Ooooh man. Life has been so busy lately. I need more hours in my day. Along with my new internship, classes, blogging, making food so I can blog about it, and trying to spend time with my family as much as I can, I don’t seem to have a life outside of all that anymore (not saying that I did have a life before anyway…). The Amazing Race and Survivor just started a few weeks ago, and I’m already behind on all my TV shows. I have about 30 episodes of Chopped, 13 episodes of The Incredible Dr. Pol, about 20+ episodes of Criminal Minds (that dates way back to last December), 15 some episodes of Cupcake Wars, along with a bunch of miscellaneous shows that are taking up space on our DVR…. good thing we’ve got two DVRs that can be used at the same time, otherwise we’ll for sure run out of space quickly!
…talk about First World Problems.
On a positive note – I’m truly enjoying this quarter. It’s exhausting and busy, but I feel like I’m learning a ton during my internship, and I absolutely love that everyday is different. Everyday is a surprise and I’m constantly challenging myself to do better.
Okay. Back to food. When I first set out to make this appetizer, I had every intention to bake it in the oven so it’s healthier than the deep-fried mozzarella sticks we usually get at restaurants. Well, that plan failed miserably… somehow the wonton wrappers didn’t brown nor did it crisp up in the oven, and cheese oozed out from all kinds of directions from the holes I managed to create during the wrapping process.
[sigh] It was a sad, sad sight. And needless to say, I was quite disappointed. I would’ve taken a picture of the horrible sad mess that laid there on my baking sheet, but it was just so bad that taking pictures of it seemed like a waste of energy..
Good thing I had a Plan B in mind. If baking didn’t work out, I could at least quickly fry it in a pan. That can’t be as bad as deep frying it, right?
This appetizer can be made within 15-20 minutes, so it’s perfect if you’re craving a quick little snack in the afternoon, or if you need something to munch on during a football game! You can make as many or as little as you need, and they turn out to be cute mini-sized mozzarella sticks, which makes them that much more fun to eat!
You know, just a mozzarella stick chillin’ in the marinara hot tub… no big deal.
Wait, you know what’s even better? Nowadays they make string cheese in different flavors, so you can customize your mozzarella sticks based on what kind of string cheese you buy! No more boring plain ol’ string cheese! In our house, we’re a big fan of anything that has a hint of jalapeno or black pepper, so we used string cheese with cracked black pepper to give it a subtle kick of flavor. They turned out to be amazing!
- 3 sticks of string cheese of your flavor, cut in half
- 6 wonton wrappers
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon water
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- Marinara sauce for dipping, if desired
- In a small bowl, combine the egg and the water. Brush a wonton wrapper with the egg wash, then wrap the string cheese with the wrapper, making sure the the wrapper covers the string cheese entirely and there are no holes for the cheese to leak out of during the cooking process. Also make sure the edges of the wrapper are sealed nice and tight with the egg wash. Repeat process for all the string cheese sticks.
- In a medium pan, heat the oil over medium high heat. Place your uncooked mozzarella sticks in the pan, making sure they're not crowded. Using a pair of tongs, cook cheese sticks on each side for about a minute, or until the wrapper has turned golden brown and crispy.
- Transfer mozzarella sticks on a paper-towel lined plate to soak up all the excess oil. Serve immediately with marinara sauce while hot.
- Makes 6 mini mozzarella sticks.
Here’s a couple things to keep in mind while you make these golden crispy appetizers:
- The egg wash serves as a glue to hold your wonton wrapper together. Don’t be shy when brushing it onto the wrappers – if you don’t put enough on, nothing’s going to stick and your mozzarella stick is going to fall apart.
- Try to make sure that your cheese stick is wrapped nice and tight with the wrapper with no gaping holes. Gaping holes is how the cheese can leak out of the wrapper during the cooking process, leaving you with just an empty wonton wrapper shell…. not good.
- These babies cook fast when you have a nice hot pan. I think mine took about 45-60 seconds for the first side to brown up. I then turned them three other times to make sure all four “sides” are nice and crispy. The whole cooking process took maybe less than 3 minutes.
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