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Día de Muertos Empanadas

Author Vianney Rodriguez

Ingredients

  • For dough:
  • 8 ounces of cream cheese at room temperature
  • 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • For tomatillo chicken filling:
  • 8 to matillos husked and rinsed
  • 1/2 medium onion diced
  • 1 cup Cacique Crema Mexicana
  • 1/4 cup cilantro washed and chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground pepper
  • 1 cup Cacique Queso Fresco
  • 4 cups cooked shredded chicken

Instructions

  1. For filling:
  2. Place tomatillos in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring the pan to boil, reduce heat and cook for about 8 minutes. Drain the tomatillos, cool completely. Place cooled tomatillos in blender with onion, crema and cilantro. Blend until smooth. If mixture is thick add ¼ to ½ cup water. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir in quest fresco. Combine tomatillo sauce with cooked, shredded chicken and use to fill empanadas.
  3. For empanadas:
  4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray a skull pan with cooking spray. Blend cream and butter until light and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 4 minutes; scraping down sides to fully incorporate. Add the flour and salt, mix well. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead for about 1 minute. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough and cut 4 (1/4 inch) thick squares. Place dough squares in skull cavity, pressing down softly to take shape, fill skull cavity completely with tomatillo chicken mixture and begin pinching end soft dough together to create a flat seal over filling, trimming off any excess dough. Bake until golden 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully remove skulls and serve warm over a bed of rice.
  5. Note: to make empanadas, on a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick.
  6. Divide dough and roll out each piece to 1/8 inch thick. Using a glass, circle cookie cutter or knife cut desired rounds. Add filling with spoon. Fold over dough and seal or crimp tightly with fingers or fork.
  7. Arrange on baking sheet and place in fridge for 20 minutes. Brush tops with egg wash.
  8. Bake 12- 17 minutes.