Smoked Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos

We have semi recently acquired a smoker. For all of you long running southerners, I know this seems somewhat like blasphemy. But I am from Seattle. So if anyone is to blame, it is my Texan husband. As it turns out, I am the one that bought HIM a smoker. Yeah, I know, right? So we have been making grilled and oven roasted bacon wrapped jalapenos for a long time now. Like a loooooong time. I am no stranger to bacon wrapped jalapenos. Mine have always had a mixture of cream cheese and my BFF goat cheese it it. Goat cheese makes everything better. If you disagree with that statement you can just go away now. Okay, fine, stay, but I reserve the right to like you just a little less. Personal differences aside, I think that if you DO make these, we can agree that smoking bacon wrapped jalapenos is a major game changer! Like damn. These were tasty. I loved them before. But I am now in love. My daughter informed me the other day she was in love with pudding pops, and that she was going to marry a pudding pop. Although that seems like a pretty one sided relationship to me, I would extend similar feelings to these smoked jalapenos.

You don't have a smoker. That's fine. You can of course use the same recipe and cook it in the oven. But if you do have a smoker, I highly recommend going that route.

Also, I made another last minute decision, which will now be a go-to upgrade. Honey. Yes! I added honey. It was a subtle flavor. But it definitely contributed to the salty and spicy flavors that were already going on. I can safely say, I will always be adding honey to my bacon wrapped jalapenos now. I already made a honey and goat cheese dip. I know the flavors go together. I thought to myself, hey, why not. It turns out that my impulsive nature is occasionally genius. Kinda like my choice to marry my husband after only knowing him 5 months. Yeah, crazy! And no, I was not pregnant. lol.

Ingredients/Instructions:

10 large jalapenos

8 oz goat cheese

4 oz cream cheese

2-3 tbsp chopped cilantro

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp garlic powder

1tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp salt

20 pieces thin cut bacon

1. Halve your jalapenos, lengthwise, and scrape the seeds and the ribs from the jalapeno.

2. In a bowl, mix together, room temperature cream cheese, goat cheese, garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Add honey and cilantro and mix again.

3. Use a spoon to generously fill the jalapeno halves. The filling should be just above the top of the jalapeno.

4. Wrap the jalapenos with bacon. Place them on a baking sheet wrapped with foil.

5. If you are cooking them in the oven... bake them at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until the bacon is crispy.

6. If you are using a smoker... this is what we did. Smoke for 2-4 hours depending on smoker temp (ours was 2 1/2 hours at 225 degrees). We had it in there with the brisket we were smoking. So our cook temp was centered around the brisket. If you are smoking something else that is at a different temperature, that will effect the cook time of the jalapenos.

Allow those little f-ers to cool before eating. For real.

Enjoy!