds, for sprinkling (optional)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, wheat bran, baking powder, sugar, and matcha. Add the egg, milk, and butter blend just until combined.

2. Heat a skillet or griddle to medium or medium-low. Grease the pan (or use nonstick cooking spray). Using a 1/4-cup measure, drop scoops of batter onto your pan. Wait until bubbles begin to form and just start popping on the pancake's surface, then add a few slivered almonds to the top, if desired. Flip pancakes, then cook an additional 2-3 minutes on the other side.

3. Remove pancakes to a plate, then serve with whatever pancake toppings you like.

Cinnamon Pancakes

adapted from Sugarlaws

makes about 6 large pancakes

Ingredients (Note: this version includes my own variations.)

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1/4 cup wheat bran

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 egg

1 Tbsp. Smart Balance 50/50 Blend, melted

slivered almonds, for sprinkling (optional)

Directions
1. Combine all the ingredients except the almonds in a mixing bowl. Whisk until smooth.

2. Heat a skillet or griddle to medium or medium-low. Grease pan (or use nonstick cooking spray). Using a 1/4-cup measure, drop scoops of batter onto your pan. Wait until bubbles start to form and just start popping on the pancake's surface, then add a few slivered almonds to the top, if desired. Flip pancakes, then cook an additional 2-3 minutes on the other side.

3. Remove pancakes to a plate, then serve with whatever pancake toppings you like.

Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Bites

Just three ingredients. It's unbelievable, but that's all it takes to make one of the most sinfully delicious appetizers I've ever had. Where have these things been all my life? I am in love. Such simplicity, yet such huge, wonderful flavor. Allow me to explain.



We've been blessed with a huge amount of homegrown jalapeno peppers this summer. Andy's parents have grown them, and we pretty much get to enjoy all of them, since we're the only people on his side of the family who eat jalapenos. Some of them were harvested last weekend, and we wound up bringing about 50 of these babies home. Naturally, I thought of jalapeno poppers right away. I mean, how else was I going to use up so many of these lovelies at once? I'd never made jalapeno poppers before, but I sure wanted to try.



Then I remembered that I had seen a killer recipe on The Pioneer Woman website. I figured since she had come through for me last time I tried her dishes, I couldn't lose with these. In her version of jalapeno bites, bacon, cream cheese, and jalapeno peppers are the only components. That's it. All you have to do is halve the peppers, scoop out the seeds and membranes, then fill each half with a nice spoonful of cream cheese. Take your piece of bacon, wrap it around the pepper half, then secure with a toothpick. Arrange the peppers on a cooling rack that is sitting on a baking sheet lined with foil (to catch the bacon drippings), then bake! When they are done, you can remove them to a paper towel-lined plate to absorb some of the grease.

And then you're in for a treat. These are so tasty, so addictive, that you find yourself making a batch of them, with the intention of having some left over for another evening. Instead, you find that they all disappear quickly, leaving you wishing you had made more. Many, many more. Suddenly, the 50 jalapenos seem like, well, not enough. That's okay, though. There'll be other opportunities to make these puppies. Not that I need a good excuse to make them. "I need food" will suffice.



Here's the recipe. A quick note, though, before you proceed: I did change things up just a little. Below, I listed what I did. You can refer to the Pioneer Woman's website to see exactly what she did, but it's not that different. In an attempt to make these things just a tad healthier (which seems pointless, given the short, but greasy, ingredients list), I used low-fat cream cheese. I also sliced my bacon into fourths, while the original recipe has you slicing them into thirds. I thought I could get away with using marginally less bacon per pepper, and I was right. I would never have known the difference! Finally, I baked my poppers at a slightly higher temperature, and they were perfect after 20 minutes.


Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies
adapted from The Pioneer Woman's recipe
makes 32 jalapeno thingies

Ingredients
16 jalapeno peppers
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened (I used 1/3 less fat)
8 slices bacon (original recipe used a whole pound)

Directions
1. Use latex gloves, if you have some on hand, to cut each jalapeno pepper in half. Using a small spoon, scoop out the seeds and white membranes from inside each half.

2. Smear 1/2 Tbsp. cream cheese inside each jalapeno half. Slice each piece of bacon into fourths, then wrap one bacon fourth around each jalapeno half; secure with a toothpick.

3. Arrange the jalapeno halves on a cooling rack, then place the rack on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake the peppers at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes. Remove peppers to a paper towel-lined plate to cool.