DIY Sweet Crab Rangoons

I loooove crab rangoons from my favorite Chinese restaurant, so when I found a book about cooking Chinese take-out, I had to try them! While I didn't follow the recipe in the book and kinda fudged my own, I'm gonna give thanks to Ms. Diana Khan who wrote "The Chinese Take-out Book" that inspired me.

1. Crab meat or imitation crab meat, about 6 oz.
2. Cream cheese, one 8 oz. package.
3. A tiny bit of green onion (like a 1/4 tsp diced)
4. Wonton wrappers, found in the fridge/freezer section, or at the Asian market.
5. Powdered or confectioners sugar
6. A bowl for mixing
7. A spoon to mix with
8. A knife
9. A cutting board
10. A pan for frying
11. Oil to fry with, your voice of type
12. Tongs or another implement to fish hot rangoons from the pan.
13. A plate with paper towels on it to put the hot rangoons on.

For a sweet crab Rangoon, I added about 3 teaspoons of powdered, or confectioners, sugar. I say 'about' because one of them was a little overly full.
Drop in your mix and stir together. Sugar to taste, so taste the mix between teaspoons. You may prefer less sweet or sweeter.

*Ok, I went back and added more sugar after frying some. Frying seemed to just suck the taste out, so I would probably triple the amount of sugar I used. I wanted a sweet crab Rangoon, so the mix needs to be very sweet to so it comes out of the oil still being sweet. The original mix may taste too sweet, but some of that will cook out.

Add in the green onion.

Take a wonton wrapper and lay it out in front of you. Dip about a teaspoon of filling onto the middle of the wrapper. With water, wet the edge of the wrapper all the way around, using your finger to spread it.

Take opposite corners of the wrapper and push the corners toward the center while pinching the corners in on themselves. Pinch them together in the middle, making sure the corners are closed. The other two corners will have moved automatically to the center, but you need to pinch them closed as well.

The photos really demonstrate this better.

Once the packet is sealed, and make sure it is, you are done.

I advise frying a couple just to see what they taste like before you fold the whole lot. Then you can know if you want to add anything else to the filling (like more sugar).

Fill a small pan with oil, enough oil to cover the wontons when dipped in the pan. I used probably about a cup and a half. Heat the oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and then put in a crab rangoon. With your tongs, put one single rangoon in the oil and fry it until it is golden brown (or something resembling golden brown. I find that is a color that never really happens). I highly recommend only doing the one by itself for the first go.

Take the rangoon out and place him on your plate that was lined with paper towels, so then he can drip excess oil off. After it has cooled, you can taste it and decide what you think needs changed to your filling (if anything).

Continue to fry the rangoons until they are all gone. I could fry mine in batches of threes, but you may be able to fry more or less depending on your pan size.

WARNING: If any filling leaks out of the rangoons, it will sizzle like mad! And, invariably, that will probably happen, but I wanted you to be aware of it.

And your crab rangoons are finished!

I think this would make about 50 rangoons. I didn't use the whole wonton package or the whole filling, but I probably made 30. I have to say "probably" because people started eating them before I was done cooking them ;)

I hope you enjoyed this recipe. Even if you don't necessarily like your rangoons like mine, maybe it can be a springboard for you to fix to your own liking.

Happy eating!