Dates Wrapped in Hickory-Smoked Chicken Skin [GF]

This monstrosity is easily the unhealthiest culinary creation I have ever described on this blog, and will likely remain so for a long time.  Like its close cousin and primary inspiration dates wrapped in bacon (a dish which appeared among the hors d'ouvres offered at a reception during a conference I recently attended and has been lingering in my thoughts ever since), it is essentially an excuse to clothe a cloyingly sweet dried fruit morsel in a raiment of "meat candy" — one of those segments of animal flesh into which the Creator has, in his infinite wisdom, elected to concentrate both flavor and fat.  (And yea, the Lord saw that it was good; at least until he who consumeth it dieth of a massive coronary.)

One quick disclaimer before I narrate the recipe: my primary motivation for preparing this dish was that I happened to have recently engaged in smoking a chicken, and therefore had a substantial quantity of chicken skin lying around that I didn't really know how else to put to good use.  To be honest, I still deem that the bacon-based version of this hors d'ouvre to be the superior specimen: while the hickory-smoke flavor of the chicken skin provides a sublime compliment to the flavor of the dates, the texture leaves a bit to be desired.  The skin of smoked poultry tends to be a tad tough, and as a result these morsels tend to be a bit on the chewy side.  Nevertheless, I believe the principle of wrapping dried fruit in the skins of fowls has merit, and am looking forward to an experiment in dressing figs in turkey skin this Thanksgiving.    

• Skin from a hickory-smoked chicken, cut in 1" × 1" strips
• 15 - 20 large, pitted medjool dates
• 1 Tbsp. orange-blossom honey
• 1 Tbsp. pecan pieces
• 1 Tbsp. potato starch
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat an oven to 300°. Take each date and make a small hollow in the center by inserting the tip of a wood or bamboo skewer into the hole from which the pit was removed.  Pack a few pecan pieces into this hollow.  Wrap the chicken skin around each date and secure it by tanspiercing the date and the chicken skin with a bamboo skewer.  After assembling skewers of 5-8 dates each, place them on a cookie sheet or baking pan for five minutes or until warm.  Remove the skewers from the oven, coat the warm dates evenly with the honey, and then sprinkle them with the cinnamon, salt, and potato starch (in that order).  Return the skewers to the oven and bake for 15-20 min. until brown.

As a final note, if you intend to serve this item as an hors d'ouvre at some soiree you're putting on, I might suggest using a toothpick to secure the covering to each date individually rather than attempting to bake them  on skewers en masse and serve them from those skewers churrascaria-style at your gathering.  They tend to be a bit sticky and frequently fall apart when removed from the skewer.