Bacon Wrapped Apricots...Thanks Lauren!

Everyone should put this in their winning appetizer category of recipes. I promise that these will not disappoint and that everyone will LOVE these. They went so fast at the party I made them for last Saturday. A big thank you to my friend Laurent who originally introduced me these, thanks for the delicious idea!

I followed a few different recipes to come up with my favorite twist. I would definitely recommend making an assembly line with all your ingredients to make the process go smoothly. I found coating the bacon pieces in the brown sugar mixture before I wrapped them around apricots was the best way to go.

Brown Sugar Bacon Wrapped Apricots

Ingredients

1 lb bacon (I ended up with 16 pieces of bacon which I then sliced into thirds crosswise)

Dried apricots (I eyeballed how many I wanted/needed out of the bulk bins at our local Central Market)

1/2 C brown sugar

1 t cayenne pepper

1 t black pepper

2 T pure maple syrup 

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375º F. 
2. Stir the brown sugar, cayenne pepper and black pepper together and then dump onto a large plate so you can coat the bacon pieces into the brown sugar mixture.
3. Wrap each apricot with a piece of brown sugar bacon, and place seam-side down on a baking sheet.
4. Bake until the bacon is beginning to crisp, 6 to 8 minutes per side. (Mine too longer than this just FYI)
5. Remove from oven and brush with the maple syrup. Serve with toothpicks. 

***Sorry for lack of a picture!