Clockwork Lemon

Cheese Empanadas (Improved Recipe)

 

 

Last year around Christmas I went to visit my friend Natalia and stay with her family. Her family is from Chile and her mom was nice enough to show us how to make delicious gooey cheese empanadas.

This year I visited them again and we all made cheese empanadas again (yum!). Natalia's mom said that she wasn't completely happy with how the empanadas turned out last time so now I'm updating this post with all the improvements. The empanadas were good last year but this year they were insanely tasty. Too delicious for their own good.

 

 

The first change is to the amount of lard that goes into the dough. Maggie said the dough was too flaky last time and that they turn out much better with 200 Ml of lard. Its sort of an awkward cup measurement so its best to go by the little ruler they put on the box.

 

 

 

 

The next change is more cheese. I think we can all agree that more cheese is almost always better than less cheese.

 

 

 

 

So after rolling out the dough and cutting it into circles (we used an upside down snack bowl) pack a bunch of grated mozzarella onto it leaving room along the edge for sealing. Then dip your finger into a bowl of water, wet the edge, fold the dough in half and press to seal.

 

 

Use a fork to really seal the edges so that the dough doesn't come open in the hot oil.

 

 

 

 

Then fry them in batches in oil that has a bit of lard added to it until they are crispy and golden like this.

 

 

 

More cheese is an excellent improvement.

 

 

You can eat them while they are hot and gooey, or (if any are left) you can re-heat them  a few seconds at a time in the microwave.

 

Thanks again Maggie for making Empanadas with us! I can't wait to visit again and eat and eat and eat.

 

Maggie's Cheese Empanadas

(See the first post for more photo instructions.. but remember: more cheese!)

5 cups flour

200Ml from a package of Tenderflake (lard)

1 tsp salt

grated mozzarella (about 4 cups)

A bowl of very warm water

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl and mix in the salt

2. cut the lard into small pieces and work into the flour by squeezing and mixing with your hands

3.  Take 2 cups from your bowl of warm water and mix it into the flour until it makes a dough. Turn the dough out onto the counter and knead until it becomes smooth

4. Roll out a section of the dough (keep the rest covered in plastic) to about a 1/4 inch thickness or slightly thinner. Cut out empanada rounds with a large biscuit cutter

5. Fill each round with a few Tbsp grated mozza, run a wet finger around the edge of the dough, fold it in half and press the edges to seal them. Using a fork, press around the edge firmly to completely seal the empanada

6. Heat a large pot with vegetable oil and the other half of the package of lard on medium high heat. The oil is ready when a ball of empanada dough fries golden brown within  a few minutes of being dropped in

7. Fry the empanadas in batches, turning to ensure that they get golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towel

8. Enjoy!

Tips: The dough can be frozen in pieces or in rounds and the un-fried empanadas can be frozen as well to fry later.

 

 

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Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

 

For Christmas this year I received Kim Boyce's book Good to the Grain which had been on my to-read list forever. One of the first recipes in the book is for chocolate chip cookies made with whole wheat flour. If I had just stumbled upon a recipe like this on a random website I would probably just pass it by thinking something cynical along the lines of: "I'd like my cookies to taste like cookies.. not like cookie replacements that aren't actually healthy anyways". However, this book and these cookies have gotten many good reviews and they aren't portrayed as a "healthier cookie" but rather a cookie that benefits from the nutty flavor of the whole wheat. Since flour is my favorite ingredient I wanted to take the opportunity to see how different flours could improve baked goods with their complex flavors.

The result is a cookie that doesn't tastes whole grain or like its trying to be more wholesome, it tastes like a chocolate chip cookie that has an almost brown sugar or nutty flavor to it.

 

 

 

The first step in making these cookies is to sift the whole wheat flour. Scooping up a cup of flour straight from the bag or bin usually results in a densely packed cup  which throws the proportions of the recipe off. Sifting the flour works air into it and gives you a more consistent amount of flour in each cup.

 

 

Top Ten Blog Posts of 2011

Happy New Year!

After a great Christmas with my family I thought that I'd end the year by getting the flu and being sick for a good week and a half. Why go back to work when you can be a living, breathing version of the movie Contagion?  So it might be a little bit late for a re-cap post but I figure better late than never!

According to my blog stats the top ten most popular posts in 2011 were:

 

10: Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

Cookies that are soft and extra peanut buttery thanks to the addition of peanut butter chips.

 

Chocolate Engagement Cake

This chocolate cake recipe is a favorite in our family. In fact, I previously posted it on this blog before when I made it for my dad's birthday. I'm not letting that stop me from posting the recipe again because this cake is so easy to make and always turns out super moist. Its not ultra-chocolately or overly rich and is perfect with mocha-rum icing and dark chocolate ganache.

My brother recently proposed to his girlfriend and I offered to make a cake for their engagment party that my parents were putting on for them. I knew I wanted to use this cake recipe but I couldn't decide exactly how I wanted to decorate the cake.

 

I didn't want to do anything fussy or cover it in fondant because we would only see the cake for a minute or two at the restaurant before it was sliced. I decided that I would pour ganache over the top and then write something on top of it once it set.

I was going to write something about love, or their names with some hearts but I changed my mind at the last minute and decided to use white chocolate to write how I felt about the news of their engagement.....

Homemade Ice Cream

I think that most people would agree that homemade ice cream is way better tasting than most of the stuff you find in the grocery stores. It has a shorter ingredient list (aka no chemicals or preservatives) and a richer, creamier flavor.

Also, when you make your own ice cream you have the freedom to create any flavor that you want which is a lot of fun. I always always use the same recipe for the base of the ice cream when I'm playing around with different flavors for a number of reasons. It's an easy recipe to add ingredients to and it can be adjusted to suit your tastes.

 

This is a custard based recipe which means that milk, cream, and half of the sugar are heated until the sugar dissolves. Two eggs plus the other half of the sugar are whipped until they reach the ribbon stage either in a mixer or with a whisk. The hot milk is the slowly beat into the eggs to prevent them from curdling and then the custard goes back into the pot and simmered until it thickens.

Pizza Party with America's Test Kitchen

America's Test Kitchen recently released a new cook book that consists of dinner party menus along with tips and tricks to preparing the meal as easily as possible so that you have time to hang out with your guests instead of hidden away in the kitchen. They chose six bloggers (including me!) to try out a menu from their new book and host a party for eight people. I absolutely love America's Test Kitchen and was very excited to get my hands on their newest book.

I got the New York Style Pizza Party menu which meant that I got to work with pizza dough (which I love) and then eat delicious pizza (which I also love).

 

 You can read about the prep, the people, the food, and a certain moldy mishap from the entire dinner party here on their blog The Feed .

 

New York-Style Pizza Party in Calgary

 

 

 

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