Baked Wonton Cups

Crunchy wontons, normally deep fried, is one of my favorite snacks. But as I grow a little bit older (along with my expanding waistline), I tend to stay away from deep-fried food. So I attempted to make this no-fry version of pork and shrimp wontons, simply by baking them in the oven.  The result is delicious, crunchy and satisfying goodness that got quite raving reviews from hundreds of people (OK, just my husband and 2 kids..., but they're tough critics!). Serve with condiments of your choice, such as plum sauce, Chinese sweet and sour sauce, Sriracha hot sauce (my fave) or even ginger soy chicken broth to serve as soup.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb ground pork loin
• 3 oz peeled shrimp, finely chopped
• 1 oz dried ear mushrooms, soaked in boiling water until soft, then slice thinly
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 1 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 2 tbsp chopped green onions
• 24 wonton wrappers

Directions:

• In a large bowl, combine pork, shrimp, mushrooms, starch, ginger, salt and pepper. Blend well and set aside.
• Preheat oven to 350 degree. Press wonton wrappers onto greased mini muffin cups, pleating each to form a small cup. Spoon 1 teaspoon of pork and shrimp filling into each wonton cup (make sure you don't put too much filling into the cups. Wrappers bake quickly and we don't want to end up with undercooked filling or burnt wrappers). Sprinkle a little bit of green onion on the tops.
• Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the filling is done and the wrappers turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool down on the rack before serving.