WOW!! These are certainly tasty little devils. My six year old loves them. I am not a huge tomato fan but I loved them too. Guests were fighting over the last one and decided to cut in half!! The only thing I think I might change next time is to use 1/2 mayo and 1/2 cream cheese (maybe garden vegetable). I just think that would help the "oily" consitancy. Thank you so much for the post, Angela. Update: Tried this with 1/2 mayo & 1/2 garden vegetable cream cheese. Even yummier!
love 'em! some tips here: to prevent them from rolling around, don't cut the TOP off, cut the BOTTOM off and leave the top. also, I usually drain upside down of paper towel. one last thing - I use my food processor to get the bacon really chopped up, then fold in other ingredients.
I suggest sprinkling salt in the tomato cavities after removing the seeds and pulp. Then, turn the tomatoes upside down on a paper towel for a short while to let the excess juices drain. The salt brings in a little extra flavor as well as pulling out some of the excess juice. Excellent recipe!
Excellent recipe for those watching carbs! Using low fat mayo and sour cream as other reviewers have suggested reduces the calorie content as well. We like chives vs green onions for a more delicate flavor. Hollowed out, salted to drain upside down, bottoms nipped just a little to stand upright, stuffed, two small chives laid across the top for presentation and you have a beautiful appetizer worthy of any waiters tray!
I must admit, based on prior reviews i wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into: some stated it was very time-consuming, others said it was a snap. I found this to be a fairly simple recipe. I "gutted" my tomatoes using a knife to cut off the top and then hollowed w/my "dash" measuring spoon. Per anouther review, I lightly salted the tomatoe and placed upside down on paper towels. I'm not a big cream cheese fan, so I used equal parts light mayo and fat free cream cheese along w/real bottled bacon bits, a dash of garlic powder, and chives for the filling. I used a Ziploc to pipe the filling into the tomatoes just prior to serving. I will def make these again, esp now that gardens are over-flowing w/cherry tomatoes! THANKS for a keeper!
Made this recipe for 8 people tonight. 7 asked me for the recipe (I was the 8th!). I made a few changes that I hope will be helpful...I cut the tiniest bit off the bottom of the cherry tomatoes so that they would stand up on the plate instead of rolling around. I substituted half of the mayonnaise with sour cream and I threw in a few chopped leafs of lettuce. After all what's a "BLT" without the "L"?!? Followed others' advice and salted the tomatoes before stuffing. Someone suggested using a pastry bag to flute the mixture into the tomatoes but I found that that created a big mess--the bacon chunks never fit through the hole (no matter how big I made it). So in my first batch I had a whole bunch of tomatoes with nothing but sour cream and mayo filling. Use a spoon or your fingers! My tomatoes were fairly small but I had no problem using the small end of a melon baller to de-seed them.
I really had serious misgivings when I started to make these, because I had the cherry tomatoes from hell. They were very small and had a very tough inner "wall" right in the middle that I couldn't get out without ruining the tomatoes (even though I used my 1/4 tsp measuring spoon, which is metal and has a fairly sharp edge). This made them very difficult to stuff--in fact, I think a lot of them ended up wearing most of the filling as a "hat", so they were sort of messy, but I solved this by sticking a toothpick in them. Despite the problems, these were a huge success. I followed others' advice and used 1/2 mayo and 1/2 cream cheese, and topped them with crushed croutons (garlic flavored). I also left out the parsley, and used chives instead of green onions. They were really, really good, so I'm sure I'll make them again, despite the PITA factor. Thanks for the recipe! Edited to add: These always go over well with everyone, but one of my friends in particular (who is not fond of tomatoes) is always dropping hints for me to make these again. They're always worth the trouble.
You HAVE to make it with half cream cheese and half mayo...much better that way. Croutons crumbled on the top is a must too. The extra crunch is great. I turned the tomatoes upside down to hollow them out. They don't roll around that way. Thanks for the great recipe!!
I have made this twice now, and both times they were the first thing eaten off the buffet table and I got requests for the receipe. Per other reviews, here's what I do: Instead of 1/2 cup mayo...I use 1/4 cup mayo and 1/4 cup cream cheese. Also, I buy the bacon in the bag that's already cooked and chopped. Take the tomatoes and cut the top off...not the end where the stem was. That way, they will sit on the plate without rolling. I cut off the top and scoop out the insides and then turn over on a paper plate with a paper towel on it and let them drain while I put the rest of the stuff together. I put the stuffing in a zip lock bag and cut a hole in the corner and that way it's easier to stuff the tomatoes. Yum!!
I really wanted to be thrilled with this recipe because I had an abundance of cherry tomatoes from my garden. Unfortunately I ended up being disappointed. I had read ALL the reviews and followed all the helpful advice. I salted the tomatoes I drained them on paper towels. This little appetizers still just tasted very greasy/fatty to me. Even my husband said that there was too much filling and not enough of a tomato taste. And these were incredibly labor intensive and time consuming. I will be making and reviewing the BLT dip; hopefully I will have better luck with that appetizer.
