Jalapeno Poppers

It's been a while since I've done a food entry. :-)  These jalapeno poppers are just in time for the big game.  They're easy to make, quite versatile, freezable, and very tasty.  The greatest lesson to learn when doing these poppers is to use gloves.  Seriously, use them.  Especially when making them in bulk. I made that mistake once, then rubbed my eye... man, that stung.  So, use them.

Okay, here's the recipe... give or take some of the cheese (as I didn't measure that one).

- 2 dozen jalapeno peppers, halved and cleaned.
- 1 pkg of cream cheese
- 1 - 1.5 cups of cheddar cheese (mozzarella, or a mix of such should work fine here as well).
- 4-5 slices of bacon diced and cooked
- 1/4 cup of diced parsley
- salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder by taste.
Breading:
- bread crumbs
- milk
- flour

1. Mix together the cheeses, bacon, parsley and spices.

2. Fill each jalapeno half with the cheese mixture.  Pack in the cheese mixture and make the top smooth. 

3. Bread the jalapeno poppers by first dredging them into flour, then milk, then flour, then milk, then breadcrumbs, then milk, then breadcrumbs.  Can you tell we were worried the breadcrumbs wouldn't stick to the jalapenos?  It sounds like a lot, but it works out well, with a nice layer of breadcrumbs. 

4. Once breaded, place on a cooling rack or cookie sheet, and put in the freezer. Keep them in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

Cooking:
5.  Set the fryer to 350 degrees F.
6.  Cook a few poppers at a time for around 4 minutes.  What I learned is that you want to remove them from the oil, just when it starts sputtering like crazy -- that means the cheese is hitting the oil.  The sputtering will only get worse as more cheese hits the oil.

That's it.  Just wait a minute or so to cool off the poppers.  Hot cheese really burns your tongue.  Enjoy.