Pumpkin Spice Wontons

 It's that time of year again. And by that, I mean it's that time when pumpkins are in abundance! We're off to a belated start for October, but here's the first recipe to introduce the PUMPKIN flavor of the month!

Pumpkin Spice Wontons

This has got to be one of the easiest and quickest recipes I have done to date for Love Handling Food. I'm not big on frying foods, but hey, the taste of these eliminates my fried food guilt. And I do like a good treat around Halloween season.

I was inspired to make these after recently trying those fried cream cheese wontons you can get at Chinese restaurants (I know right...how have I never tried these before?!). My thought was that these would be very good as a sweeter dessert, so that's where the pumpkin pie filling came in handy.

Ingredients
6 oz cream cheese (softened)
8 oz pumpkin pie filling (I used plain pumpkin and spiced it myself, but it
             could be even more simple if you purchased already spiced filling)
Wonton wrappers
Canola oil (you can also use shortening, or any other oil you prefer to fry in)
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbs brown sugar
            *You can change up proportions, because these measurements make a
             lot of wontons! I didn't end up using the whole can of pumpkin pie
            filling, or the whole package of cream cheese

Instructions
This will seriously take about 10-15 minutes to make! First off, fill a small pot with about 2 inches of oil, and put on a high heat. Then, continue by mixing your softened cream cheese and pumpkin pie filling in a bowl until smooth. Next, mix in your spices, sugar and vanila. Once blended, you are now ready to create your wontons!

Put about a teaspoon sized amount of your filling in the middle of each wonton wrapper. After this, wet the edges of the wrapper with water, and press together. I made triangular shaped wontons, because I found it was much more difficult to fold into different shapes. Once you're done creating your wontons, simply put each one, one by one, into the hot oil. If the oil is hot enough, they should brown in just a couple of seconds. You can test if the oil is hot enough with a test wrapper, or with a candy thermometer (should be about 350 degrees). Have a drying tray with a paper towel ready to place the fried wontons. They're now ready to eat!

I found that they are complimented greatly by whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon. They were a hit with my friend Sarah (who made a yummy cashew tofu) and her family.

Happy pumpkin season!

Ianna