Jalapeño Wonton Poppers

We love the fall. A lot of things about it make us happy, but not much compares to tailgating for football games for us. We love our tailgating family! Today we're sharing a favorite tailgate food of ours! We found the idea for these here, but made a few small changes to kick 'em up a bit. Things you'll need: softened cream cheese (we use neufchatel), shredded cheddar, jalapeños, cooked (and crumbled) bacon, BBQ sauce  wonton wrappers, and oil for frying.

When I was pregnant with Isaac, he had a milk protein intolerance, so I cut out dairy for a while. Do you know how tough that is? There's dairy in so many unexpected things. I once bought beef bouillon cubes only to get home and realize that they had traces of dairy. I cried. I found that there are some really good dairy substitutes, though. This recipe was one of the things we took to a tailgate while I was dairy-free, made from those substitutes...and no one knew the difference! These days, we make them with dairy cheeses, but just know they are super easy to make dairy-free if needed! And you could leave out the bacon to make them vegetarian.

First you'll mix all your ingredients together. Add about a teaspoon of the filling to your wonton and a dab of BBQ sauce.

You want to be sure not to overfill your wontons. The one above was a little overfilled...but believe me, it did not stop us from using it!

Close the wontons like this. Try to get as much air out of them, and seal the edges with water. You don't want them to have any openings when you fry them.  Then you want to fry them in oil at 350°, turning as needed, until they are golden brown. It doesn't take long.

And then stick them in a container and take them to your tailgate! You could also freeze them at this point if needed, and then bake to re-heat.  While these are much better warm, they are pretty decent cold, too.

Ingredients:

1 package refrigerated square wonton wrappers (approximately) 

1 8-ounce package neufchatel cheese, softened

2-3 jalapeños, seeds and ribs removed, finely chopped

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

4-6 pieces bacon, cooked and crumbled

BBQ sauce to taste 

Instructions:

1. Heat oil to 350°,

2. Mix cheeses, bacon, and jalapeños.

3. Place about a teaspoon of the filling onto a wonton wrapper. 

4. Put a dab of your favorite BBQ sauce onto the mixture. 

5. Fold the wonton into a triangle and seal the edges with water. Try to remove any air bubbles.

6. Place in the oil and fry until golden brown on both sides, flipping as needed.