I haven’t mentioned it for what feels like forever but remember how I used to work in a Chinese restaurant? I did. For three and a half years – all through high school and then the summer afterwards til I left for college. That was a bittersweet day. On to bigger and better things but oh how I would miss the abundance of (mostly free) freshly made Chinese food in my life. I worked a lot in high school. At least, a lot for a high school student ya know? I usually worked the dinner shift 3-4 times during the week and then pulled a double (lunch and dinner) on Saturdays. I worked through many many holidays too and even though I do love Chinese, it’s just not exactly what I’m craving on Thanksgiving if you know what I mean. But the moral of the story: I was at the restaurant a lot. And that means that I ate a lot of Chinese food for three and a half years. Cream cheese wontons were a nearly-daily staple in my life. Deep-fried of course. These days I try to limit the amount of deep-fried foods I consume – even though, let’s be honest, deep-fried food is pretty darn delicious. But not so great for the health so, like I said, I tryyyy to keep it under control. And that’s difficult because you guys… I LOVE french fries. And onion rings. And carnival corn dogs! And cream cheese wontons. So I don’t cut any of these things out of my life, I’m just… choosey. I don’t have fries every single time I go out to eat. Instead I have them maybe 30 percent of the time. The other times I try to have a salad or something less-deep-fried-in-oil-ish. But I’ve found that creating baked versions of my favorite fried foods brings me hoards of satisfaction, and not just because I’m heeding a constant craving (which I am) but also because I am weird and totally get a kick out of making unhealthy things that I love somewhat healthier and less dangerous to my arteries. I love it. I do it probably way too often (don’t believe me? check out this collection of 22 baked-not-fried foods I’ve made and shared right here on CDLC) but whatever, I enjoy it. I enjoy making the food and you bettah believe I enjoy eating it. These baked cream cheese wontons (or rangoon as many people call them) are my newest, latest and greatest baked-not-fried creation and I am crazy about them. Crispy little pillows of cream cheesy wonderfulness smothered in sweet and sour sauce happening right in your mouth. You can use store-bought sweet and sour sauce for these (I totally get it, I have those weeks too) BUT if you want to (and you really do folks, you want to) you can make my very favorite and extremely simple homemade sweet and sour sauce, which I’ve provided the recipe for below. Now grab yourself the FOUR ingredients you need to make these little puppies and get cookin!
