Maryland Crab Stuffed Shrimp

This past weekend my parents celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary! To celebrate my sister and I threw them a dinner party with the main meal consisting of salad, roasted carrots, rice pilaf and stuffed shrimp. While I knew my mom liked my roasted carrots and rice pilaf and that stuffed shrimp were something she liked to order in restaurants I had never actually made them before! The weekend before I had to "suffer" through trying 2-3 different recipes for the crab stuffing before I realized I was trying to reinvent the wheel. I was trying to make the perfect binder for the mini crab cake that would sit on top of the shrimp when it occurred to me that my mom always makes great crab cakes and she uses a mix from Old Bay that has the perfect blend of spices that isn't too salty and isn't too much filler - Marylander's are very big on a crab cake being mainly crab! So off to the grocery store I went, if your grocery store sells Old Bay they will probably have a box of Old Bay Crab Cake Classic Mix right next to it - grab it, it is good stuff. Also mayonnaise....Hellmann's is the way to go here, believe me. Now get ready to get messy!



Stuffed Shrimp: Makes Approx 60 Shrimp

3lbs 16/20 Count Shrimp - De-veined and Peeled
2lbs Maryland Lump/Back fin Crab Meat
2 Packages Old Bay Crab Cake Classic Mix
1C Hellmann's Mayonnaise

First you want to make the stuffing for the shrimp. If you have kids this is a great time to use them. You need to take the crab meat and very gently pick through it to ensure that there are no shells in the mix - there are always shells, so the kids can pick through the crab and discard them. Next mix the Old Bay Crab Cake Classic Mix with the mayo until well blended. Add the shell-less crab to the mix and very gently with your hands spread the mix throughout the crab meat trying to not break the crab. Set in the refrigerator while you prepare the shrimp.

Spray 1-2 cookie sheets with baking spray and set to the side, now take your shrimp which have been de-veined and butterfly them - with a paring knife very carefully cut along the cut the was made to remove the vein, you do not want to cut all the way through the shrimp, you just want to open the shrimp up to create a nice flat plate to put the crab on top of. When you finish with each shrimp lay it flat onto the baking sheet, cut side up and repeat with the remaining shrimp.

Once all the shrimp are butterflied get the crab mix back out of the fridge and place a heaping tablespoon of the crab mix into your hand and gently form into a ball, press down onto a shrimp and repeat until you are out of shrimp to stuff! I used my handy dandy cookie dough scoop to ensure I was getting the same amount of stuffing on each shrimp.

Heat your oven to 350° and bake for 20 minutes. Carefully remove the sheets from the oven and serve and enjoy!

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WW: 2 Points Plus for 1 Stuffed Shrimp
3 Points Plus for 2 Stuffed Shrimp
5 Points Plus for 3 Stuffed Shrimp
7 Points Plus for 4 Stuffed Shrimp
9 Points Plus for 5 Stuffed Shrimp
10 Points Plus for 6 Stuffed Shrimp