The Freshman Cook: Secret Recipe Club~Apple Empanadas!

It’s time for another Secret Recipe Club reveal. We took a little break in January, but we are back in full force this month, cooking and baking our way through the blogging world. For February, I was assigned  the blog, The Foodies at Work. This  blog is so unique, with the 2 girls who are the foodies, writing from two different cities. Melissa posts from Boston and Angela from New York City. This fantastic blog features original recipes, local food events, and restaurant reviews. Stop by their blog, and say hi! I made their Apples Empanadas a la mode today. They are just wonderful. They remind me of some wonderful commercial pies I used to eat when I was a little girl. The pies brought back warm memories for me!! Try these. You will love them!

Apple Empanadas a la Mode

4 tablespoon unsalted Butter

3 large Baking Apples

3 tablespoon Dark Brown Sugar

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 box frozen Puff Pastry, thawed(this takes about 40 minutes)

Flour, for dusting

Pinch Salt

Optional: 3 tablespoon Dark Rum

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Peel your apples.

Core your apples, and dice them into small bite sized pieces.

Melt the butter in a saucepan.

Once the butter is completely melted, add the apples

and stir them until they are soft. This does not take long.

Once the apples are soft, add your brown sugar,

cinnamon, salt, and rum, if you so desire. I omitted the rum.

Let this cook for 10 minutes, stirring often.

Once the 10 minutes are up, mush the apples with a fork

until it looks like lumpy applesauce.

During the 10 minutes, start to cut out your circles

from the puff pastry. Unfold the puff pastry. Use something 

that is 4-5 ” in diameter to cut out your circles.You can see

that I used my funnel which was 4 1/2″ wide. It worked great!

Using a paring knife or pastry wheel, cut out your circles.

There is 1 of the 4 circles I cut from 1 puff pastry sheet.

I made 1/2  of the recipe, 

so I only ended up with 4 empanadas.

Scoop 2 tablespoons of apple mixture onto each circle.

Fold each pastry circle in half. 

Pinch the ends closed.

Crimp the ends of the pastry with fork tines.

Pretty!

Take the 1 tablespoon of butter that you didn’t use,

melt it, and gently spread it on the empanadas.

Poke a couple holes in the top of each pastry,

allowing it to vent while baking.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until they start to

turn light brown. 

Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream!