Chicken Empanadas

I am terrified of pie dough.  There, I've said it. I am not a pie baker by choice because of such things.  It's really a irrational fear because the last few times I've given it a try, it's worked.  But still the fear plagues me.  Why?  Because I'm me, I suppose.  But, anyway, moving along to these beautiful empanadas and my story of how easy this was to make and how spectacular the results were.  I love recipes like that.  You just go flying by the seat of your pants on a whim and, voila, it works!  Love it!

So, these are my little empanadas...

Aren't they beautiful and golden brown?  I'll confess, I fried these.  I didn't fry all of them because we were testing the difference between baking and fried for an upcoming dinner party but these were too pretty to not catch a shot of.  I'm hungry for them again just seeing the photo!

These were crazy easy!  I found this recipe for Empanada Dough online...and went right to work!  I love that the ingredients were everyday ingredients that most households should have on hand.  For the filling, I chopped about 1 cup of cooked chicken, 1/2 cup of peppers and about 1/4 cup of onion and sauteed it until the peppers and onions were cooked through.  I added a few shakes of taco seasoning to flavor it and then started to fill my empanada dough circles.

For the empanadas I fried, I heated the oil to medium-high in a saucepan and put three dough pockets in at a time.  They cook very quickly!  About 2 minutes each side and the empanadas were done.

For the baked empanadas, I put on a cookie sheet and baked in a preheated 375 F oven for about 20 minutes.

Both ways were delicious, but the fried ones were more moist inside and the hubby preferred them. I liked the baked ones a bit better because even though I don't like to make dough, I love to eat it!  I love the crust on a pie.  It's my favorite part - especially if it's flaky and these are!

Serve with salsa, sour cream and guacamole.  They could be used as a meal with a nice salad or veggie side, or as an appetizer for a Mexican feast.  Either way, delicious!  It made about 20 small empanadas.

Enjoy,
Sheri