Highly Customizible Jalapeno Poppers

spiritussancto's Note:

my taste in spice has changed many times over the years so these are easy to control the heat. i also fear deep fryers so i'll stick with the oven, not that these are really low fat because of it but they are easy and tasty. can easily be made in huge quantities and frozen before baking for later use.

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

Yield: 16.0 appies

• 8 jalapeno peppers (pick nice firm ones that aren't strange shapes)
• ½ cup low-fat cream cheese
• ½ cup low-fat cheddar cheese (grated)
• 200 g puff pastry (half a box of tenderflake or equivalent)
• salt and herbs (could use cilantro or black pepper or chili powder or dill or oregano or....)

Directions:

1. slice the peppers in half length-wise and remove the stems, seeds, and white fleshy bits (best gutting tool is a butter knife or tiny spoon).
2. here's where we decide how spicy we want it: really mild: blanch the peppers in boiling water for two min, mildish: leave raw but leave the seeds out, med: add up to half the seeds you removed from the peppers to the filling, hot: add all the seeds, omg wtf ow!: add all the seeds plus some minced chipotles to the filling. if you like the smokiness of chipotles but not the extra heat you could just add a few drops of liquid smoke instead.
3. mix the cream cheese with the cheddar and spices and taste for pain-factor. remember that the jalapeño itself will add a bit of heat but the pastry will take out a bit so it'll work out about the same spice factor, just more flavorful.
4. fill the pepper halves with your cheese mix, how full they are will depend on how big your peppers are.
5. now roll out the pastry to 1/4" thin or less and cut into strips just big enough to wrap each pepper. squish the folds together to seal. if you put them cheese-down on the pastry you can squish the pastry together over the solid pepper side and not get filling everywhere.
6. bake at 350-375f for about 25 min or until pastry is golden and pepper inside is kinda squishy. longer cooking time at a lower temp should mellow the heat a bit as well. higher temp for shorter time will leave your pepper more raw.
7. some tips for working with spicy peppers: either wear latex gloves while cutting/seeding or wash your hands at least twice using lots of soap and a nail brush after touching them. if you can still smell or taste it on your fingers DON'T touch your eyes. if/when you manage to get it in your eyes anyways the best treatment is vegetable oil to wash it out. so was recommended to me by poison control and it gives instant relief.