This last weekend I had the pleasure of celebrating a friends 40^th birthday.  At his party, his mom, Becky made these delicious stuffed jalapeno poppers.  These were simple and elegant, and so delicious.  I never thought of putting together goat cheese and pickled jalapeno peppers together, but now that I have tried this, this dish will be making future appearances at my house.

If you have never tried pickled jalapeno peppers, I highly recommend them.  They aren’t generally too spicy and sometimes they come packed with onions and carrots that you can use in other ways.  Many local Mexican restaurants in Houston will serve you a dish of the pickled jalapeno peppers when you have dinner.  I have used these in other recipes, but mostly I am stuffing the pickled jalapeno poppers with cream cheese, but let me tell you, the often stronger taste of goat cheese is sublime with the pickled jalapeno peppers.

Goat Cheese Jalapeno Poppers

Yield: approximately 24 pieces

1 11 ounce can pickled halved jalapeno peppers
4 ounces goat cheese

Often the pickled jalapeno peppers come in halves, but if you don’t see the halves, buy the whole peppers and slice in half. Allow goat cheese to reach room temperature and then take about one teaspoon and smear until the half jalapeno pepper.

I loved these goat cheese jalapeno poppers, needless to say they were gone quickly at this party. I told Becky, Trey’s Mom, that these were showing up at CopyKat.com this week. Have you ever been to a party and had to come home and make that recipe immediately?

More on pickled jalapeno peppers:
Pickled Peppers – a recipe
Pickled Jalapenos Escabeche
Luby’s Stuffed Jalapenos