I admit it; I have neglected this blog for too long! Why, you may ask? Who's to blame, if not me?! It's not that I have done nothing since beginning January... I didn't blow away in any cyclone either... Speaking about the weather; we had about 3 weeks of rain in February! Did I drown? No, not that either - LOL. Well, to be honest; during the cyclone- and rainy season (heat of the summer), I do not live - I exist only... if you follow. The heat and humidity wear me out, for so to say; I'm not much outside the house during these months, simply because the weather condition makes me unwell...
Now we are 'finally' at the end of March and I start living again! :)) We are heading towards 'winter', which - for me - means more activities.
I haven't felt much for cooking / baking either... A few things I made turned out a mess , so nothing to blog about - LOL! Today though, I have cooked!
Don't know why, but over the last couple of weeks I have been craving for empanadas. I have no clue why... perhaps I remembered the huge and yummy empanada I ate at Oslo City (shopping center next to the main railway station) more than two years ago?
I've been searching the web for recipes, where the empanadas are baked in the oven instead of deep fried. It's more healthy! :) I chose this recipe, which turned out even yummier than expected! I didn't follow the recipe 100%; added a little bit more and used a few different ingredients.
I made the filling yesterday. I used ground lamb instead of beef. There was no honey in the house, so I used syrup. 'Several dashes hot sauce'; Worcestershire sauce and one teaspoon 'Louisiana Cajun'; a spice mix where one of the ingredients is chili... which I sometimes forget and add too much! :-0 I used normal green olives, not the pimiento-filled ones... don't like them that much... In addition to the ingredients in the recipe, I added a few small, boiled potatoes, garlic and about 1/2 cup feta cheese (light).
Today I made the Cream Cheese Pastry Dough.
It is soooo true what it says; 'for a novice baker, this is the most forgiving dough to work with'! I'm not a novice baker though, but still.....
Make the dough and divide into 2 pieces and refrigerate for about 30 minutes before rolling out.
The only cream cheese I had in the fridge, was Philadelphia Garlic & Herb (Light) and instead of heavy cream I used skim milk... It worked very well - don't have to add more unhealthy stuff than necessary! :))
To cut out the the circles, I used a 5 inches across 'tool' - not sure what it is called in English?
Place a bit less than 1/4 cup filling on one side of the dough circle.
Wet the edges with water, fold the dough over to form a half circle. Pinch the edges together and crimp with a fork.
The pastry dough recipe yields for 10 - I got 12! :) It depends on how thick the dough is rolled...
Ready to go into the oven!
These empanadas turned out so yummy!
I loooove the flavour of the sweet mixed with the hot spices and of course the garlic and herb cream cheese pastry adds to it too!
SCRUMPTIOUS!
My suggestion; serve with guacamole, salsa and Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon red wine - and I'm in heaven! :)
1 comment:
It does look delicious, I must try it - hugs Nat
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