Baked Crab Rangoon

I know I am supposed to start out with how amazing these are and that they are the best things I’ve ever eaten, but I can’t. The only reason not to call these ‘as good as a restaurant’ is that they lack that huge crunch that deep fried rangoons have. Having said that, you should know that I am all in for the flavor and these babies deliver! Plus, there is a whole lot less fat and calories than deep fried rangoon with full fat cheese. There are still some crispy bits of won ton, but that creamy filling gets me every time. This filling is, in my opinion, spot on.

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) package won ton wrappers (you will have maybe 8 or 10 leftover, but you need to buy the full package or you will run short)

2 (8 ounce) packages light cream cheese, softened

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon soy sauce

2 green onions, diced very fine

1 (8 ounce) package crab flavored surimi (packaged ‘fake crab’ that you can find near the seafood), diced very fine

Water

Cooking Spray

Directions: Pre heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil and pop it in the oven while it pre-heats. This helps the bottoms of the rangoons to get crispy.

Meanwhile, prep by filling a small cup with water-you will want this to dip your finger into for sealing the rangoons. Set aside.

In a large bowl, stir together the cream cheese, garlic, soy sauce, green onions and finely chopped surimi.

Lay out a sheet of wax paper and lay out 6 won ton wrappers at a time. Keep the remaining wrappers covered with a damp paper towel-they dry out fast. Put a teaspoon or so of the crab filling in the middle of each wrapper and dip your finger into the water. Using that dampened finger, dot just a bit of water around all edges of the first wrapper. Go light on the water-less is better. And just do one wrapper at a time-this makes for less time for the wrapper and water combo to turn into glue..

To fold, fold two corners together to make a triangle. Then, dot a single spot of water on the fullest part of the Rangoon and fold the two outside tips over the top. Of course, you could make any shape you want, but I like folding them up so there is less wrapper without filling. Remove these 6 to the side of your wax paper sheet and prep 6 more. Note: this makes about 40 rangoons, so you will need to repeat these steps.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and spray with cooking spray. Place 12 rangoons at a time on the sheet and spray the rangoons themselves with cooking spray. Repeat for the remaining rangoons.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on how dark you want them to be. Let cool for 5 minutes. Serve with whatever sauce you want-I really like sweet and sour sauce with a bit of hot Chinese mustard.