Bacon-Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese

Tangy goat cheese tucked into soft dates gets a crisp bacon wrap for a warm, one-bite appetizer. A rack lets rendered fat drain as the dates roast.

52 min

18 bites

Ingredients

18 large Medjool dates

4 oz soft goat cheese

9 thin-cut bacon slices

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

18 food-safe wooden toothpicks

Rimmed sheet pan · Wire rack · Small bowl · Small soaking bowl · Clean tongs · Paper towels

Keep seams closed

Place each bacon overlap against the rack so it stays tucked as the bacon renders and crisps.

Serve with care

The cheese and picks stay hot after baking; allow the brief rest and remind guests to discard each pick.

01. Soak the food-safe wooden toothpicks while you prep; this helps keep them from scorching in the oven.

02. Heat the oven to 400 F and set a wire rack over a foil-lined rimmed pan so fat can drain away.

03. Slit and pit each date while leaving one side intact to form a pocket.

04. Stir goat cheese with black pepper until smooth and easy to spoon.

05. Fill each date with about 1 teaspoon of cheese and gently close the opening.

06. Halve the bacon slices, wrap one piece around each date, and pin the overlap with a soaked toothpick.

07. Set bites seam-side down with space between them, then wash hands and clean surfaces that touched raw bacon.

08. Bake at 400 F for 12 minutes; turn pale sides with clean tongs and bake 8 to 12 minutes more, until crisp.

09. Transfer with clean tongs to paper towel to drain excess fat, then rest 3 minutes because the filling is very hot.

10. Arrange on a platter and tell guests the hot wooden toothpicks are not edible; set out a dish for discarding them.