Baked Wontons

     After yesterday's fried potato pancake recipe, I started thinking about if or how I could reinvent different deep-fried recipes to make them a little healthier. So in keeping with the international theme, I decided to start this little experiment by attempting to bake some wonton purses instead of frying them. I know that you can boil them instead, but I still wanted to preserve that lovely crunch that the fried ones have. The thing is, I have never actually deep-fried a wonton myself, and after figuring out how to bake them, I can say with certainty that I never will. The baked ones aren't just an okay substitute for the real thing, they're actually better. I filled mine with a simple low fat cream cheese mixture, sort of like crab rangoons without the crab. You should feel free to add different vegetables to the filling if you wan to. If you want to fill them with some kind of ground meat instead, I recommend precooking it because the fast baking process won't cook anything raw like frying would. So try this recipe and make it your own!

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 20)
1 package of wonton wrappers, but you won't use them all.
8oz block plain cream cheese, softened (reduced fat can't hurt)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
pinch of salt
1 1/4 teaspoons garlic powder
2 green onions, chopped
plus whatever else you want to throw in there
a small bowl of water
2 tablespoons olive oil

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 400, lightly spray 2 cookie sheets, and set the cream cheese on the stove to soften.
2. Place room temperature cream cheese in a bowl and use a fork to mix in the onion, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Make sure it's evenly combined.

3. Place about 1 teaspoon of cream cheese onto the center of each square wonton wrapper. It's slightly frustrating because it sticks to everything, but you can do it! Keep making them until you run out of filling, and just wrap up the unused wonton dough. I think I ended up with 20.

4. Use your finger to spread a few drops of water along all 4 sides of each wonton. Fold each wonton diagonally so that it forms a triangle. Then, fold in the corners a little and fold/crimp the edges until it's totally stuck together. You may want to add a few more drops of water if it's not sticking, but don't go overboard on that.

5. Place wontons on a baking sheet, brush each with just a little bit of olive oil, and bake for 13-15 minutes until golden brown.

I guarantee that these will be crunchy and that won't wish you fried them, but if you're still looking for something indulgent, check out yesterday's Kartoffelpuffer!  Enjoy!