Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese Pickle Poppers

Stop whatever you are doing right now.

You need to make these.

No.

Really.

You do.

They are about to become thenextbigthing and you want to get in on the ground floor so your friends all think you are super amazeballs. 

So many flavors and textures going on in here that your mind is about to explode. 

I don't even like pickles and these are my new favorite thing in the universe.

I developed this recipe for a bacon party Sue and I had to celebrate Bacon Week here at joandsue.blogspot.com and they were a spectacular success.

Think I'm hyping them too much?

Make them.

Tell me I'm wrong.

I dare you.

Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese Pickle Poppers

Ingredients

Garlic Bacon Cream Cheese Filling

2 (8 oz) bricks Philadelphia cream cheese, softened

2 large cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup cooked and crumbled bacon

salt & pepper

approx 20 medium to large Garlic Dill Pickles (We use Bick's)

20 egg roll wrappers

20 slices bacon, half-cooked (edges a little brown but NOT crispy at all)

Directions

Prepare cream cheese filling - In a blender or food processor, process the cream cheese, garlic, bacon, and salt & pepper until smooth - scraping down sides often.

Scoop filling into a large ziplock baggy with the corner cut off OR a piping bag. Set aside.

Prepare pickles - Using an apple corer, carefully core out the middle of the pickles. Discard the pickle guts (or eat them, your choice!)

Carefully fill the middle of the pickles by squeezing the bag until filling comes out both ends of the pickle. (See photo below)

Continue until all pickles are filled. (I got 20 pickles of varying sizes) Place on paper towel to dry. 

(NOTE - If you want to prepare these the day before you can do it to this step then cover and refrigerate the pickles until ready to cook.) Don't worry if you have little tears/rips in the pickles. You are going to be wrapping them in bacon so it will hide the imperfections!

Prepare the poppers - Preheat the oven to 375. Line a cookie sheet with tinfoil and place a wire rack on top. Set aside.

Take an egg roll wrapper and place it in front of you so a corner is pointing towards you. Wrap one piece of the half-cooked bacon around a pickle and place it at the edge of the corner closest to you. (See photo below)

Roll up the corner of the wrapper over the pickle, tucking it in fairly tightly. (See photo below)

Carefully fold in the sides of the wrapper over the pickle. (See photo below)

Dab a little bit of water onto the top corner of the egg roll wrapper (to help it stick) and then fold the corner toward you, over the pickle. Try to get it fairly tight. Set the wrapped pickles onto the prepared cookie sheet. Lightly spray the tops of the poppers with cooking spray. (This step is optional but it does help the wrappers brown up) (See photo below)

Bake at 375 for approx 15 minutes. 

Gently turn the poppers over and bake another 10 - 15 minutes, until the egg roll wrappers are a nice golden brown.

Serve hot. (But be careful because the cream cheese filling is very hot!)

We served some cut in half and some whole so people could see what was inside. 

These are also good room temp they are just not as melty and gooey. 

These were definitely one of the big hits at the party.

People were gobbling them up like crazy. The garlic and bacon and cream cheese and pickle combine to form some kind of magical new taste adventure. 

That last photo is a little blurry but I wanted to include it anyway. You can see the bacon peeking out from around the pickle and see how melty the filling is. 

Crispy, crunchy, smoky, salty, cheesy, pickle-y, heaven in a popper. 

You might be tempted to halve the recipe and only make 10 pickles but DON'T DO IT. They will be gone before the party even starts. Make the whole batch.... you won't regret it!

P.S. - 20 is how many I got. It will depend on the size of your pickles and how full you fill each one. 

**UPDATE** 

We decided to cheat a little and make mini bites to see how they would turn out. If you are having trouble stuffing the larger pickles then this may be the way to go!

We used wonton wrappers instead of egg roll wrappers and then we simply cut the pickles in half, scooped out the seeds, filled with the cream cheese mixture, and sandwiched it between 2 small pieces of bacon. 

Wrap then bake as per above. 

They turned out so cute! And just as delicious as their larger counterparts but a little quicker to put together. 

Don't forget to check out these amazing sites for tons of fun/crafty/tasty links -, Dizzy Busy & Hungry, Memories By The Mile, Carole's Chatter, Feeding Big, Cookin and Craftin,