Green Chile Wontons

Can you guess what that is? If you guessed wontons then you are correct. And if you read the title of this post then props to you. And yes it says Green Chile. Living in the Southwest we have this little obsession with Chile. You know how most states have a state bird, state flower and that sort of thing? Well ours has a question...Red or Green? (Um, that question is in reference to the type of Chile, red or green). Yes Chile is that big a deal here in the grand state of New Mexico and yes that question causes fights and arguments bigger than the Grand Canyon.

And if you live in New Mexico those little diddies above are something that you can get just about anywhere that serves Chinese. I know weird huh? But it is what it is.

So you know, this recipe is super easy and rather quick. How do you make them you ask? Well here ya go.

Green Chile Wontons

1 8oz. Package Cream Cheese at room temperature

2 oz. Canned Green Chile (Whatever you can get your hands on. You can also use fresh)

1 Garlic clove, minced

1/4 tsp. Kosher Salt

Wonton Wrappers

Oil for frying

Small bowl of water

In a large stock pot heat approximately enough oil to fill the pan about 2/3 full over medium heat. While the oil is heating combine the cream cheese, green Chile, garlic and salt in a medium bowl. Once you have your mixture take a wonton wrapper and place about 1 tablespoon of the mixture in the middle. Then dipping your finger in the water, run you wet finger around the edges of the wonton wrapper and fold the wrapper in any shape you like. Then just press the edges together to make sure they seal. (That's what the water is for). Then place them on a sheet pan that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. In order to keep your wontons from drying out the best thing to do would be to cover them with a slightly damp towel. Place that wonton aside and keep assembling wontons until all the mixture is gone. Once the oil is hot enough, you can test this by placing in a small corner of a wonton wrapper in the oil. If the oil bubbles and the wrapper rises then the oil is ready, if it sinks and doesn't bubble, let your oil heat longer. When the oil is ready begin placing wontons in the oil, but you don't want to fry them all at once. I would start with anywhere between 5 and 6 depending on the size of your pan. Fry them on one side for about 2 minutes or until golden brown and then flip over in order to brown the other side. Once the entire wonton is golden brown remove from the oil and place on a paper towel to help remove the excess oil. 

Now you can serve them with you favorite dipping sauce or just eat them as is. Trust me they don't need a sauce.

My Search for Yellow Cake Perfection

My love and obsession with cupcakes is no secret. Hence the reason my recipe list is full of cupcake recipe after cupcake recipe. But I also have another obsession, okay, quite a few actually, but right now we are only going to talk about one of them.....my obsession for the perfect yellow cake recipe. 

Currently when I make any cupcake that requires any batter other than chocolate I use a cake mix, *gasp* I know. But my use of cake mixes has spurred me to try and create the perfect yellow cake recipe. And this is where my obsession comes in. I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to food. And I don't like to use recipes, I like to create them, but until I can create a recipe that I think is perfect, or pretty darn close I become obsessed. Such is the case with my search for the perfect yellow cake.

If you are a baker then you may know that finding a good yellow cake recipe is hard. Well at least for me it was. I tried many recipes before I really enjoyed baking and never found a recipe that I liked. They all seemed dry and severely lacking. So I resolved myself to using the always easy cake mix, but that get's expensive and then I feel like I'm cheating. Well sometimes. Now I know there is nothing wrong with using a cake mix, believe me, I love them, but I still want to create that perfection.

Of course in my search for perfection I have had my fair share of fails. And boy do I mean fails. I am now on version 7 of the recipe. With every attempt altering one ingredient at a time, so that I know which ingredient needed to be changed. 

I am happy to report that on my last attempt I came pretty dang close. The taste is there, but the cake is a little dense for my liking. So now on to attempt number 8. Yikes! 

Want to know a few things I have learned through this process? (Well I'm going to tell you anyway)

1) Creating a yellow cake recipe is harder then creating a chocolate cake recipe. (That recipe came to me while I was sitting in a boring lecture)

2) I am wwwaaaaaayyyyy obsessive

and 3) This yellow cake might be the death of me

What is it that you obsess over? 

Slacker

Wow! It has been a really long time since I have posted anything here. I am so sorry! But things have been kind of crazy as of late. In the span of a month I got a job, had to find a new place to live and had to relocate my family of seven to a new city. So needless to say I have been busy. I haven't even done much cooking with all this mess. But I do promise that I have some recipes in the works that will be coming your way. Once I get my kitchen settled and my life back in order that is. But it shouldn't be too long now.

Sorry for not being around too much, but thanks for all the support and sticking around.