Olla-Podrida: Chef-in-Training blog

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Baked Cream Cheese Rangoons

If you have never had the pleasure of perusing the Chef-in-Training blog, then you need to hop right over and have a look because today’s recipe is from her. Her recipes are always delicious, beautifully photographed, and perfectly doable, even this one (that I thought looked a bit trickier than it actually was). You need to see her photos though, because not only does she show you the beautiful exterior of these delicious little snacks, but also the creamy interior. It never occurred to me to take a photo of the inside, and even if it had, most of them would have been noshed down before I ever had the chance to whip out the camera.

Because I was just making this for Mr. O-P and me, I cut the recipe in half. It still made 16. Not to worry, we ate them all. I cut all of the ingredients in half, with the exception of the minced garlic, and I added some finely minced, fresh parsley.

We dipped ours into Peach-Pepper Preserves in lieu of sweet and sour sauce, and then into hot mustard. Delicious!

Baked Cream Cheese Rangoons

1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

⅛ teaspoon minced garlic

⅛ teaspoon salt

1 Tbsp. chopped green onion

1 egg

24 Melissa’s wonton wrappers

Preheat oven to 400º F.

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, garlic, salt, and green onion together with a hand mixer until thoroughly combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg until well beaten.

Place one teaspoon of cream cheese mixture into the center of one wonton wrapper. (There is the temptation to use a bit more, but tread carefully lest they pop open and turn into miniature cream cheese volcanoes.)

Dip your finger into the beaten egg and lightly coat the outer edges of the wonton wrapper.

Bring all the corners of the wonton together up to the center and pinch. Pinch all the sides together to form an “X” or star appearance. (I tried this a couple of different ways, first gathering all corners to the middle at once and pinching, and then trying to match up opposite corners, and pinching. It really made no difference; it worked just as well both ways.)

Place on a greased, or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Lightly spray the tops of the wontons with cooking spray, and bake for 7-12 minutes or until tops are golden brown in color.

These do not keep, so be prepared to eat them all in one sitting. You can do it!

This post is linked to:

Munching Mondays
Busy Mondays
Brag About It
Create Link Inspire
Tickle my Tastebuds
Two Cup Tuesday
Tasty Tuesday
Olives-n-Okra
Share Your Creativity

Foodie Friday & Everything Else

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Oatmeal Cake

Remember when you were a little kid, and you went to elementary school for the first time? The building looked tremendously huge, the halls as wide as a football field, the teachers freakishly tall. And then, when you got older and revisited that school it looked rather small and underwhelming. I'm having similar feelings about this cake.

I found the recipe on the wonderful Chef-in-Training blog, and was immediately transported back to my youth and my mother baking an oatmeal cake. I would watch that coconut-and-pecan-laden top bubble up and brown under the broiler, and could not wait for it to cool off enough for me to pop a small bit into my mouth. Crunchy and chewy, and warm from the oven, it was 6-year-old bliss. But times change, tastes change, buildings crumble, teachers get smaller, and cakes don't seem quite as luscious as they once did. Don't get me wrong, this is a good cake. It is moist and dense, and topped with a delicious, chewy, coconut and pecan topping that I could easily eat all by itself. In fact, the next time I make it (and I will), I may just double this topping. The recipe called for a 9” x 13” pan, but I used a 10” x 10” as I always do in such cases; the cake would have been way too thin, the topping far too sparse for this to be as good as it was. But it didn't quite transport me back to my youth as I had hoped it would. Personally, I think this cake is just dynamite with a cup of coffee at breakfast. It is not exceptionally sweet, so makes the perfect breakfast treat. As for dessert after dinner, well, I'm still searching for that one. Oh, how I miss my momma!

Oatmeal Cake

CAKE

1¼ cups water

½ cup butter

1 cup quick oats

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1⅓ cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1½ teaspoon cinnamon

TOPPING

6 Tablespoons butter, softened

½ cup sugar

¼ cup evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cup shredded sweetened coconut

1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Spray a 9x13-inch baking pan (or a 10x10-inch, as I did) with cooking spray and set aside.

In small saucepan, bring water and butter to a boil. Once boiling is reached, carefully pour mixture into a large mixing bowl; add oats and let cool for 3 minutes. Into the partially cooled mixture, beat in sugar, brown sugar, and eggs until well blended. Add flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and mix until combined. Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 30 minutes.

While baking, make the topping. Cream butter and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl. Add evaporated milk, vanilla, coconut, and nuts, and mix until well combined. After cake has baked, spread topping quickly, but carefully over the top of the hot cake, spreading to the edges and into the corners. Place under a broiler for about 2-3* minutes until golden brown. Watch constantly so as not to burn.

*This took me closer to 4-5 minutes. It really all depends upon just how close the cake is to the source of heat, so do watch it carefully, but do not underbroil.