Bacon wrapped dates with cream cheese - appetizer

Ingredients

• 24 dates - seedless, or remove the seeds
• 12 slices of bacon
• 2 - 4 ounces of cream cheese
• 24 wood toothpicks or more

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Preparation

• Remove seeds from dates if necessary. Stuff each date with cream cheese. Wrap 1/2 slice of bacon, overlapping bacon ends, around stuffed date and hold together by spearing through the date with a toothpick.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange stuffed and skewered dates on a cookie sheet or a large pan. If you have a metal rack for the pan, it's even better for keeping extra grease off dates.
• Bake until bacon is brown and crispy, about 30 minutes. You will need to turn each bacon-wrapped date a couple of times during baking, so it does not blacken where it touches the pan - dates have such a high sugar content, they may burn if left in one position.
• Drain dates on paper towels for a minute. And serve warm with a cool martini !