Smokin Jalapeno Poppers Food

SMOKY BACON-WRAPPED JALAPEñO POPPERS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil.
• Add the cream cheese, smoked Gouda, Cheddar, chives, lime zest, lime juice, salt and pepper to a medium bowl. Mix thoroughly until evenly combined.
• Divide the cream cheese mixture between the jalapeño halves, pressing to fill all the way to the top edge.
• Wrap a piece of bacon around each stuffed jalapeño so the ends of the bacon lie underneath. Place the wrapped jalapeños, stuffed-side up, on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the bacon is crispy and the cheese mixture is just beginning to bubble out from the top and bottom of the jalapeños, 16 to 18 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool 10 minutes before serving.

SMOKY JALAPENO POPPERS

Steps:

• Put on your food prep gloves. Slice each jalapeno open lengthwise using a paring knife, then make a small crosswise cut at the stem end to form a T.
• Insert your (gloved!) fingertip through the top of the opening and gently wiggle the core loose, then remove. Rinse under cold water to remove any additional seeds. Pat dry gently with a paper or clean towel and set aside. Repeat with the remaining peppers.
• Combine the Cheddar, Asiago, cream cheese and smoked hot sauce in a large bowl until smooth and well blended.
• Gently nudge the cheese filling into each pepper with a spoon. To close the peppers, gently squeeze each one until it resembles its original shape. Don't worry if the peppers tear a bit, just squeeze them shut.
• Sift together the breadcrumbs, paprika, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a shallow bowl.
• Lightly beat the eggs in a second shallow bowl.
• One at a time, hold the peppers by the stems and dip them in the beaten eggs, letting the excess drip off, and roll in the breadcrumbs; dip in the eggs again and reroll in breadcrumbs. Set on a plate to dry slightly.
• In the meantime, heat 2 1/2 inches of the oil in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed cast-iron skillet until a deep-fry thermometer registers 325 degrees F. Add three or four of the jalapeno poppers, making sure not to crowd your pan, and fry in batches until golden and crisp, about 5 minutes. Keep an eye on the temperature of the oil and adjust the heat as necessary so it stays steady.
• Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel-lined plate; season with salt. Repeat with the remaining poppers and serve immediately.

JALAPENO POPPERS

Steps:

• Cut jalapenos in half and remove seeds and veins.
• (Use gloves to work with peppers).
• Fill jalpenos with cream cheese and wrap a slice of bacon around each one.
• Secure with a toothpick.
• Bake at 425 degrees until bacon appears to be done, about 15-20 minutes.

SMOKED CREAM CHEESE CHICKEN JALAPENO POPPERS

Steps:

• Freeze the jalapenos in a baggie in the freezer the night before you want to cook them.
• Take them out of the freezer, cut off the tops and scrape out the seeds. Much easier when frozen. Freezing them also takes out a bit of the heat.
• Squeeze 1/2 package of cream cheese into jalapeno.
• Stuff a piece of grilled chicken strip into cream cheese.
• Place poppers into holder and put them in the smoker for 45 minutes.
• Serve while hot as an appetizer.

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!

SMOKED GOUDA CHORIZO JALAPENO POPPERS

Steps:

• Special Equipment: parchment paper
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Brown chorizo in a skillet over medium-high heat, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and place into a large mixing bowl.
• Add the cheese, red onion, egg, cream cheese, sour cream, hot sauce, and salt and pepper, to taste.
• Press into jalapeno halves and assemble on a parchment lined baking sheet.
• Bake until golden and bubbly, about 20 minutes.

SMOKIN' JALAPENO POPPERS

Steps:

• Preheat the grill to medium high.
• Mix all packages of cream cheese with garlic, sundried tomatoes, basil and salt.
• Mix until smooth.
• Cut a small slice on one side of the pepper and remove all of the meat and seed from the jalapeno. (I have used the extra jalapeno, finely chopped, in the cream cheese mixture also, only if you like it HOT!).
• Fill the opening of the jalapeno with the cream cheese mixture using a pastry bag, or whatever kitchen tool allows you to fill it the easiest. (some times I have found that a steak knife works the best.)
• Be careful not to overfill, as filling may spurt out during cooking.
• Wrap each pepper with 1 strip of bacon, securing the opening in the pepper with a pre-socked toothpick. (If serving a large crowd and you are using long metal or wood skewers this works also.).
• Barbeque the peppers until the bacon is fully cooked.