3-Ingredient Devils on Horseback

Devils on Horseback might sound like a Victorian parlor sport gone off the rails, but it surely’s really an old style appetizer that is very a lot on the rails. The identify probably comes from Nineteenth-century Britain, the place scorching, bacon-wrapped prune bites had been mentioned to resemble little “devils” using on “horseback”—a playful companion to the Angels on Horseback, which used oysters as an alternative of dried fruit. The dish developed through the years, and by Seventies, this model—dates full of blue cheese and wrapped in bacon—had risen to prominence within the American entertaining scene. And actually, when you style the mixture of sticky, caramelly fruit, pleasantly pungent cheese, and crisp bacon, it is onerous to think about it another approach.

These cute little two-bite parcels ship disproportionate pleasure—the precise type of appetizer you need in the course of the holidays. The recipe under, developed by our colleague Renu Dhar in our Birmingham, Alabama, check kitchen, is good, salty, savory, somewhat funky, and shockingly simple for one thing that appears so decadent. Devils on horseback require solely three predominant elements, so success hinges on just a few key methods to make sure the dates keep moist and plump, the cheese melts evenly, the bacon turns crisp, and the fruit doesn’t scorch.

The secret’s having management over every part. Dates fluctuate broadly in texture relying on selection and freshness. Medjools, that are the most typical in most US markets and usually two inches lengthy, are superb right here. They’re gentle sufficient to stuff, sturdy sufficient to carry their form, and wealthy and candy sufficient to stability the sharp blue cheese. A short soak in heat water softens their skins and makes them simpler to slit open and fill with out tearing.

In the meantime, the bacon wants a head begin. In testing, Renu discovered that beginning with uncooked bacon left the dates shriveled and overcooked by the point the bacon fats absolutely rendered. Heart-cut bacon parcooked for 8 to 10 minutes earlier than wrapping the dates proved good. Parcooking the bacon permits it to shrink barely and begin firming up, so it crisps on the identical fee the cheese melts as soon as it’s wrapped across the stuffed dates and baked. The trick with the bacon is to not go too far throughout this primary bake. The strips ought to nonetheless bend simply at this stage as a way to wrap them snugly with solely a slight overlap. A picket decide retains all the pieces safe.

These might be absolutely assembled—stuffed, wrapped in parcooked bacon, toothpicked—and refrigerated for as much as three days earlier than the ultimate bake. Come get together time, all that is left is a short while in a scorching oven, the place the bacon crisps, the cheese melts, and the dates heat into fudgy, caramel-soft perfection. Playful however deeply flavorful, Devils on Horseback are the vacation appetizer which can be positive to vanish first on the get together.