Smoked Salmon Artichoke Mini Wraps

Who out there purchased the ice stick trays for the mini cheesecake wraps?  If you did, you are in for a real treat.  These savory appetizers are great for parties. If you don't have the ice stick trays and you would like to make this as a dip instead, see the note below.

Smoked Salmon Artichoke Filling

8 oz. Marinated Artichoke Hearts
3 tsp. Hidden Valley Ranch Dry Salad Dressing Mix
2 - 8 oz. pkgs. Cream Cheese, room temp.
1 cup Mayonnaise
4 oz. pkg. Smoked Salmon, skin and bones (if any) removed

In a large mixing bowl, mix cream cheese, mayonnaise, and dry ranch mix with a hand mixer on medium speed until well mixed.  Set aside.

In a food processor, chop artichoke hearts and salmon separately until fine (see not below if making mixture into a dip instead of a filling).  Add mixture to the cream cheese and mix until well incorporated.

Place mixture into a large gallon zip bag and set aside. 

Prepare ice stick trays by spraying with cooking spray.

Cut the corner of the zipper bag creating an opening of about 1/4" and pipe the mixture into the wells of the ice stick trays.  Cover with each tray with plastic wrap, stack trays and place in freezer overnight.

Remove sticks from the trays over a cutting board working with one tray at a time and cut the sticks in half and place all of the halves into a freezer zip bag working quickly and place bag in freezer when finished.

Process artichokes to this consistency.

Use a good quality smoked salmon.  Remove any bones and skin prior to processing.

This is the salmon and artichoke mixture added to the cream cheese mixture

Mixture ready to add to the ice trays.  Snip off corner giving about 1/4" opening for piping.

I ended up filling 7 trays plus a little extra that I had to sample.  Note:  Don't completely fill the wells, just pipe a line in each well like in the photo.

After freezing, remove sticks from tray and cut into half working with one tray at a time.  Promptly place into a freezer zip bag and return to freezer.

To Make the wraps:

Ingredients:

1 Pkg. won ton wrappers (found in the produce section of your grocery store),

1 egg

2 teaspoons of milk

In a small bowl whisk egg and milk together.  Lay out 4 wrappers on a cutting board and with a pastry brush, brush all four sides of each wrapper with the egg mixture. 

Remove about a dozen of the filling sticks at a time and place into a small bowl.  Place one filling stick onto each of the wrappers and fold the outer edges toward the middle semi covering the filling stick.  Brush the top and bottom edges again with the egg mixture and roll up.  Place each of the mini wraps onto a waxed paper lined cookie sheet in a single layer.  For multiple layers, place a piece of waxed paper between each layer.  When finished, place sheet into the freezer overnight.  Remove the mini wraps from the freezer and remove from the waxed paper and place into a freezer zip bag and return to the freezer until ready to cook.

Each 14 oz. bag will give you about 30-34 mini wraps.

Brush outer edge on all four sides with egg mixture.

Fold outer edges towards the center and brush top and bottom edges again with egg mixture.

Roll from the bottom to the top sealing the wraps.

Place the completed wraps onto a waxed paper cookie sheet in a single layer.  For multiple layers, place another piece of waxed paper between each layer and freeze overnight.

Cooking:

Remove wraps from freezer and only cooking about a dozen at a time deep fry in a preheated 350 degree deep fryer for about one minute or until golden brown (if they start spitting, they are done, you don't want to have them split open into your fryer).  Remove from the fryer and place on a rack and immediately sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.

Note:  If you are just going to make this into a dip, just coarsely chop the artichokes and salmon.  Place into an oven proof dish and sprinkle with either seasoned bread crumbs or Parmesan cheese.  Heat the dip in oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.  (If you overcook the dip, it will separate.)  Serve with crackers or tortilla chips.