A few months back, I had the pleasure of judging the Alabama Farmers Federation Heritage Cooking Contest. The contest featured more than 30 recipes that included pork bacon as a featured ingredient. I mean, who can resist judging a bacon cooking contest, right???
There were so many great dishes, but these Bacon Pimento Cheese Bites from Anne Lanier were the winning recipe. They’re the perfect bite of sweet and salty and are amazingly easy to prepare.
Even though her original recipe was a cinch, I’ve updated a little here to make it even simpler.
Her recipe calls for cooking the bacon and crumbling it. For the 15 pieces of bacon she called for, I’ve subbed a package of chopped bacon pieces from the grocery store. They have dramatically improved the flavor and texture of the precooked stuff over the past few years and it’s a perfect substitution when you don’t want to have to cook (and clean up after) bacon.
She also calls for Captain Rodney’s Boucan Glaze as the topping with the bacon. Some may find this difficult to locate, so I’ve switched that out for some melted mild green pepper jelly. I find the flavor to be similar and the jelly is much easier to find. But if you can find the glaze, I certainly recommend it!
Ingredients
2 (1.9 ounce) (15-count) mini filo shells
1 (3.5 ounce) package chopped real bacon pieces
¾ cup prepared pimento cheese (I like Palmetto Cheese brand)
½ cup mild green pepper jelly, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill each mini fillo shell with 1 teaspoon pimento cheese. Drizzle with about ½ teaspoon of the melted pepper jelly. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of the bacon crumbles over the top of each.
- Transfer to baking sheet and bake 5-8 minutes. Serve warm. Makes 30 appetizers.
