The OR calls for a cheddar-cream cheese-scallion mixture that I circumvent by using herbed cheese such as Boursin or Laughing Cow, or when I ran out of that, sticks of Brie (yes, Brie is my "backup" cheese LOL)
The OR also calls for wrapping the poppers in pieces of uncooked bacon which is scrumptious. I happened not to have any bacon on hand, but I had prosciutto so I used that (yes, prosciutto is my "backup" pork product LOL). The nice thing about using the prosciutto is that it's already cooked so the cooking time for the poppers can be (read: needs to be) shortened from the hour originally called for. I think using long, narrow strips of thin-sliced ham could work too in lieu of prosciutto or bacon.
The OR also calls for brushing the poppers with barbecue sauce or jelly such as apricot jelly. I think beer jelly or garlic jelly would be OUTSTANDING here, but no sauce/jelly on top is good too (and is what I did this go-round).
I have made these in vast quantities for parties and you can absolutely make them ahead and freeze them. I dithered about whether to freeze them before cooking or after, and decided that after cooking was less likely to result in a squishy jalapeno shell (since freezing uncooked veggies tends to make them, well, squishy). I "revived" them for the party by baking them again for about 30 minutes to heat through and crisp the bacon back up. To make them in advance to freeze, pull them out of the oven about 10 minutes before the final cooking time. That way, the 2nd round of baking doesn't overbrown or burn them.
You can use toothpicks if you need to get the bacon/prosciutto/ham to stay in place, but it's a lot less time-consuming and easier to eat if you just wrap them so that the ends of the meat slice are on the bottom of the pepper. Gravity will do the rest to keep them in place.
Lastly, the OR offers a variation wherein you place a thin slice of peach on top of the cheese before wrapping in bacon. This sounds weird, but is ohmygawd good...I highly recommend it.
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The OR also calls for wrapping the poppers in pieces of uncooked bacon which is scrumptious. I happened not to have any bacon on hand, but I had prosciutto so I used that (yes, prosciutto is my "backup" pork product LOL). The nice thing about using the prosciutto is that it's already cooked so the cooking time for the poppers can be (read: needs to be) shortened from the hour originally called for. I think using long, narrow strips of thin-sliced ham could work too in lieu of prosciutto or bacon.
The OR also calls for brushing the poppers with barbecue sauce or jelly such as apricot jelly. I think beer jelly or garlic jelly would be OUTSTANDING here, but no sauce/jelly on top is good too (and is what I did this go-round).
I have made these in vast quantities for parties and you can absolutely make them ahead and freeze them. I dithered about whether to freeze them before cooking or after, and decided that after cooking was less likely to result in a squishy jalapeno shell (since freezing uncooked veggies tends to make them, well, squishy). I "revived" them for the party by baking them again for about 30 minutes to heat through and crisp the bacon back up. To make them in advance to freeze, pull them out of the oven about 10 minutes before the final cooking time. That way, the 2nd round of baking doesn't overbrown or burn them.
You can use toothpicks if you need to get the bacon/prosciutto/ham to stay in place, but it's a lot less time-consuming and easier to eat if you just wrap them so that the ends of the meat slice are on the bottom of the pepper. Gravity will do the rest to keep them in place.
Lastly, the OR offers a variation wherein you place a thin slice of peach on top of the cheese before wrapping in bacon. This sounds weird, but is ohmygawd good...I highly recommend it.
