Thursday, July 17, 2008

Chicken Empanadas

1 box (15 oz) refrigerated pie crusts (2 11-inch crusts)
4 oz cream cheese
2 TBS salsa
2 TBS chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 cup finely chopped cooked chicken
1 egg, beaten
Additional salsa

Remove pie crust pouches from box; let stand at room temperature 15-20 minutes.

Heat cream cheese in small heavy saucepan over low heat; cook and stir until melted. Add slasa, cilantro, cumin, salt and garlic powder; stir until smooth. Stir in chicken; remove from heat.

Unfold pie crusts; remove plastic film. Roll out slightly on lightly floured surface. Cut crusts into 3-inch rounds using biscuit cutter or drinking glass. Reroll pie crust scraps and cut enough additional to equal about 20 rounds.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place about 2 tsp chicken mixture in center of each round. Brush edges lightly with water. Pull one side of dough over filling to form half circle; pinch edges to seal.

Place 10-12 empanadas on foil-lined baking sheet; brush lightly with egg. Bake 16-18 minutes or until lightly brown. Serve with salsa. Makes 10 appetizer servings.

Note: Empanadas can be prepared ahead of time and frozen. Simply wrap unbaked empanadas with plastic wrap and freeze. To bake, follow directions baking 18-20 minutes.

2 comments:

Christine said...

I made pie crust empanadas a long time ago and totally forgot about them! I'll have to dig up a vegetarian recipe again soon. Thanks for the freezing tip, when I made them there were a bunch of extras that sat uncooked in the fridge for a while.

Christine said...

ALSO, if you cut the pie crust into triangles, you don't have to re-roll as much (if at all). Obviously, the empanadas will then be trangle shaped instead of half-circles.