Holiday Appetizers - Trendy

Today's post features an appetizer that is quick and easy for the holidays. Oh, and it's tasty too. This little treat is from the "trendy" category - Bacon Wrapped Chestnuts - perfect for serving your guests at the "Tree Trimming Party" - you fix the food and pour the cocktails, your guests decorate your tree.

You'll need three cans of whole water chestnuts, soy sauce, brown sugar, and 1 pound of sliced bacon (don't get the ingredients confused - you'll be sorry if you pick up sliced water chestnuts and a pound of slab bacon - it won't work).

Open and drain the water chestnuts. In a bowl large enough to hold the water chestnuts, pour in a good amount of soy sauce, and two tablespoons of brown sugar -stir until the sugar is dissolved in the soy

sauce. Put the water chestnuts in the mixture, and add enough soy sauce to cover the chestnuts. Let those soak up the deliciousness of the sugary soy sauce for at least 4 to 6 hours - stirring whenever you happen to walk by the bowl.

Before the guests arrive, preheat your oven to 425 degrees, then slice the package of bacon in thirds - for whatever reason, this just happens to work out to one short slice of bacon per each water chestnut - give or take.

Place a water chestnut on a slice of bacon,

roll it up, and secure with a toothpick.

Place the wrapped water chestnut in your baking dish. I like to use my favorite Nacho baking dish, which I line with aluminum foil for easy cleanup. Repeat until all the chestnuts are wrapped.

If you have vegetarian guests (and who doesn't these days) just stab a toothpick into a few of the soaked chestnuts, and prepare a little separate foil tray so the bacon goodness doesn't taint the holy vegetarian chestnuts.

Put the baking dish in the oven, and cook until the bacon is crispy. I recommend turning the wrapped chestnuts once or twice for even bacon cooking. When done, arrange the tasty treats on a serving platter, preferably one created by San Francisco artist Clark Sorensen, and watch your guest devour them all, as they trim your holiday tree.

Thanks guys!

Don't worry about cleaning up the baking pan just yet - simply hide it in your microwave, and the bacon fat will cool and set up, making for easy clean up later. Just don't turn on the microwave with all that foil in it.