Cranberry Chipotle Wonton Cups

Thanksgiving is almost here and if you are like me, there are always last minute things to do. This year is a quiet one for us but I still like to try new things. Of course we love all our favorites but it is always fun to try something new. Since it is the day before, I wanted to try a simple appetizer that was quick and delicious and pretty. Something your friends and family might think you spent a lot of time on-but you don’t want to give away the secrets now, do you? And I always seem to have leftover pumpkin or cranberries, so this year I’m sharing some new favorites that I quickly invented.

I love wonton wrappers. Yes, you can make dumplings or wontons, but you can also make these cute little cups. And they are fast and easy. OK, you need to own some of those mini muffin tins, but I promise that if you have them, you will use them. Give these a try, you won’t be disappointed and besides my husband declared them worth printing about! Then he quickly ate them!

Now I had leftover cranberries from the sauce I made so I used those in this recipe. But don’t think you have to follow that step. I won’t tell if you go buy a can of Ocean Spray cranberry sauce. It works just fine. You can doctor it up if you want with a bit of cinnamon, bourbon and orange zest. And a note about chipotles, since I do use them a lot. They come in a can and are found in the Mexican section of the grocery. They are a smoked jalapeno pepper. There is a sauce with them and that is also good spooned into things for flavor. Since you don’t use very many at a time, I transfer the rest of the can to a jar and they keep indefinitely in the fridge.

Other ideas to put in these cute little cups:

• Caramelize some onions and top with Gruyere cheese and you have French Onion cups.
• Spoon in some shrimp mango salsa.
• Artichoke dip is great as a filler.
• And last but not least I used my leftover pumpkin and made a pumpkin sage filling that I topped off with cheese and bacon.

Yum.

Cranberry Chipotle Wonton Cups with Blue Cheese and Bacon

Ingredients:
18 wonton wrappers (These keep if you want to bake them ahead and save them for another use.
2c berried cranberry sauce
1/3c crumbled Gorgonzola
1 minced chipotle
Bacon for garnish

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Spray your mini muffin tins with cooking spray. Press the wonton wrappers into each cup. If you think the corners are too big you can use a scissors to clip them off. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the corners start to brown.

Stir a finely chopped chipotle and the blue cheese into the sauce. Spoon into your cute little cups. Bake in oven for about another 10 minutes.
Let cool and then top with a few crumbles of crisp crumbled bacon. Now you’ve got yummy in the tummy.

Other cranberries:
Frozen Cranberry Salad (A Family Favorite)