Texas Twinkies

If you are a fan of jalepeno poppers then you need to check this recipe out. Jalepeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese and brisket, wrapped in bacon, and sauced to perfection. These make for an amazing appetizer at any get together.

I got together with a buddy and we did a smoking day the other month. Basically we picked a few different recipes we had seen and wanted to try and made a day of it. Texas twinkies was one of the dishes I was most excited about trying and it did not disappoint. The combination of flavors in this appetizer is amazing. You get the sweetness of the bbq sauce, the heat of the jalepeno, the salty crunch of the bacon, and all the flavor from the brisket. Once you try this it will be hard to go back to normal jalepeno poppers. What is also great about these is there really is not too much prep work and they only take an hour to prepare.

Cooking Basics

The first step I do to do prepare these twinkies is to make the cheese / brisket mix. You will need to take your brisket and cut it into very fine pieces. You can alos use a food processor for this if you wish. Then you will need to mix it with the pepper jack cheese, cream cheese, and seasoning. Once this step is complete put this into the refrigerator to stay cool and we now have to prepare the jalepeno peppers.

To prepare the peppers we need to make a slice down the side. You can just slice them in half but I wanted to see if 1 slice might help the pepper stay together better durring the cooking process Using a spoon or knife you then need to remove the membrane and any seeds. It is important to be diligent about this step because these can be really spicy if seeds and membrane are missed. If you are not careful your guests and you will be playing russian roulette with food. A couple might be delicious and then you get one with some seeds and your mouth is on fire for 5 minutes. Once we have these cleaned out we are ready to start putting the twinkies together.

You will now take the mixture you prepared and fill each pepper with as much mix as you can fit in using a spoon. Once the peppers are filled we will then wrap the peppers in bacon. It took me about 2 slices to fully wrap the peppers. A good trick to help with this is to use tooth picks to hold the bacon on until it cooks a little bit. I attached the top of a piece of bacon with a toothpick and wrapped then used another one on the end of the first piece and the start of the second and a third one at the end of the second piece. Once they are wrapped they are ready to go in the smoker. I actually used a little meat church honey hog rub on the outside of the bacon to give it a little more flavor. Once these steps are complete, you are ready to fire up the pit.

You will want the smoker or grill at 375 for this recipe. If you are using a smoker I reccomend hickory for a wood type if you can find it. You will cook the twinkies for 40 - 45 minutes to let the bacon crisp up and tighten around the peppers. At this point we will remove the toothpicks and then apply your favorite bbq sauce. Once this step is done we will let them sit for another 5 to 10 minutes and then they are ready to eat.

Final Thoughts

• Peppers - In the recipe I made 1 slice down the side of the pepper as an experiement. Because of this it was definitely harder to clean out the peppers and I definitely missed a few seeds. I think when I make this again I will slice the pepper in half because the bacon holds it together well and it will be much easier to stuff and clean.
• Meat Alternatives - This recipe calls for leftover brisket which might not be readily available that often. I think this recipe would be just as good with leftover pulled pork or steak if brisket is not available.
• Seasoning - I encourage you to experiment with seasoning for this to see what you like best. I used basic garlic powder, salt, and pepper for my spices with the mix and then threw a sweeter rub on top of the bacon. If you try some other combination that works well please leave a comment and let me knwo what you tried.
• Grate - The only other change I might try with this recipe is to cook the peppers on a grate instead of tyring to pick them up with tongs. This would still allow them to cook as we want but they would be much easier to rmeove from the grill when they are done.

Recipe