Bacon wrapped dates (with water chesnuts)- by Seth

For MY first entry I wanted to keep it nice and simple. I found this app at a house party while visiting my friend in Ohio few years ago and it is a winner. 3 ingredients, prep at home, bring to party, bake for 20 minutes, and watch them disappear... every time.

Ingredients:
1 pack of Bacon
1 can sliced water chestnuts
Approx 30 dates (Machine pitted are the easiest)

Preheat oven to 400 (if baking at home)

1) Cut the package of bacon down the middle making half strips.
2) Stick the pack in the fridge or freezer so it is easier to work with later
3) Cut the dates the long way, but only halfway deep (like a hot dog bun). If they have not been pitted, remove the pit now
4) Cut the larger water chestnuts in half
5) Remove bacon from the fridge/freezer
6) Remove about 30 toothpicks and place them on your counter ahead of time
7) Stuff one or two chestnut pieces inside a date, wrap with a half strip of bacon, stick a toothpick through the date (so that it pierces the chestnut and holds the bacon in place) and drop onto an ungreased baking sheet.

You can do the rest of this "on site", or continue and make the whole thing at home and transfer them in a container.

7) Place the baking sheet in the oven until the bacon touching the pan browns (about 10-15 minutes)
8) Remove baking sheet, twist each wrap so that the other side of the bacon is on the sheet so that it can brown also. Place back into the oven for another 10 minutes or until the bacon is noticeably brown but not burnt.
9) Let them sit and cool for a few minutes, transfer to a serving dish, and serve.

Enjoy!

There are plenty of variants to this, including bacon wrapped scallops, bacon wrapped dates, bacon wrapped water chestnuts, etc. The closest recipe I could find online includes ricotta cheese in the stuffing, so maybe I will have to try that out one day as well.