Making Homemade Wonton Wrappers with my Kitchen Pasta Maker

Yes, I've tried it. I've made homemade wonton wrappers with my kitchen pasta maker. The result? Not bad at all!  Actually the pasta roller worked great and I couldn't imagine trying to make them without it; the only difficulties I encountered were in managing the wonton wrappers after they were rolled.  All in all, though, even that was very minor...these homemade wonton wrappers were much easier to handle than I might have thought.

The Back Story


The back story here is very simple. My husband loves seafood and loves cheese, but hates onions. And I love crab rangoons (although I don't love seafood so much). So every time we order Chinese, I get crab rangoons...and he wants to eat them but just can't bring himself to it, for the onions and scallions. His loss.

At any rate, for years he has wanted me to learn to make them myself so that I could control the ingredients (read: sans onions). I finally gave in. I made a batch of homemade cream cheese from our fresh cow's milk on Friday and made him a batch of completely homemade rangoons last night before watching the Patriots lose the Superbowl (eh, we'll live).


As the forethought of making the cream cheese might indicate, I'd been planning this for a few days. I originally was going to buy wonton wrappers, but I was too lazy to go out to the store and was not sure our local yokel rural grocer would actually carry them anyway, so I opted to see how difficult they were to make online.  I probably should have guessed they would not be. Homemade wonton wrappers with a kitchen pasta maker are really about like making any other pasta or noodle recipe with it.

Making the Wonton Wrappers

I used a simple homemade wonton wrapper recipe that I found on About.com and I won't bore you with the recipe, you can just find it there.  What I will do is offer up just a few tips and tricks and bits of of my experience before you head off:

• Read through the comments on the recipe - there are some good suggestions and tips from others who have used the recipe and even frozen extras, etc.
• If you are stacking the wonton wrappers, dust completely with corn starch (what some overseas people are calling "Corn Flour" in the comments). The commenters are correct that flour when stacking is no good...it absorbs and makes a solid lump of wonton wrappers. I ended up running some of mine back through my kitchen pasta maker because of that. Alternatively, run them most of the way through and to the final thin-ness (I went to "8" on my CucinaPro) as you fill them and then the stacking and sticking is not an issue.
• I wouldn't want to try this without a home pasta roller. I recommend this type (not an extruder-type, at least not for this purpose): See what kitchen pasta maker I use. The reason is that these need to be rolled very thin, and I know I at least could not get them thin enough.
• Don't be afraid that they will be hard to fill and work when thin. Eight is pretty thin on my pasta machine, but these were pliable and worked easily without ripping. I didn't even need to use water to seal them like many rangoon recipes will tell you. You want them thin to be crispy.
• Making homemade wonton wrappers is not nearly as difficult as it sounds, nor is making the homemade crab rangoons. I recommend giving it a try, they were a big hit! Egg rolls with the kitchen pasta maker are next on my list.
• Good luck, and enjoy!

New Use for My Kitchen Pasta Maker: Homemade Crackers

I make and bake a lot of foods for my household, but somehow it never occurred to me that crackers could actually be made at home.  I have no idea why because growing up my Mom was extremely self-sufficient and my household can boast also of a high level of self-sufficiency. I mean, can you feed 6 people on $50 to $100 per week on groceries?? ($100 or a bit more when I am out of your typical staples, that is.) ...anyway I don't mean to brag, just to make a point and the more appropriate place for that discussion is on my lifestyle and homesteading blog over at My Kind O'Life.  Please do feel free to visit me there!

Getting back to the topic, though, I never even thought about baking my own crackers. Heck, even Little House on the Prairie books make it sound like they only ever had crackers from a store!  So it was like light dawning on my marble head when my sister mentioned that she recalled my Grandmother making tasty little cheese crackers, kind of like cheese nips or goldfish, when she was younger.  She is a bit older than me and spent a lot more time there, and my Grandmother unfortunately fell victim to cancer well before I was 12, so it is not that surprising that I don't remember this; just sad.

BUT! That mention did spark my interest and I finally got hold of the recipe and then got searching online for more.  To make a long story short, I found out that my kitchen pasta maker is absolutely IDEAL for making homemade crackers!  To really make them crisp the way you want them, homemade crackers need to be rolled very thin. It's tough to do with a regular rolling pin, but it's short work with a home pasta maker.

And the results?  Fantastic! My kids love them, my husband loves them, and I am saving tons.  Crackers, it turns out, require very few ingredients and are very cheap to make. Homemade cracker recipes are also easily adaptable for people with specific dietary needs or preferences, and the Moms out there commenting on these recipes who have kids with allergies think these recipes are a Godsend.

And as I am sure anyone who has followed this far is wondering, my most favorite recipes for making homemade crackers with my kitchen pasta maker can be located here:

• Basic Homemade Cracker Recipe --I find this cracker recipe simple, cheap, and highly adaptable. Easily add in things like garlic, Parmesan, cheddar, herbs and more for flavor.
• Basic Wheat Cracker Recipe --this recipe is a good way to include more whole grains in your diet and is a very affordable alternative to pricy high-end wheat crackers and Wheat Thins.

Kitchen Pasta Maker Fun in the Summer - Featured Recipe, Aglio Olio!

Up here in the Northeast U.S., it's getting pretty hot.  We're in the throes of summer, with temps starting near 90 and only increasing from there this week.  And who wants to cook in heat like that?  Or eat, for that matter? 

This is the time of year I look for quick and easy recipes that don't heat up the house too much and don't sit too heavily in the belly.  A nice, simple, easy pasta recipe is a fallback in times like these.  Right up there with my grill.  And now that I have a grill with a side burner, even the pasta cooking can move outdoors when I want it to.  Although I do find that now that I am making fresh pasta at home, it's not so bad to cook it inside, as fresh pasta literally takes minutes to cook - just about three, has been my average.  I've also found the fresh pasta that I make with my kitchen pasta maker to be lighter than the commercial versions - an extra bonus to beat the heat!

This morning, I've just found a nice little recipe that is about as easy as it gets as far as making a fresh, light pasta meal with my kitchen pasta maker.  You'll probably recognize the site as it's been a recent feature, but I did want to highlight this great stand-by recipe for Aglio Olio (Garlic and Oil) Pasta.  Check it out, try it out, and enjoy!  I plan to ;)

For more great fresh pasta recipes for the home pasta maker, check out this book, too:

Pasta Fresca: An Exuberant Collection of Fresh, Vivid, and Simple Pasta Recipes

Kitchen Pasta Maker Foodie Site Feature: The Reluctant Gourmet.com

I promised you great websites to accompany your kitchen pasta maker, and here is the latest!

It's called the Reluctant Gourmet.com, and even the most ambitious of home cooks and amateur chefs can appreciate it - because no matter how much you love cooking, we all have days when we just want to simplify or learn a few new good tricks and tips and recipes.  And that is just what this site delivers!

The bonus is that the site includes an entire page of recipes dedicated just to pasta, which of course will make great companions for your home pasta making adventures!

Find the pasta recipes page here:
Reluctant Gourmet Pasta Recipes

Kitchen Pasta Maker Featured Video: How Pasta Is Made

Ever wonder how that commercial pasta is produced?  This pasta making video from the Discovery Channel tells you. It's an interesting piece for the kitchen pasta maker, and includes some little-known pasta history.  The results certainly are not as good as what your kitchen pasta maker will give you, but it's a bit of fun nonetheless!

Kitchen Pasta Maker Foodie Site Feature: The Cooking Blog

This week's Foodie Site Feature highlights a well-maintained and informative blog dedicated to food and cooking, aptly named, The Cooking Blog.  It is run by Wendy Cooper of Canada and includes things like recipes, simple, fast and cheap recipes (like this one for Spring Ramen Chicken Soup), restaurant reviews, and even some reipces, tips, tricks, and advice for the kitchen pasta maker :)  Check it out!  There's lots to keep you in the know and eating well!

Kitchen Pasta Maker Featured Video: Kneading Pasta Dough

Kneading pasta dough is an important step in the process of making homemade pasta.  It develops the dough and is integral in achieving the right consistency for the homemade pasta dough to work in your kitchen pasta maker.  And so, today's kitchen pasta maker featured video is a quick but useful video to help you learn how to manage this important step.