Entertaining Made Easy: Stuffed Mushrooms with Bacon

Forget the eggnog. Forget the Martha Stewart-style wrapped gifts with fancy bows. Forget the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Forget the carolers.

I’ll trade in all of those traditions for a month of holiday parties anytime. Well, that might be a stretch about the gifts and I’m sure my mom would say differently.

But seriously, gatherings, festivities, celebrations, bashes, merrymaking – whatever you call them - get me in the holiday spirit more than anything else.

With these parties always comes the dreaded question: What should I bring? It needs to be simple, transportable and, of course, delicious. I always, always bring these stuffed mushrooms. They’re unbelievably easy and become the instant hit of the event. Once you pop one in it’s pretty hard to stop. 

I promise these little nuggets will make the guests go gaga before the night's over …and if they’re not, serve them another drink.

Happy Holidays!

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds white cap mushrooms, stemmed
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled (can use turkey bacon)
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh chives for garnish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a bowl, mix together bacon crumbles and garlic powder. Season with salt and pepper.

Spoon the filling into the mushroom cavities and arrange on baking sheet. Baking until mushrooms are tender and tops are browned, about 20 to 25 minutes. Baking time will depend on the size of your mushrooms.

Garnish with fresh chives and serve.