When Intelligentsia Coffee opened in Pasadena recently, I was intrigued the lasagna cupcakes they served. The cupcakes are made by Heirloom LA, a catering business. About the size of a muffin, a single lasagna cupcake was a delicious meal.

After seeing how much my daughter enjoyed them (she ate my entire cupcake and I had to order a second one), I decided I had to try making them at home.

After a bit of research, here is my method. The girls love them and take them to school as lunch.

The ingredients are fairly simple. Mozzarella, Ricotta, and Parmesan cheese, marinara sauce, meat (if you so desire), and wonton/gyoza wrappers. The key item here is the wrappers. The Asian wrappers are used for making wontons and potstickers most of the time, but here they replace the lasagna noodle. The difference between the wonton and gyzoa wrappers is that the wonton ones are square and the gyoza ones are round. I highly suggest the gyoza wrappers.

Spray or wipe the cupcake tin with olive oil for prevent sticking and add a little flavor. Put the wrapper in the tin and form it into a cup shape. Then a small dollop of pasta sauce. Ricotta cheese is next to add the traditional lasagna taste and texture. I then add a little Parmesan to bring out the flavor. One daughter doesn't like meat, so her's are cheese only. The other daughter gets a sprinkling of browned Italian sausage.

Once you filled in the first layer, gently press another wrapper in, forming another cup.

Once you've placed the second wrapper, repeat the filling as you see fit. Mine are split between cheese and sausage versions.

A bit of Mozzarella cheese on top of it all. I put a sprinkle of Parmesan on as well, as the saltiness brings out the flavor in the Mozzarella and I love Parmesan cheese.

I baked them for 20 minutes at 375° F and then come out perfectly browned.

If you remembered to use olive oil, they should slide out easily with top crispy and the wrapper moist and tender.

You can do pretty much anything you want as filling from more meats to a vegan version. The key is using the wonton/gyoza wrappers as they make it simple and quick to do the prep.

The small cupcake size works well for us. A larger muffin size would make them almost too big for the kids and not as easy to reheat.

I hope you enjoy them if you give this a try.



Posted by michael at February 24, 2011 07:41 PM

