Cool Mint Juleps, Hot ABTs

For yesterday's Kentucky Derby we wanted some mint juleps.  This drink really hits the spot and takes the edge off all the crazy hats on television.  The secret to a good julep is the crushed ice.  It takes time to crush enough ice to fill up a few pint glasses (I know you're supposed to serve them in silver or pewter cups, sorry).  Our blender is the best way I know how to crush up ice, but even that's a little tedious.

Ahead of time you need to make the simple syrup.  All this requires is one part water to one part sugar boiled into a mixture and then cooled.  Simple. Syrup.

So you muddle a few sprigs of mint at the bottom of your pint glass and fill the rest with ice.
Add to your glass:
1 Tbsp simple syrup
1/3 Cup Woodford Reserve bourbon (my favorite)
Stir it all up.
Add a sprig of mint for garnish.  Enjoy.  Carefully.  They're tasty but they can sneak up on you like a come from behind race horse.

So ABTs (Atomic Buffalo Turds) have been on my wish list for a while.  I've had them at Eggfests, but never made them myself. Looking around the web I wasn't able to find a definitive recipe.  The good news seemed to be that you can improvise these things.  As it turns out ABTs are a broad category of bacon-wrapped, stuffed jalapeño.  The base of nearly every recipe seemed to be cream cheese.  So here's what I did.

One pack of cream chese
1/2 onion finely diced
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 chorizo sausage.

mmm, chorizo.

Everything else.

So I cut the peppers lengthwise and removed the seeds and membranes.  Then you stuff 'em.  Then you wrap 'em in bacon.  The internet taught me that the secret here is using thin, cheap bacon to get it crispy.  I made a vegetarian turd for one of our friends (no chorizo or bacon).  Here's what they look like ahead of time.

And here they were after I cooked them for about 25 minutes at about 350f.  I probably over cooked these out of concern for getting the chorizo cooked all the way.  A good bit of the filling had melted out, but they disappeared in no time.  Everyone loved them.  I still have a good bit of the filling and bacon left, so I may run back to get more peppers and whip up some more.

Ever done ABTs?  Got a favorite recipe?