Chicken Empanadas
В
Flaky pastry crust wraps itself around shredded chicken, cream cheese, cheddar, corn and jalape?os to make these golden brown beauties.
A kind of play on jalape?o poppers. . .Only better ’cause there’s chicken, corn and pie crust involved. Where ever there’s buttery, tender pie crust you can find me.
This recipe makes a lot of empanadas! About 32 of them. If you don’t have a crowd to feed you can cut the recipe in half. My thinking is if you’re going to go to the trouble of making them why not make extra? I solemnly swear they won’t go to waste.
You can tuck them into lunch bags the next day or just snack on them all day long because everything else in your refrigerator pales in comparison. To say they are major addictive is an understatement.
Fair warning.
Empanadas may seem too involved to make but the filling is a cinch to throw together and forming the pies goes pretty fast. To save time you can use premade refrigerated pie dough and rotisserie chicken. If you have hands to help you can form an assembly line for cutting, filling and sealing up the dough. Makes for speedy, fun, rewarding work.
The filling is versatile! You can add fresh tomatoes, salsa, diced avocado, chipotles or green chiles instead of the jalape?os, chopped cilantro, a different type of cheese, black beans instead of corn or chicken, seasonings like chile powder and cumin. . .Whatever your little heart desires at the moment or you have on hand.
Shredded chicken, cream cheese, cheddar, corn and jalapenos fill flaky pastry crust for a play on jalapeno poppers.
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a food processor pulse the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the butter and pulse until mixture is the texture of coarse meal with a few pea-size pieces butter remaining.
- Add 1 cup ice water to start and pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed adding more water 1 tablespoon at a time if needed. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead just until dough comes together about 4 or 5 times.
- Divide into 3 equal portions, flatten them into disks and wrap in saran wrap. Refrigerate while making the filling.
- Melt the cream cheese in a microwave proof bowl until warm enough to stir about 25 – 50 seconds.
- Add the chicken to a large mixing bowl with the cream cheese, sour cream, cheddar, jalapenos and corn. Mix well and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- In a small bowl beat the egg and milk together. Fill a separate small bowl with cold water. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease them with oil.
- On a lightly floured work surface roll out one of the disks to about 1/8-inch thick. Cut out 4-inch circles using a biscuit/cookie cutter or a bowl and paring knife. Place about 1 tablespoon of the filling onto each circle.
- Use a pastry brush or your fingers to paint the edges of each circle with water then fold over and press the edges together with the tines of a fork. Refrigerate them for 20 minutes. Repeat until all the filling is used re-rolling scraps of dough if needed.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Brush the empanadas lightly with the egg mixture and bake 14 – 17 minutes until golden brown and piping hot in the centers. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Notes
*Or 4 store-bought refrigerated pie crusts.
