Chicken Empanadas With Sundried Tomatoes and Spinach

For the dough:
Mix the COLD and cubed butter with 1 egg, flour, and salt. I like to use my hands because my food processor is small and mixing dough with a spoon is HARD. I am not about doing things the hard way.

Be warned, the mixture will be clumpy and dry. Slowly begin to add in the water. You may not need all of it, so I like to add some, mix, and then add more. You want the mixture to come clean off the bowl in one ball. The dough is too wet if it feels sticky; the dough is too dry if you can’t get it to stick together in a ball.

After that comes together, stick the dough in the fridge to cool down for about half an hour. When it’s cool, roll it out on a floured surface to about quarter of an inch thick. Use a small plate (or cookie cutter or something else round) to cut out dough for your empanadas.

For the filling:

First, chop the garlic, onion, spinach, and sundried tomatoes. Then put a little olive oil in a pan, toss in the garlic and onions. Let the onions sweat until almost translucent. Add in the chicken, making sure to break it up as it cooks. Right before you take it off the heat, toss in the spinach and sundried tomatoes. Salt to taste.

Putting it together:

Start by mixing up the remaining egg for your empanada glue and egg wash. Take a dough circle, put about three tablespoons of filling into the middle of the circle and top with a little bit of cheese (if desired). You want enough mix so you’re not eating all crust, but not so much that you can’t properly seal the empanada.

Brush the egg onto the perimeter of half the dough to hold the sides together (I use my fingers; does this step even make sense?). Fold one side of the dough onto the other, pressing the edges firmly. Use a fork to press the sides together and make cute little notches on the edge. Poke a couple of holes in the top of the finished product for steam. Brush the top with the egg wash.

Place the empanadas on a foiled cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray.

Bake at 350ºF for about 25 minutes or until the tops are brown and they lift easily off of the cookie sheet.

A note about the sundried tomatoes: They’re most often found either in oil or completely dried out. If it’s the latter, soak them in water for about an hour to bring them back to life and make them easier to chop up and cook with.