Espinacas Con Garbanzos, Empanadas

Espinacas Con Garbanzos (Spinach and Garbanzos), Part 2: The Empanada Chronicles.

I know what you're thinking: 'Oh no she didn't!' But I did! I took something healthy and totally delicious in its own right, added cheese, wrapped it inside of dough made primarily of butter and deep fried it. I'm shameless in that way, I admit. I've always been a bit of a rule breaker. I'm not saying I'm proud, but nobody's perfect. Nobody is perfect and that's what makes life so delicious. Things that seem so wrong on the surface can be oh so right.



Making empanada dough is super easy. You only need a few ingredients and either a food processor, or a stand or hand mixer. You can tailor the dough to match your ingredients by adding different spices. You can make them sweet or salty by adding things like fruit filling and cinnamon sugar on the outside or chicken, spinach and cheese with thyme dough. The possibilities are endless. And of course, you don't have to deep-fry your empanadas. Empanadas can be baked in an oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. The key is to work quickly once your dough has been refrigerated.

Ingredients for 15 medium size or 25 small empanada discs:

3 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 oz unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cold and cut into 12 pieces

1 egg

4-5 tbs water (More if needed)

Preparation:

1.Mix the flour and salt in a food processor, or in large bowl with hand mixer.
2.Add the butter, egg and water until a clumpy dough forms.
3.Form a ball and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
4.Roll out the dough into a thin sheet and cut out round disc shapes for empanadas (use round molds or a small bowl).
5.Use immediately or store in the refrigerator( for no longer than a day) or freezer to use later.

Prepare your ingredients
















Roll out refrigerated dough and form circles. I used a small bowl to create the shape and cut out circles with a knife.















Add your filling to center of circles, leaving enough room to fold dough and crimp edges













Fold over top half of dough and use fork to crimp edges














You can deep fry your empanadas or bake them in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown in color.