Jalapeno Popper Dip

It's football season & you know what that means.

It's the season of dips, chips, snacks & all things bite size & delicious.

I love finger foods.

I would live on finger foods alone if I could. Like in that movie Mermaids where Cher plays the mom & Winona Ryder is her teenage daughter & Cher makes finger foods for all of their meals.

That would be awesome to me. I would love it.

So now that I've probably upset all the male readers out there by comparing football season to a Cher movie, let's get on with things.

I initially found this recipe when I saw the pinned picture on Pinterest.

Pinterest is my new addiction & it will be yours too if you go there. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I saw the picture of the dip & wanted the recipe. So I navigated my way through Pinterest to get to the link for Closet Cooking's Jalapeno Popper Dip. This is another cooking blog that I now read daily. Kevin has a ton of great recipes, you should check him out.

I printed the recipe & read it over & it got me to thinking.

Where Kevin's recipe called for panko bread crumbs on top to mimic the battered & fried outside of a traditional jalapeno popper I thought I'd substitute that with more cheddar cheese & add bacon. One, this makes it more low-carb friendly & two, if I had to choose I'd choose my jalapeno popper be wrapped in bacon instead of breaded in panko bread crumbs.

That's just my personal preference & again goes back to the low-carb lifestyle I try so desperately to follow.

So here's how it went down...

I fried up some bacon & set it aside to drain on a paper towel. I used about eight slices, you can add more if you think you'd like more, I probably will next time.

Then dice about 1/2 a cup of pickled jalapenos, you know the kind in the jar, they are usually already sliced, but you need to do a rough chop on them. Be sure to take out the seeds for a little less heat if that is your style. Also, this really turned out a little too spicy for my taste so I would either cut the amount of pickled jalapenos in half or use fresh jalapenos with the amount of seeds & membrane removed that I prefer. Kevin's calls for both to be added & that would be waaayyy too much heat for me.

In a large bowl mix together cream cheese, mayonnaise, half of the shredded cheddar cheese, a 1/2 cup of the grated parmigiano reggiano & your chopped jalapenos.

Chop your bacon & add about two-thirds of it to the cheese/jalapeno mixture. Mix all of that together really well.

I used a glass pie plate, you can use any type of dish you like, but the more shallow the better. Be sure to grease it with non-stick spray. Dump your dip mixture into your baking dish.

Top it with the remaining cheddar cheese & bacon.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.

I fixed this for a football party & got so busy trying to prepare it for that, that I did not take the action shot which would have included a corn chip scoop being dipped in & pulled out with melty, gooey cheesey jalapeno goodness all over it.

So you'll have to contend with another picture of it coming out of the oven.

Enjoy with your favorite tortilla or corn chip or even crackers. Just a side note, as this cools it gets a little goopey so I would suggest keeping it in or on something that will help it to stay warm.

And as always let me know how it turns out for you.

Jalapeno Popper Dip
8-10 slices of bacon
1-8oz block of cream cheese
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup of parmigiano reggiano
1/2 cup of pickled jalapenos

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Fry bacon & set aside to drain & cool. In a mixing bowl blend together cream cheese, half of the cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup of the parmigiano reggiano & the jalapenos. Give the bacon a rough chop & add about 2/3 of it to the cheese & jalapeno mixture. Grease a shallow baking dish with non-stick spray. Pour in dip mixture & spread evenly across the dish. Top with remaining cheeses & bacon. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly & cheese has melted. Serve warm.