Bacon Wrapped Chestnuts

From the kitchen of Jenni Robison

1 lb. bacon
2 cans whole water chestnuts
Brown sugar

Cut your 1 lb. of bacon in  half (with kitchen shears) and microwave bacon until half cooked.  I separated each 1/2 piece, and layered them in a glass bowl, put a paper towel on top, and microwaved for 1 minute and then stirred.  I did this about 6-7 times.  I then drained off the watery fat, and let the bacon sit for an hour until cooler, so it could be handled without burning my fingers.
Drain (reserve juice) and empty chestnuts into a bowl with enough brown sugar to cover completely. 
Mix up the chestnuts and brown sugar until they are coated.
Roll chestnuts in the cut bacon strips one at a time, hold together with a toothpick.
In the cans I used, there were about 15-16-17 chestnuts in each can, and the 1 lb. bacon cut in half yielded about 32 pieces.  So it worked out pretty evenly between the two cans of chestnuts, and 1 lb. of bacon.
Cover a cookie sheet with foil, and put the skewered chestnuts on the cookie sheet, evenly spaced.  Use the excess brown sugar syrup in the bowl to drizzle over them before baking.  If you need to add a little extra juice (that you have reserved) and brown sugar to make more of a syrup, you can.

Cover the cookie sheet with aluminum foil, and bake 30-40 minutes at 375 degrees.
(I actually forgot to cover them with foil once, and took them out at 30 minutes.  They were fine)