I love fresh jalapenos! You can tailor this recipe to your heat-tolerance by removing more or less of the placenta from the pepper. That’s right, the heat doesn’t come from the seeds! The placenta is the soft, lighter-colored ribbing from which the seeds grow, and it’s what produces the capsaisin. I remove the seeds because I don’t like biting into them.
INGREDIENTS
- 3-4 Fresh Jalapenos
- Philadelphia Original Cream Cheese
- Shredded Sharp Cheddar
- Optional: Cooked Bacon, strips or chopped
- Optional: Cooked Ground Sausage
- Optional: Green or Red Onions, finely chopped
- Optional: Chipotle Powder, Salt
DIRECTIONS
- Wash and dry the jalapenos. Before you cut each pepper, look at how it lies on the counter top. Peppers can often be triangular shaped, so you’ll have to determine which two sides will have the least slant and be most stable. Sometimes you get a four-sided pepper, and it’s much easier to find two opposing flat & stable sides. Cut the stem off, then cut the pepper lengthwise so you have two open halves.
- For hotter peppers: use a spoon or butterknife to carve the seeds off the placenta, leaving as much of the placenta attached as possible. For milder peppers: use a knife to carve out some or all of the placenta. It’s hotter towards the stem end, with the thick, white part right below the stem being the hottest.
- Use a butterknife to press a layer of cream cheese into each pepper half. Optional: Mix all of your other ingredients in with the cream cheese first, then add bundles of the stuffing to each pepper. Otherwise, add your onions and/or crumbled meat.
- Place stuffed peppers on paper plate or other toaster-oven safe plate.
- Sprinkle shredded cheddar on top of each pepper (if not already mixed in with cream cheese).
- Add half a slice of bacon to the top of each pepper (if not chopped & mixed in with cream cheese).
- Broil in toaster oven at 300*F for 6 minutes, or until meat starts to crisp up, or until cheese is nicely bubbly.
- Remove from toaster oven. Optional: sprinkle with chipotle powder and/or salt. Allow to cool breifly, lest you burn your mouth with napalm cheese. Enjoy!