One of the best things about being a food blogger is encountering some of the most amazing people that share a common love for all things food. Today a great group of friends have come together to have a virtual baby shower to honor Amanda of the fantabulous blog, {i am baker}.
Amanda is expecting her fourth child and what better way to celebrate Amanda’s new baby boy than with fabulous food. If you have never visited Amanda’s blog, I’m going to demand that you stop by immediately. Once you lay your eyes on her incredible cakes, you’ll be hooked and will catch yourself feverishly checking Amanda’s blog for her latest creation!
I like to keep you guys on your toes, so instead of the predictable sweet recipe, I decided to create a spin on one of my favorite finger foods…Crab Rangoon. There is a Chinese restaurant in town that I simply adore and have been frequenting since my sophom*ore year of college. The restaurant doesn’t have much curb appeal and the interior leaves much to be desired. A giant Buddha welcomes you into a dark atmosphere with discolored lace curtains, crooked booths and satin menus that appear to have been gnawed on by something.
But…I keep going back because they have the most amazing Crab Rangoon on the planet. These little bundles of bliss are fried to perfection with the ideal ratio of crab to cream cheese and their dipping sauce is to die for. I could potentially eat them every day of the week and be completely content in life. However, as appealing as a daily fix of Crab Rangoon sounds, they are fried and my rear end would probably expand to exponential widths. Plus, the owner scares me and a daily dose of her could potentially land me in therapy.
If you have some time, definitely take a few minutes to click around and check out what these other ladies created. I’m betting you’ll be smitten with everything you see!
2teaspoonsfinely sliced chivesplus more for garnish
fresh ground pepper to taste
12won ton wrappers
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a mini muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, combine crab meat, cream cheese, mayonaise, Sriracha, chives, and pepper. Mix until well combined.
Place 1 won ton wrapper in each 12 mini muffin cups. The edges of the won ton wrappers will extend beyond the mini muffin tin cups and may need to be folded slightly. Fill the center of each won ton cup with crab mixture.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until edges of cups are golden brown and filling is heated through. Garnish with reserved chives.
The default measuring system on My Baking Addiction is US Customary. Unit conversions are provided as a courtesy; please be aware that there may be some discrepancies.
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It's mostly cream cheese, wrapped in dough and deep-fried to create bite-sized calorie bombs. Because they're small, it's easy to eat more than one. Finish an order of 4, and you're likely to get more than half the calories and fat you should have in an entire meal.
Wontons and crab Rangoon are, on the surface, similar dishes: They're both a form of dumpling (essentially, a dough pocket) stuffed with some kind of filling. However, crab Rangoon has a specific type of filling, while wontons have a little more wiggle room when it comes to what they're stuffed with.
During the deep frying process, the water in the filling can turn into steam and cause the wonton to puff up and even burst, causing the filling to ooze out, leaving only an empty shell.
Once they're folded, simply place uncooked Crab Rangoon onto a baking pan or plate, flash freeze them for an hour, then slide them into a freezer bag or Tupperware container. This allows them to be stored together without sticking to one another.
The filling is made with a combination of cream cheese, crab meat or imitation crab meat, scallions or onion, garlic, and other flavorings. A small amount of the filling is wrapped in each wonton wrapper.
It consists of cream cheese, sometimes sweetened, plus, usually, very small bits of imitation crab, stuffed into a wonton wrapper and deep-fried, served with a syrupy, neon sweet-and-sour dipping sauce. It is, essentially, deep-fried cheesecake with fake crab in it—as sweet as any dessert, but served as an appetizer.
I love Panda Express' Crab Rangoons and they're so easy to make! Oddly enough, they don't use crab or imitation crab in their original recipe. Feel free to add some though, it's delicious! My local Panda Express offers 3 for $2.35.
In a small bowl, gently combine crab meat, cream cheese, green onion, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce (if using), and garlic powder. Layout 3 wonton wrappers at a time. Place 2 teaspoons of the filling in the center of each. Dab the edges with water and fold the two opposite corners together to form a triangle.
While actual crab is not the primary focus of crab rangoon, either imitation crab or the real stuff adds necessary flavor. The best shape for crab rangoon is a four-pointed star: It concentrates the filling and maximizes surface area for more crunch.
Most sources indicate that Crab Rangoons were likely invented by Victor Bergeron, the founder of Trader Vic's, sometime in the 1950s. Fried wontons existed in the U.S. at least as far back as the 1930s.
THE SECRET: At first glance, you might think Money Bags are the same as Chinese crab rangoon. It is only after a taste that you realize they are uniquely Thai. "People love the cream cheese taste," Piyassaphan says, "but it is the seasoning that makes them special.
Technically, yes, you can use another method for reheating. If you don't own an air fryer, the oven is likely your best bet. There are two ways to reheat this snack in the oven: on a baking sheet or on an elevated cooling rack.
Leftover, fried crab rangoons can be stored in the fridge, in an airtight container, for up to 4 days. To reheating, re-fry at 350°F for about 1 minute. Leftover crab rangoons can also be reheated in the air fryer at 325°F or baked in oven at 350°F for about 5 minutes, or until warmed through.
While some may recommend heating leftover Rangoon in a frying pan or sticking them on a microwave-safe plate and throwing them in a microwave, the best method is to stick to air frying.
This serving also contains 9.09 grams of protein, 1 gram of fiber and 14.1 grams of fat, which contributes approximately 22 percent of the recommended daily dose of fat for an adult diet.
Introduction: My name is Greg O'Connell, I am a delightful, colorful, talented, kind, lively, modern, tender person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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