Sweet Paula Deen!
A few months ago we had company over to our house. I made appetizers and one of them was from a box. (Don't judge me) They were actually quite good. But lacking in some depth. In the box were roughly 30-35 chicken pieces wrapped in bacon and frozen. All one needed to do was place them on a pan and cook till done. They were good - as is just about anything wrapped in bacon, am I right? Later, I tried it with large whole breasts of chicken and it worked great that way too. However at that time I used pepper and ground thyme on the chicken and after wrapping it in bacon I rolled the whole thing in a paste of brown sugar, hot sauce, dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar. And it was great. So when I found this recipe from Paula Deen it reminded me of the appetizers from a box I had made before and the recipe I had come up with myself. I made them recently during a family gathering for my baby boys birthday and they were a big hit. This recipe makes about 30-40 appetizers depending on how you cut your chicken. Here is Paula's Recipe and my notations on how I altered it a bit. I think next time I will try rolling the chicken/bacon pieces in the paste of brown sugar, hot sauce, dijon and balsamic vinegar. I'm already salivating!
Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps Recipe courtesy Paula Deen
1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (about 4 breasts)
1 (1-pound) package sliced bacon
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes. Cut each bacon slice into thirds. Wrap each chicken cube with bacon and secure with a wooden pick. Stir together brown sugar and chili powder. Dredge wrapped chicken in mixture. Coat a rack and broiler pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place chicken wrap on rack in broiler pan. Bake 350 for 30 to 35 minutes or until bacon is crisp.
**I used thin slice bacon and 1Tbsp of "Chipotle Chili" powder. Also I didn't use toothpicks the bacon just kinda stuck to itself when I wrapped it around. And I think it helped that I prepped all this 2 days before the party. I cut and wrapped the chicken and stuck it in resealable bag and plopped it in the fridge. I made the brown sugar spice mixture and put it in a bowl and covered it with wrap. Then a hour before party time I took them out and began rolling them in the brown sugar spice mixture and placing them on pans I sprayed with non-stick spray (I didn't use a broiler pan). It really made it all very easy.