Lil Smokies Bacon Wrapped Food

BACON WRAPPED SMOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Refrigerate 2/3 of the bacon until needed. It is easier to wrap the wieners with cold bacon. Wrap each cocktail wiener with a piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Place on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle brown sugar generously over all.
• Bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until the sugar is bubbly. To serve, place the wieners in a slow cooker and keep on the low setting.

BACON-WRAPPED BROWN SUGAR SMOKIES

Steps:

• cut strips in bacon into 1/3's.
• wrap 1/3 cut bacon strips around each lil' smokie and secure with a toothpick.
• place one layer of bacon wrapped smokies in bottom of crockpot.
• cover completely with brown sugar.
• repeat with layer of bacon wrapped smokies.
• repeat layering until you finish w/a layer of brown sugar.
• cook in crock pot approximately.
• 3-4 hours.

BAKED BACON-WRAPPED BROWN SUGAR SMOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Open the packages of bacon and cut the whole slab into thirds across the bacon pieces. I usually cut them straight out of the refrigerator while they're cold, then allow them to warm a bit before wrapping the Smokies - the bacon is more pliable when not very cold, and makes it easier to work with awkwardly-shaped pieces.
• To make assembly even easier, line up pieces of bacon on your cutting board or a clean counter. Wrap each Lit'l Smokie in a 1/3-cut piece of bacon, then secure with a toothpick.
• Lay wrapped Smokies on a sheet pan. Tilting the toothpick downward makes lining them up a bit easier. (If you are making a double or triple batch with a Costco-sized 3-pound package of Smokies, continue wrapping until you run of room on your sheet pan, and then - just to make the overall assembly easier - can continue wrapping until you run out of the Smokies and simply put them in a bowl until you can lay them out on another sheet pan later or when your first one is out of the oven. If you run out of bacon before Smokies, you can cut some strips of bacon lengthwise to make additional slices so that you'll have enough.).
• Sprinkle about 1/4 teaspoon of brown sugar on each Smokie - I simply sprinkle by hand.
• Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven for 45 minutes.
• Using tongs, transfer the treats to a platter or plate, arrange attractively, put them out for your guests, and stand back before you get trampled in the crowd's rush to get at them. :).
• Note: I usually make triple batches of these at a time, using the 3-pound Smokies packages from Costco and three packages of bacon. Although best if served immediately, I bake them all up, then freeze them and thaw and reheat in the oven (or even the microwave) to serve. The bacon and brown sugar doesn't stay as crispy that way, but since most parties will have a varying number of attendees we find it's easier to make large batches during the holidays. Before reheating, you can sprinkle a bit more brown sugar over them to make up for any that fell off. ;).
• Optional: before putting the brown sugar over, you can also sprinkle the Smokies with a small amount of cinnamon sugar, for even more flavor!

SPICY "LIL SMOKIE" BACON WRAPPED JALAPENO POPPERS

Steps:

• you'll first want to wash and trim the jalapeno peppers.Chop the stem off and slice the pepper lengthwise to expose the seeds and vein. Using a spoon, scrape out the white vein and rinse under water to wash away the seeds. The cream cheese will ultimately counteract the burn from the peppers, so leave a good amount of the inner membrane in tact if you want to feel the heat.
• In a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, paprika and cayenne pepper. Using a butter knife, or a pastry bag, fill each jalapeno half with a generous portion of the cream cheese mixture.
• Top each one of the jalapeno "boats" with a little smokey.
• Wrap each of the smokey topped jalapenos with a half slice of bacon, making sure that the seam is directly on top of the little smokey. Secure the wrap by inserting a toothpick straight down through the overlapping edges of the bacon all the way through the little smokey. Stop just short of going through the pepper though, that way the cream cheese doesn't leak out through the hole.
• Since bacon already contains a good amount of sodium, you'll want to season the buffalo poppers with a sugar based rub. A nice blend of brown sugar and cayenne pepper works great on these bad boys as well.
• Cooking the poppers is a matter of getting the bacon done to your liking. My preference is smoke at 250 degrees for about an hour and a half. At this point the bacon isn't overly crispy, but it's definitely cooked enough to be bite through. If you prefer a crispier bacon, then I'd suggest kicking the temperature up to 300 degrees for about an hour. You'll want to keep a close eye on the peppers though. If they overcook, then they'll loose their stability and your poppers will spill out all over your smoker.
• once your poppers are cooked to your liking, remove them from the grill to cool down a bit before serving. At this point I would typically top them with a generous helping of Barbecue Sauce cut with a little cran-apple juice, but this time around I happened to have a bottle of hot raspberry sauce. I used this sauce a few weeks ago on some pulled pork sandwiches and was pleasantly surprised as to how well the raspberry flavor melded with the smoked pork, but this blew the sandwich out of the water. The flavor of the smokey jalapeno matches perfectly with the sweet fruity sauce, and of course it's heat is in good company with the medley of peppers tasted in each bite. A spoonful of sauce on each popper and you can guarantee these tasty treats will disappear in no time flat!