Recipe: Armadillo Eggs (sausage and jalapenos, smoked)

ARMADILLO EGGS (SMOKED)
"These armadillo eggs are one of the best ideas I've seen recently. Spicy bratwurst sausage is molded around a jalapeno pepper stuffed with cream cheese to form an egg."

12 jalapeno peppers
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
Wilton Golden Yellow paste food coloring (or yellow food coloring)
3 pounds spicy bratwurst sausage, casings removed
17th Street Special All-Purpose Dressing or barbecue sauce (optional, for serving)

Cut the stem ends off the jalapenos and use a small knife to cut the seeds out. Keep the peppers whole.

Put the cream cheese into a small bowl and use a toothpick to add a tiny bit of the paste food coloring (this paste is very concentrated, so a little goes a long way). Mix the coloring thoroughly into the cream cheese. Add more, if you need it, to achieve a bright golden color, like the yolk of an egg.

Transfer the cream cheese to a pastry bag fitted with a wide tip and pipe the cheese into the jalapenos. (You can make your own pastry bag by using a small zippered plastic bag and snipping off one corner.)

Divide the sausage into 12 pieces. Flatten each piece into a disk, place a filled jalapeno in the center, and wrap the sausage around it, pressing the edges to seal. Form the sausage into the shape of a large egg.

Smoke for 1 1/2 hours at 250 degrees.

Slice to serve. The slices will resemble sliced hard-cooked eggs, with the colored cream cheese looking like the yolk. Serve with the dressing, if desired.

Servings: 12 to 18
Used by permission to Recipelink.com from Random House
Source: Peace, Love, & Barbecue by Mike Mills, Amy Mills Tunnicliffe