Sweet and Spicy Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Anaheim Chilis

Heat a large pot of water to boiling. Add chili peppers and boil for 4 minutes. Remove peppers from pot and allow to cool.

In a large skillet add the sun dried tomatoes in oil, onion and garlic. Season with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes and saute over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or just until onions start to soften. Remove from heat and let cool.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spray rack (I used my cooling rack) with cooking spray and place on baking sheet.

In bowl of food processor fitted with metal blade pour the sun dried tomato and onion mixture. Pulse until finely minced. Add the cannellini beans, cumin, oregano and 1 teaspoon of the chili powder. Season with salt and pepper. Process until smooth. Add the cream cheese and process until smooth. Remove mixture to a small bowl and stir in the shredded cheddar cheese and diced green onions. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if needed. Set aside.

Take each chili pepper and carefully make a slit from the top of the pepper almost to the bottom point. Remove seeds. (I just rinsed the peppers under running water and they came out nicely.)

Place the brown sugar, the remaining 2 tablespoons of chili powder and the cayenne pepper in a pie pan or other shallow dish. Whisk well to combine. Set aside.

Take each prepared chili and stuff with 2-3 tablespoons of bean and cheese mixture, depending on the size of the pepper. Wrap the pepper with the bacon, starting the bacon on the side opposite the stuffing slit and ending on the same side. Roll the bacon wrapped pepper in the brown sugar mixture and place the pepper, stuffing side up, on the prepared baking rack. The ends of the bacon should now be on the bottom of the pepper, thus eliminating the need to use toothpicks to hold the bacon to the pepper.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until bacon is crispy and pepper is tender.