These were the best drunken dates ever. Plump and, with bacon not crispy, juicy.
Marty is right: Medjool dates (MD) are the best. I was given the leftover (imagine that!) Crown Maple so, when I saw MD at Costco, I bought them. Will take on my hammock tent camping trip to Long Pine Key (Everglades Nat Park) next week. (Plan to hang on Boonedox Drifter stand inside my 12x12' Eureka! Northern Breeze screen room with zippered walls.)
Here are the numbers for future ref.
2 lb box of Medjool dates $9 (worth the effort to pit with small knife)
2 lbs Kirkland (Costco) bacon $5.50 ($11 for pack of 4 lbs)
I cut the bacon slices in half. The few remaining bits of bacon probably match the number of dates I ate as they soaked (had to add rum to the whisky). So this amount would produce approx 55 large drunken dates. About 26 cents each. 3-5 per person???
Buying another 2lb box of dates and using all four packs of bacon would yield ab 110 dates - good for a larger crowd. Throw in a dollar for toothpicks and this can be rounded out to $30 PLUS the cost of the booze, of course.
PS. I later discovered that I had been given a small box of small dates. (I got lots of leftovers - even cheesy bacon grits) Will pick a recipe from one of my Middle Eastern/Morocco tagine recipe books. Think I saw one that uses dates and dried apricots.
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