Baked Cream Cheese Jalapeño Wontons

Baked Cream Cheese Jalapeno Wonton

When all my siblings were still living at home, Chinese takeout night happened every now and then…and by that I mean like once a week. We’d devour our absurdly huge mounds of food, possibly watch a movie or play a game, and then wrap up the evening with a little brother-sister-sister argument over who would get the final wonton after the other eleven were gone (yes, we bought two orders of six…every time). Now that I’m a refined adult (yeah, that) wontons have sadly gone all-but missing from my life. Until recently, that is, when the boy and I found ourselves at a restaurant that served jalapeno cream cheese wontons. In all my childhood wonton-consuming years, I had never thought about mixing anything with that smooth dollop of cheese. I mean, that’s just crazy. Crazy brilliant, of course.

My memory of these jalapeno wontons lovingly remains in the back of my mind always, but this week it catapulted to the front when the boy asked if we could make them for dinner. At those words, I magically appeared in a grocery store with cream cheese, wonton wrappers, and jalapenos in my cart, and ambition in my soul.

Crispy Baked Cream Cheese Jalapeno Wontons

Makes 10 wontons

  • 1 jalapeno, finely chopped (you can use half…if you’re a sissy)
  • 4-ounces light cream cheese (NOT Fat Free, or your wontons will taste like chemicals)
  • 10 wonton wrappers
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon water

Preheat oven to 400.

Use a fork to mix together the jalapeno and cream cheese.

Jalepeno and Cream Cheese Mixture for Wontons

Dip your finger in water, and trace the edges of the wonton wrapper (this will help it stick together, just like with pot stickers).

Wonton Wrappers

Put a half tablespoon of filling in the middle, spreading it out just a bit so it’s not one big mound, because that will make folding tricky.

Wonton Wrappers with Jalepeno Cream Cheese Filling

If you will be baking these around anyone afraid of spice, go ahead and make a few without jalapeno. How thoughtful of you.

Jalepeno-less cream cheese filling

After all your wrappers have a dollop of the enticing cream cheese filling, you have some decisions to make regarding folding. These are the two I liked the best:

Triangle: The old standard. Simply fold the wonton once, corner-to-corner, pressing out any air bubbles as you go.

Triangle shaped wontons

Flower Bud: My favorite. After creating a triangle, fold the long side of the triangle over towards the point…

Triangle shaped wontons folded

…and then bring together the two ends above the middle of the wonton, using wet fingers to press and secure.

Beggar's Purse wonton

Pretty cute eh?

Once your wontons are folded, whisk together one egg and one tablespoon of water in a small cup. Lightly coat the wontons using a pastry brush (or a dipped paper towel, but be GENTLE). This will help give the little guys a golden, crunchy tan.

Place on a greased/parchment-covered baking sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes.

baked cream cheese wonton

These were crispy, creamy, spicy, and a snap to make. Give yourself 20 minutes, from start to finish, and you’ll find your own wonton nirvana. The boy and I killed them, absolutely killed them. In fact, I need to admit something, because this is a safe place, and I trust you not to judge me [too much]. I’m not proud, but okay, here it goes. I made these twice this week. Yes, it’s only Wednesday. Yes, that means I made them two nights in a row. They just disappeared so quickly!

…And then I may have made more this morning before work so I could take pictures, because there were none left from last night. It’s fine, they were totally just for pictures…

Crispy baked jalapeno cream cheese wontons triangle

…well, you know, most of them were just for pictures…

Crispy baked jalapeno cream cheese wontons open

…crunchy, melty, wonton pictures…

baked cream cheese wonton gone

…dang it.

   

11 Responses to “Baked Cream Cheese Jalapeño Wontons”

  1. Eileen — April 19, 2012 @ 10:18 am (#)

    Those sound great! And make as many as you want–what else are you going to do with 3/4 of a pack of wonton skins? I would totally make a big batch and freeze most of them for future wonton goodness.

    • Veggie — April 19, 2012 @ 10:29 am (#)

      Freezing them is a great idea! Now if only I had any left…looks like I’ll need to make yet another batch! :)

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  3. Liz — February 7, 2013 @ 2:48 pm (#)

    Did you end up freezing any of these? How did it work? Did you freeze them before or after baking?

    Can’t wait to try them this weekend! They look amazing

    • Veggie — February 7, 2013 @ 3:20 pm (#)

      I haven’t tried freezing them – they always get eaten too quickly :) I would guess they’d freeze well either before or after baking, but if you freeze them before baking I’d put the egg wash on right before they go in the oven.

  4. sruthi — February 8, 2013 @ 3:22 pm (#)

    oh YUM!!! They look a little bit like tortellini. Can’t wait to try it, perhaps with some mushrooms.

  5. becky (central or) — February 8, 2013 @ 3:30 pm (#)

    I just want to know if anyone would make only 10 of these at a time?

    Just looking at them is reason enoufgh to go for a dozen a person……

    • Veggie — February 8, 2013 @ 3:34 pm (#)

      haha, well I ended up making these two days in a row, so in hindsight I probably should have doubled (or tripled, or quadrupled) the recipe for simplicity’s sake. I was just too eager to get them in the oven!

  6. Elizabeth — February 10, 2013 @ 5:14 pm (#)

    These are great!! but i added cranberries sauce .. and then tried it with peaches :)

    • Veggie — February 10, 2013 @ 7:34 pm (#)

      Those sound delicious! :)

    • Janet Luxton — February 11, 2013 @ 9:05 am (#)

      That sounds divine with cranberry sauce – I have some homemade cranberry sauce in the frig and can’t wait to try that combination, would be good with brie cheese and cranberry too.