Pancake-battered Sweet & Spicy Jalapeno Poppers

Try out these delicious Brunch style Poppers! Feed your wild side, one part sweet,one part spicy hot. They not only taste delicious but they can also put that spice back into your Sunday morning brunches. 

For the breading, I used a sweet buttermilk pancake batter. You can use your favorite one just make sure it is not too viscous. If it is add some milk until it smoothly runs off the spatula. This is the recipe I used:
1c Flour
pinch Salt
1/2c Sugar
2/3c Buttermilk (a bit more than I usually use for these pancakes)

Stir dry ingredients together before adding the buttermilk. Mix until completely combined and then set aside.

Pepper Preparation
WEAR GLOVES!!!! 

Cut the jalapeño from stem to tip, only cutting through the first layer of the pepper (Picture 1).

Make a small incision below the stem, perpendicular to the first (Picture 2).

Carefully open the side of the pepper enough to use a small paring knife to cut out the membrane and remove the seeds (Picture 3). Remove as much of the membrane and seeds as possible.

Parboil the cut peppers in boiling water for about 3 minutes, until they soften slightly. Remove and immediately place in a bowl of ice water. 

Once the peppers are cooled, blot them dry with a paper towel and set aside. 

The Delicious Creamy Filling
Ingredients:
1/2c Cream Cheese (softened)
1/2c Mascarpone
2 red chili peppers- minced
Apricot jelly (optional)

Mix the two cheeses together until well blended and creamy. Mix in the minced chili peppers. 

Take a plastic ziplock bag and scoop all of the cheese filling into the bag. Cut the bottom corner of the bag and squeeze the cheese filling to the end. This will make for a very easy stuffing process. 

Next, take one of the dried jalapeños and scoop a bit of the jelly into the bottom. Fill the remaining area with the cheese filling but ensure that you can still close the pepper into it's original shape.  Its best to be over stuffed. You can force the pepper to close and wipe away any excess cheese that oozes out as you do so. 

Take a long, thinly sliced piece of prosciutto and wrap it around each stuffed jalapeño separately.  Make sure to wrap it nice and tight so the pepper can't slip out or open up. 

Once all the peppers are wrapped they are ready to be cooked.  First prepare your oil in a deep saucepan or a deep fryer.  You want to have enough oil (vegetable preferably) so the poppers do not touch the bottom as they cook. Using a candy thermometer, make sure the oil is around 350 deg F.

Now you are ready to start dipping. Take a prosciutto wrapped stuffed pepper and coat it completely in the pancake batter. The batter should surround the pepper easily and not be clumpy. 

Carefully put the coated pepper into the heated oil. Try to cook both sides evenly. About 2 min per size. Once the pepper is golden brown in color, carefully remove from the oil and place onto paper towels.

Allow the peppers to cool and then serve as an excellent side dish to eggs, omlettes, pancakes, and much more.