Bacon Jalapeno and Monterey Jack Tamale Bites

Tamale bites filled with bacon, diced jalapeno's and Monterey jack cheese perfect for a party!

This week my friend Becca from It's Yummi turns 50 and we are having a virtual birthday party to celebrate! She wanted to know if we would make something she would love to eat at her birthday party, so of course I said yes!

UPDATE: This giveaway has ended.

Each of us will be holding a giveaway, and today's giveaway is: A Frieda’s Produce Gourmet Gift Basket, a copy of the new e-cookbook from Olena at iFOODreal "30 Quick Clean Dinners", and a $25 gift card to Amazon or PayPal cash. You can enter to win at the bottom of this post!

I've known Becca for long enough to know that her favorite food is BACON! Only, realistically you only have to know her for a few minutes to know that 🙂 The other thing I know is she has been on a Fit By Fifty mission, and is doing well. One of the things she is doing is watching her carbs. Last week I participated in Appetizer Week, where myself and a group of food bloggers posted some absolutely fabulous recipes for a Super Bowl party, or any party for that matter. Although I had hoped to take part in every day I ended up having to skip two days due to internet problems. The good news was that the guy that came to fix it was, um, very nice looking to say the least 🙂 The bad news was now I had things like jalapeno's and cheeses and bacon in my house because I had planned to use them for Appetizer Week.

So, when Becca asked me to post I knew I had to make these little tamale bites. For one thing, they have BACON! For another, the masa harina base only has 21 grams of carbohydrates per ¼ cup serving, and the monterey jack cheese only has 1 gram per ¼ cup. Well, these bites are the size of a mini cupcake, so they don't even need ¼ cup, more like less than a tablespoon of masa harina and a pinch of cheese. Perfect, right?

I know these aren't even close to traditional tamales, and I really do want to make traditional ones, someday. But for now I really enjoyed these, and so did my husband. The only problem I had was I ended up with too much filling for just my one 24 cup mini muffin pan, so if you only have one you'll just have to bake them in batches, which is okay because then you can tell everyone that the first batch is all there is and save the rest for yourself! Shh, I didn't tell you to do that.

Print Recipe

4.50 from 2 votes

Bacon Jalapeno and Monterey Jack Tamale Bites

Bite size tamale pies filled with bacon, jalapeno's and monterey jack cheese perfect for a party!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time40 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Mexican American

Servings: 45

Calories: 48kcal

Author: Bernadette

Ingredients

• 7 slices hardwood smoked bacon
• 3 scallions ,bottom 1 inch removed, sliced thin
• 2-3 jalapeno's ,seeded and diced fine
• 2 medium tomatoes seeded and diced
• small handful cilantro chopped
• 1 ½ cups monterey jack cheese
• 1 ½ cups masa harina (also called golden corn flour)
• 1 cup chicken broth ,heated
• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• vegetable spray

Instructions

• In a large skillet, fry the bacon until cooked but not crispy, Remove to a paper towel lined plate, blot excess grease, and chop.
• Drain the bacon grease from the pan, return to the heat, add the jalapeno, scallions, and tomatoes and saute for about 5 minutes or until the onions are just beginning to soften. Add the bacon and cilantro and cook for a few more minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
• While the filling is cooling, prepare the tamale base. In a medium bowl combine masa harina, vegetable shortening, and HEATED chicken broth. Stir until mixture resembles large crumbs, then form into dough using your hands.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Spray two mini muffin pans (if you have two, otherwise you will be making one full batch, and then another small batch) with vegetable spray. Press a thin layer of maza dough into the bottom and up the sides of each well, pushing up and removing excess from the top.
• Put an equal amount of filling into each lined well. Bake for 12 minutes, top each tamale bite with cheese, and return to the oven for 5 minutes more. Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing, and serve warm.
• Highly adapted from Muy Bueno Cookbook http://www.muybuenocookbook.com/2013/01/roasted-chile-cheese-and-bacon-mini-tamale-pies/

Notes

If making in batches, cover bowl with mixed maza dough with a damp paper towel.

Nutrition

Calories: 48kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 5mg | Sodium: 62mg | Potassium: 40mg | Vitamin A: 100IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 35mg | Iron: 0.4mg