Bacon-Wrapped Scallops

I thought I had the menu for the wedding open house all planned, then the day before Wayne called and said a co-worker (who was coming to our party) really liked Bacon-Wrapped Scallops so he thought we should serve them. At that point I just wanted to buy them ready-made, but I couldn't find any. And it turns out that it's not that much work to do them yourself. All you need are scallops, bacon and toothpicks. They were definitely delicious!!

We bought two sizes of scallops from the grocery store. We knew we didn't want the giant ones, but the tiny ones (75-125 per pound) were too small and all you could taste was bacon. This is a great recipe for medium-sized bay scallops. Just cut the bacon to fit, (for most of them I split the bacon in half length-wise as well as half cross-wise), wrap around the scallop, secure with a toothpick and bake. About 15 minutes at 425° worked well. It does smell up the house, so if you don't want a fishy-bacony aroma during your party, do this ahead of time. You also, however, want to serve them warm, which puts you in a Catch-22 situation. You'll figure it out!

My inspiration came from Pioneer Woman, and the recipe for her Chili-Butter Sauce to drizzle over these was wonderful. Just melt a cube of butter with 2 teaspoons of chili powder and a dash of cayenne pepper and brush it over the scallops after they're cooked. Yummy!

Note: Par-cooking the bacon before wrapping the scallops helps prevent the scallops from being overcooked.