Crab and Mango Won Ton Cups

My dear friend, Martha made these delicious Crab and Mango Won Ton Cups for one of our Dinner Clubs last year. They were so light and refreshing and delicious, I just had to make these this summer.  In fact, I made these on a very hot September day that just happened to be Martha's birthday. Coincidence? No. Her birthday was my inspiration to make them so I could blog this great recipe. As luck would have it, and further evidence that these were destined to be made that day, I got a few pounds of imitation crab on sale for a steal. Yay! 
The recipe called for lump crab, instead I used imitation crab and it was super delicious. I imagine the real stuff would've been off the hook, but nonetheless, imitation crab was a great substitute. I'll admit also that it was a bit hot to turn on the oven that day to make the won ton cups but it was worth the 10 minutes of heat time and the hour plus time it took to cool my kitchen. (But, I'm not complaining.:)) Although, as an alternative to heating up the house with your oven, you could serve the crab salad on individual leaves of endive lettuce as a variation of this appetizer or even on a bed of iceberg lettuce as a lunch-sized salad. In fact, I did just that the next day with the leftover crab salad. I served it in lettuce cups and had a super yummy lunch. I even crumbled some of the leftover won ton cups on top of the crab salad lettuce cup for added crunchiness. Easy and delicious.

Crab and Mango Won Ton Cups (recipe from foodnetwork.com)
Makes 24

Won Ton Cups
Cooking spray
24 round won ton wrappers
salt

Dressing
Zest of one large lime
2 T of lime juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 T olive oil

Salad
1/2 pound lump crab meat or imitation crab, chopped
1 celery stalk, finely diced
1/2 cup mango, finely diced
1/4 cup green onions, sliced
2 T coarsely chopped cilantro leaves

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray mini muffin tin with cooking spray. Gently press won ton wrappers into muffin tins so that it forms a cup. The wrappers may overlap a little. Spray tops of wrappers with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt and bake for 8-10 minutes until brown and crisp. Remove from the tin and allow to cool. 

Whisk together dressing ingredients. In a medium bowl, toss together the crab, celery, mango, green onions and cilantro and add dressing. Toss to combine. Fill each won ton cup with crab salad and serve.