My Favourite White Cupcakes & Vanilla Butter Frosting

Finding my favourite white cupcake recipe was a hard task, but I was more than up for the challenge.  When my niece asked if I would make the cupcakes for her wedding, I was both honoured and excited.  I wanted to find a recipe that was delicious yet simple, especially with 12 dozen to bake.  It didn't take me long to find this recipe and I have since made it so many times, I'm pretty sure I could bake them in my sleep!

These are a few of Emily's wedding cupcakes.  They looked great in their cupcake stands and (thankfully, phew) got rave reviews.  I love the white pearls by Wilton and the small sprinkles (also Wilton) that I used to decorate them... they are not hard like the silver ones.  I wish I would have gotten some more shots of them in the completed stage, but it was that or blow dry my hair... vanity won.

Yesterday, I whipped up another batch to make into these yummy rainbow-coloured cupcakes to give as a gift and some for Chelsea, who has been asking for rainbow cupcakes since seeing them on 'Mike the Knight'.  Just looking at them makes me happy inside.

My Favourite White Cupcakes
Adapted from Curious Cupcakes / Makes 24 Cupcakes

4 lg egg whites
1 cup 2% milk
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
3 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup (12 tbsp) salted butter, room temperature

In a bowl (or 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup for easy pouring), combine egg whites, milk and vanilla, whisking lightly.  Set aside.  In stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, stir together cake flour (I measure all of my flour by filling the cup by spoon and then levelling off with a knife, my cake flour was pre-sifted, so I don't bother doing it again), sugar and baking powder.  Add in butter and mix on low until the flour settles down and then turn it up to about speed 3 and let run until butter is fully incorporated into the dry ingredients, about 2 minutes.  Return to low speed and mix in the liquid in 3 equal parts, mixing for about 20 seconds in between each addition.  After adding in the last of the liquid, put back up on speed 3 or so and let mix for another 20 seconds.  Spoon equally into 24 muffin tins (with liners) and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 18 minutes.

If desired, brush with simple syrup when the cupcakes are hot out of the oven.  I did this with Emily's cupcakes as I was terrified of serving dry cupcakes at her wedding, but these stay quite moist until at least the next day as is.  When in doubt, give them a brush.

Allow to cool fully and then frost.

Simple Syrup
1 cup water
1 cup white sugar

Stir together and bring to boil in small saucepan, making sure all sugar is dissolved.  Allow to cool and store in the fridge in a closed container (or bottle).  If kept in a closed bottle this will keep pretty much indefinitely and can be used for other baking, drinks or iced coffees.

Vanilla Butter Frosting

1 cup salted butter
4 cups icing sugar
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp coffee cream

To make the frosting, fit stand mixer with the paddle attachment and cream the butter well while you measure the other ingredients.  Add the vanilla, cream and icing sugar and turn on the lowest speed or you'll be in a shower of icing sugar.  Once the sugar starts to combine, turn the speed up gradually until you reach about mid-speed.  Allow to continue beating 4-5 minutes, or until light and fluffy.

I love frosting cupcakes with the Wilton 1M tip, it's so pretty and so quick.  The colour that you see in the frosting of the rainbow cupcakes is some Wilton purple edible glitter...   If you have any frosting left, it freezes well and it can be stored in the fridge for a week or two, just give it a quick beat in the mixer to lighten it back up.  If you are making a large batch, it works out to a pound of butter, a 1kg bag of icing sugar, 2 tbsp cream and 2 tbsp vanilla.

To make the rainbow (or tie-dye) cupcakes, simply separate the batter into as many bowls as you wish, dye the batters and spoon them individually into the cupcake liners.   While I used a ton of Wilton products, this is not a sponsored post.  However, should anyone from Wilton like to fix me up with some cool products to try, I would love it (hint, hint)!

Enjoy!  Cheers to a happy and healthy 2012!
~Heather

December Daring Baker's Challenge - Letting Nature Do The Work...Sourdough

Our Daring Bakers host for December 2011 was Jessica of My Recipe Project and she showed us how fun it is to create sourdough bread in our own kitchens! She provided us with sourdough recipes from Bread Matters by Andrew Whitley as well as delicious recipes to use our sourdough bread in from Tonia George’s Things on Toast and Canteen’s Great British Food!

I tried to create a sourdough starter a few years back and it was a total flop.  It was even a cheater starter that got pumped up with a bit of yeast.  I had been meaning to start another one since then and never got around to it, so I was happy to see that this month's challenge was sourdough...  if not a bit intimidated.  Surprisingly, while I am writing this post at the last possible minute, due to the Christmas hustle, I actually had my challenge completed early in the month!

The starter that I am going to share with you was a total success!  As you can see in my photo above, my rustic French Country loaf, which was a half white, half whole wheat artisan loaf has excellent big ol' bubbles.  After two attempts with the recipe given for the loaf in the challenge, I moved on to other sourdough recipes to find one I liked better.  My starter (named Carlisle, because I guess naming your starter is the cool thing to do) morphed into a 100% hydration starter (if you asked me before this month what that meant, I would have had no idea).   That being said, I'm not going to share the bread recipe itself as I just found it too wet to work with (but it was pretty tasty and had that great chew to the crust).

While I planned on keeping Carlisle in my life for ever and ever, like many of the plants that have been in my house, he too was neglected and ended up in the compost bin.  After the Christmas clutter is packed away for another year, I'm going to make another starter... because I found some terrific sourdough recipes, which I'll share soon.

Wheat Sourdough Starter
Adapted from Bread Matters

Day 1
40g (1.5 oz) whole wheat bread flour
45ml (3 tbsp) water

In a Tupperware of plastic container with a cover (a 4-cup container is perfect), stir flour and water together well.  Cover and let sit in a warm place (it doesn't need to be super warm, my spot is only 20-21 degrees Celsius and I didn't have any problems.

Day 2
Starter from day before
40g (1.5 oz) whole wheat bread flour
45ml (3 tbsp) water

Beat the new flour and water into yesterdays mixture, cover and put back in it's warm spot.

Day 3
Repeat day 2 (this is where I started to vary a bit from original recipe, but I had great success, so I'm sharing my way)

Day 4
Starter from day 3
120g (4.5 oz) all-purpose flour
100ml (1/2 cup less 4 tsp) water

Day 5
Your starter should be established.  If it is not bubbly and yeasty smelling, repeat day 4 (I did, because I needed an extra day)

Day 6
Your starter should be really established!  You can use it in any recipe calling for wheat sourdough starter (or leaven).  If you aren't ready to bake with it yet, you can scoop out a cup or so, discard it (or give it to a willing friend) and refresh the starter with 50g each of water and all-purpose flour.  By feeding it with this ratio, it will turn into a 100% hydration starter, which seems to be the most commonly used.

If you plan on using your starter frequently (aka daily) you can leave it out on the counter, but you will need to use/refreshen it every day.  If you will be baking infrequently, you can store the starter in the fridge, feeding/using once a week or so.

As the second part of this month's challenge, we had to use our sourdough loaves in a traditional recipe.  I used my second French Country loaf to make a variation of the Pioneer Woman's Bread Pudding.  My husband had not had bread pudding before and he absolutely loved it!  I found it way too sweet (but I did substitute half of the sugar for brown sugar, which would have only made it taste even sweeter), and too wheaty with this loaf of bread (again, due to my adaptation to her posted recipe).  I normally enjoy bread pudding, so I can't wait to try her recipe again with a different loaf because it is so darn simple.

So while I am still nowhere near being an expert on sourdough, I did finally create a starter of my very own and if all goes well, will find the perfect loaf of bread to make with it.  In the meantime, stay tuned for more yummy things to do with all of the sourdough starter you will have hanging around.

Enjoy!

Nuts & Bolts

This is probably the oldest recipe I have printed out in my recipe binder.  I swear, it may have been printed with a dot matrix printer and I can tell I typed it up in Word or something as it has a pretty spiffy Word Art title.  I know one of my sisters makes this a lot, but I'm not sure (yet) if this one started as her recipe or where it came from originally.  Regardless, it's basic, not too zippy, makes a ton and tastes fabulous.

Because this recipe is huge, it's great for gift giving and to have on hand over the holidays.  It keeps well as long as it's sealed airtight, and I can remember my sister freezing it in plastic ice cream containers as well.  Here is my version of the popular snack mix that goes by a million names...

My Nuts & Bolts

1 box (the smaller 300g ish size) Cheerios

1 box (or an equal amount to Cheerios) Life Cereal (the original recipe uses Shreddies, but I love the tiny hint of sweetness and the lightness of the Life Cereal)

2 cups barbecue peanuts

2 cups pretzels

2 cups cheese stick crackers

1 cup butter

2 tbsp seasoned salt

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (when I was vegetarian I left this out and didn't actually notice a difference... so I'll leave that up to you)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  In a large roaster, combine cereals, nuts, crackers and pretzels.  In microwave (or on stove) melt butter and mix in spices and Worcestershire.  Pour over dry ingredients and stir gently to mix thoroughly.  Bake at 250 degrees for 90 minutes, tossing it with spoon every 20 minutes or so.

As you can see, this is a great recipe to make with the kids.  Chelsea loved being able to dump out whole boxes of cereal without getting in trouble!  She even nibbles on some of it too surprisingly (if you are a new reader, she is one of the most picky children ever born).  

Munch on some, bag some up for gifts, munch on some more and then hide it for another day.

I adore these snack mixes and if you want to share with me your favourite version, I'd love to hear!

I'm pretty sure this will be my last post prior to Christmas as I have a pretty under the weather family right now and I'm trying my hardest to nurse them back to health before my eldest niece's wedding on Friday... a lot of great times and new memories will happen this weekend for sure.  I hope you all have a great holiday, whichever one you may celebrate, and I want to wish my family a very Merry Christmas!  I'll be back before New Year's Eve though, I promise.

Christmas Bis-shorti (aka Biscotti)

When I opted in to yet another cookie exchange (on the same weekend as the other one), I knew I wanted to make another biscotti, but one that was classic Christmas.  After looking through oodles of recipes, I decided on this one from Allrecipes, but with a few changes.  One of the things I noticed right away about this recipe was the addition of butter, an ingredient not found in most biscotti recipes.

With the addition of butter, I was wondering how the texture would be.  When they were just fresh out of the oven and cooling, they were really crispy like a classic biscotti.  When they were completely cool though, the butter set in and moistened them somewhat... it was like a biscotti and a Christmas shortbread hybrid.  Interesting.  These are absolutely delicious, with hints of various holiday flavours... but not 100% biscotti, even though they look like it.  This is why I dubbed them 'Bis-shorti' (pronounced biz-shawty, 50 cent style).

My Christmas Bis-shorti 

Inspired by Allrecipes

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp orange (I used clementine) zest

2 tbsp Cointreau

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped fine

1/4 cup cocoa nibs, chopped rough

1/2 cup toasted almonds, chopped

Semi-sweet chocolate chips, for drizzling, approximately 1/2 a cup.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or old school with a big bowl and a wooden spoon), cream butter until light and fluffy.  Add in sugar and continue to beat on medium until well creamed.  Add in eggs one at a time, beating in between eggs.  Add in Cointreau and vanilla.  In another bowl, stir (no need to sift) together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves.   Add in all in once and continue beating on medium-low until it comes together into a soft dough.  Add in the cranberries, nibs and almonds and mix in on lowest speed.  

Form dough (it is soft, so do your best) into two logs about 10 inches long and about 2 inches wide (and about 3 inches apart, but these do not really spread much at all).  Flatten the tops somewhat and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and reduce heat to 300 degrees.  Move the logs to a cutting board and allow to cool for 10 -15 minutes.  Slice into 1/2 inch slices and bake, cut side down, for 15 minutes, flip and cook on other side for an additional 15 minutes.  

Allow to cool and then melt semi-sweet chocolate on top of a double boiler or carefully in the microwave (I don't have much luck that way).  Spoon the melted chocolate into a small freezer bag and snip a very small bit off of one bottom corner.  Drizzle chocolate over cooled biscotti.  These will keep in an air-tight tin for a couple of weeks (not with us around), and do freeze very well (I just ate the 2 that I test-froze, yum!).

Enjoy!

Christmas Lights & Equal Rights ~ #CBias #EqualCanada @McD_Canada

Our little girl is now 2 1/2 and is finally starting to 'get' Christmas... which is so exciting! That being said, there are so many new opportunities to keep her busy and entertained.  Tonight, it was a car drive to see some Christmas Lights and a trip to McDonald's PlayPlace, since I had received a great opportunity from Collective Bias to go and see if my local McDonald's offered Equal sweetener to their customers (and Mommy needed a coffee fix).

We enjoy going to the McDonald's in Tantallon, not just because it is the closest, but because it is one of the few McDonald's left in our area that has a PlayPlace.  While I am all for change, I miss the 'old school' McDonalds, with the bright colours and fun atmosphere.  

One of the first visible signs coming up to the door at our local McDonald's is the McCafe poster.  I've tried and reviewed some of the new McCafe espresso-based drinks before, and while I haven't loved all of them, their brewed coffee is miles ahead of what it used to be and is better than some other places that mainly serve coffee.

We weren't getting meals tonight, but I'll have to get back to get one of the Hello Kitty toys... and maybe I'll get our daughter one too ;)

My husband and daughter shared a Rolo McFlurry and I grabbed a medium coffee.  We had eaten dinner not too long before, and while I was planning on just having coffee, I had a weak moment and grabbed a small fries too... even though the atmosphere has changed, McDonald's fries still take me back in time whenever I eat them.  They are always so yummy.  When I ordered my coffee, I was asked what I would like in it.  I told the girl (who by the way, was soooo cheerful, polite and 'unbored' looking, a wonderful change!) that I would take milk and an Equal.  She let me know that they only have another brand of sweetener.  I like my after dinner coffees sweet, and I don't like adding extra sugar to my coffee (c'mon, you see the things I bake, I have to cut down wherever I can!) so I had to accept the other brand. 

I noticed some of the new seasonal treats once we sat down... there is always next time :P

The PlayPlace in this McDonald's is really cool, always clean, and the structure is really high.  Luckily our daughter can't really climb up into it that far yet, so I haven't had any freak out moments.  I know she is going to love scaring me in it over the next few years.

Hubby and I took turns going into the PlayPlace with her, even though I love how you can sit right outside of it and look in while you are eating.  She loves to show us all the cool things she can do though, so we alternate snacking and playing.  It's pretty nice to be wanted and I know soon enough she won't want us hanging around at all in public.   Then, she spotted Daddy's ice cream...

We finished up our treats, took a last run around the PlayPlace, bundled up and went on a drive to see "More Cwissmiss Wites!"

When we got home, I filled out the online comment card (the greener option) and wrote how I would like to have more sweetener options and hoped they would provide Equal as an option for consumers like myself.  I also gave Kudos to the pleasant girl who took our order, although the time spent waiting for such a small order was a bit of a change from what I'm used to at McDonald's.

  

I really hope that McDonald's will see that it would be better for business to offer a wider selection of sweetener choices, including Equal, at all of their locations.

For more information about Equal, visit their website or connect via Twitter or their Facebook Page.  McDonald's is also on Twitter.

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.  #CBias, all opinions though, are my own - as always.

Creamy Mushroom Tart

I LOVE mushrooms!  It's one of those foods that people either love or hate.  If you fall into the latter category, click here, there is nothing in this post for you.  If you are a mushroom lover like me, you have to try this recipe at least once over the holidays.  A big thanks to my sister Sue for being my idea bouncing board and eager guinea pig for this recipe.

This recipe was inspired by the mushroom roll ups that I grew up enjoying on special occasions.  You know the ones, with the creamy mushroom spread rolled up into flattened sandwich loaf slices and then baked.  I adore them, but I wanted a bit more pizazz,  I wanted to make it easier as well.  Rolling and trimming crusts off of a loaf of bread is a bit too tedious for me this time of year.  So, I swapped bread for frozen puff pastry, added some zing (and bacon) to the filling and ended up with the most scrumptious mushroom tart I have ever eaten.

My Creamy Mushroom Tart

Makes 16 App-Sized Wedges

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

2 slices bacon, chopped

2 tbsp minced red (or yellow) onion

1 clove garlic, minced

4 oz cremini or mini bella mushrooms, cleaned and rough chopped, have another 1 or 2 extra for garnish, thinly sliced.

1 tsp dry herbes de Provence

2 tbsp dry white wine

1/2 cup (half of a small tub) of light cream cheese

1/2 tsp each of salt and black pepper

1/3 cup shredded Mozzarella or Provolone cheese

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Roll out puff pastry to fit a small tart pan, either round, rectangle, or simply free-form on a parchment lined baking sheet.  (If doing free-form, using a sharp paring knife, cut a border about half of the way through the dough about 1/3 of an inch from the edge.  This outside edge will puff more and give you an outer crust)  Place pan in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.

To make the filling, cook the chopped bacon, onion, garlic, chopped mushrooms and herbes de Provence over medium heat until the bacon is cooked and the mushrooms have released most of their liquids.  Add the wine and continue to cook until the liquid is mostly evaporated.  Remove from heat and stir in the cream cheese until smooth, also adding the salt and pepper.  Mix in the shredded cheese and then bring the tart pastry out of the fridge and spoon the filling into it.  Using the reserved sliced mushrooms, decorate as desired.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the puff pastry is golden brown and the tart filling is also browning.  Serve as small wedges for party apps or cut into four and serve with a salad for a decadent holiday brunch.

You could easily prepare the filling ahead of time and store in the fridge along with some thawed puff pastry to have fresh, super-quick and unforgettable snacks for pop-in guests.

Enjoy!

Approximate nutritional values, based on recipe calculator on Sparkpeople.com.  Per serving (1/16th of recipe) 120 calories, 8.3g fat (2.3g saturated), 7.8g carb (0g fiber), 3.6g protein, this will vary based on your specific ingredients.

Red Velvet Crackles

Santa wants you all to know that this is his new favourite cookie.  Luckily they are a cinch to make, so when Christmas Eve comes around and you have 101 things to do, the kids can help make these festive cookies and they can be on Santa's plate in 20 minutes tops, include only 4 ingredients and minimal clean-up.  Yes, yes and yes.

I haven't had a cake mix in the cupboard for years.  One of the items in my President's Choice holiday goodie box was their PC Red Velvet Cake Mix.  I really wanted to test it, but wasn't in the mood for cake or cupcakes, then I remembered making cake mix cookies back in the day.  Up until now, I don't think you could buy a red velvet cake mix in this part of Canada, so hopefully these will become a new holiday favourite.  I had read mixed reviews of the mix on the PC website, but as a cookie, I have no complaints with taste or colour.  These cookies look like a gingersnap, but don't be fooled, they are a soft, chewy cookie with crispy, sugary edges.

My Red Velvet Crackles

Makes 2-3 dozen cookies

1 box of Red Velvet Cake Mix

2 eggs, large

1/3 cup oil (I used corn oil)

Sugar for rolling

Mix the cake mix, eggs and oil in a large bowl with a spoon.  That's it folks.  Roll into balls, mine were on the large size, just a bit smaller than a Timbit.  Roll in sugar and place on cookie sheet, leaving room between the balls, they will flatten.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes (my large ones took the full 12 minutes).  Transfer cookies to cooling rack and store in an airtight container.  While I haven't froze any from this batch, they do freeze wonderfully.

You might want to remind Santa that his tongue will be red after eating some of these cookies ;)

Enjoy!

I received free product to test to be able to provide review, but my opinions, as always, are just that...  mine.

The 12 Days of Christmas Treats & More News

My Chocolate Snowball Cookies are going to be featured today on Mommy Made from Scratch's 12 Days of Christmas Treats!

I really hope you will visit Heidi's blog and see all of the goodies she is featuring this year... I'm only day 2, so check back in the days ahead for more.  Yesterday, Heidi featured her Great Aunt Helen's Peanut Brittle, and it is on my 'must make' list.  Yummo! 

In other news, I'm happy to say that I have finally been accepted into the BlogHer Publishing Network and am loving the experience so far.  I also am now 'Certified Yummly' and had one of my recipes featured in an article on their blog this week.

I am so excited to see my 'baby blog' growing up.  I thank you all for reading and also my family who keeps eating (and waits until I take photographs to start).

Cheers!

Heather
xox

Donairs ~ A Halifax Classic!

If you've been to Halifax, or know someone from here, you've probably heard of a donair or have had one forced upon you in a drunken late-night feast.  While the origins of the donair are not 100% clear, popular legend states that King of Donair sold the first donair as we know it in 1973 after failing to win us Haligonians over with the traditional Greek gyro or the Middle Eastern doner kebab.  Since yours truly was born a year later, I am relieved to say that I have never know life sans donair... phew!

After years of fiddling, I have come up with the recipe I like best, including the easiest donair sauce ever!  If you like a bit more heat, up the cayenne, but try it as is first and then adjust to your liking.  The key to making donairs at home is the grinding.  If the meat isn't ground together enough, you will end up with meatloaf.  A delicious meatloaf, but that's not what you want.  Also, as good as your house smells when its cooking, you have to try to let it cool and set in fridge to get the nice thin slices you want.  Hard, I know.

My Donairs & Donair Sauce

Makes 3 lbs of meat and enough sauce for that much... how many it'll feed depends on how long since it's been since they had their last donair...

3 to 3.5 pounds lean ground beef

2 tsp flour (all-purpose or whole wheat)

2 tsp dried oregano

1.5 tsp cayenne pepper

4 tsp paprika (not smoked)

2 tsp onion powder

4 tsp garlic powder

1.5 tsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

For the sauce:

1 can (300ml) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)

1/3 cup white vinegar

1 tsp garlic powder

Pita bread, diced tomatoes, diced onion and shredded mozzarella (optional) for putting the donairs together... and lots of napkins.

To make the meat, mix all ingredients together in a food processor.  Process until it comes together into a ball, and then a bit more.  You might have to do this in two batches, depending on the size of your processor.  You can do this by hand too, and is great if you are stressed out... grind and grind and grind the meat, throwing it down on the counter... basically beating the crap out of it.  Form into a log shape and put on a cooling rack on a foil-covered baking pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for 2 hours.  Allow to cool completely, and preferably refrigerate before slicing.  

For the sauce, mix the three ingredients together, don't worry, it will come together.  Once it does, it will never separate... another benefit of this recipe.  It is also very thick and will thicken up even more once refrigerated.

To assemble a donair, warm a pita bread by slightly dampening it's surface with water and laying it in a hot frying pan... letting it go about 30 seconds on each side.  Thinly slice donair meat and quickly fry it in the same hot pan, either to simply heat or to crisp it... a personal preference.  Lay the cooked meat on the softened pita, top with a generous spoon of sauce, diced tomatoes and onions.  Roll it up if you can, or wrap it in foil to keep it together.  

Donair meat & sauce also make delicious pizza toppings... add the onions and tomatoes when it comes out of the oven and serve with extra sauce for dipping.

Like most of life's best offerings, you might feel like you need a shower after a feed of good donairs ;)

Enjoy!

Super-Stuffed Pork Wontons

December is here!  I've tested so many Christmas cookies so far this year that my taste buds have already moved on to the New Year's Eve party foods.  I had a pound of frozen ground pork that I was looking to use and decided on making some wontons.  I LOVE wonton soup, it was one of the foods I missed most when I was vegetarian.  I especially love it how the local Chinese Canadian restaurants serve it, with wontons, scallions, bok choy and sliced Chinese barbecue pork (char siu) in the yummiest broth (which I have no idea what it is made from and probably don't want to).  Of course, when I was at the market getting ingredients I couldn't even get bok choy, so I decided on doing a test run with a simple broth, wonton and green onion version.  Of course, some were going to end up deep fried as well...

I break out my deep fryer about twice a year.  While I'd love to brag that it's for health reasons, it's not.  I hate the smell.  So when it comes out, I fill it up with new oil, fry as much as I can in a 1 to 2 day span, then clean it out really well, put it away and air out the house.  Having to do so much work each time keeps me from frying up spur of the moment doughnuts though, which is a good thing for my wardrobe :)  

These wontons came out more stuffed than I am used to, but I liked them even better that way!  They are also a bit more compact because of the way I folded them, so you can fit more in the pot or the fryer at once... also a good thing.  These freeze incredibly well and are a speedy snack for drop in guests over the holidays, as long as your deep-fryer is more accessible than mine.

My Super-Stuffed Pork Wontons

Makes approximately 50

1 lb ground pork

4 green onions

1 clove garlic

1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger

1 tsp Chinese 5-Spice powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 pkg Wonton Wrappers (approx 50)

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup water

To make the wontons, combine the pork, onions, seasonings and soy sauce in a food processor.  Let process until the onions are well chopped and the pork is very well ground (it should be almost paste-like).  

To make the wontons, take a wonton wrapper (cover the rest with a damp kitchen towel if not working quickly, so they don't dry out), and put a tsp (I use a regular eating spoon for this, so it is actually more than a teaspoon... if you like more authentic looking wontons, use a measured teaspoon, but you will need another package of wrappers) in the middle of the wrapper.  In a small bowl or cup, mix the water and cornstarch, and with your finger (or a small brush) dip in the cornstarch slurry and run it along 2 edges of the wrapper (like the letter L).  Fold the wrapper in half, making sure that air is not trapped inside with the meat (air will make them more likely to burst if deep fried) and push the edges together firmly.  As shown in the collage above, fold one corner of the triangle over and then the other, forming something that looks like an open envelope... with a slurry-dampened finger, push the edges down so that they don't unfold.  That's it!  Now do this 50 or 100 more times.  

If you want to freeze the wontons at this point, just lay them on a baking sheet and put in the freezer for half an hour or so and then move them into a sealed freezer bag until ready to use.  

To cook in soup, cook from fresh or frozen and drop into simmering chicken (or your choice) broth and let cook until they float and the filling is cooked (about 5 minutes at the most).  

To deep fry, fry at 365 degrees, up to 2 1/2 minutes from fresh or up to 3 1/2 minutes from frozen.  Serve with sweet & sour sauce, plum sauce or sweet chili sauce.  

Enjoy!