Banana-Chocolate Empanadas
Empanadas can be filled with many types of fillings ranging from sweet to savory.
There are many types of dough that can be used to make empanadas. You can use a traditional empanada dough recipe or you can purchase the pre-made frozen empanada discs now found in many larger or specialty grocery stores. In a pinch, frozen pie dough or your own favorite pie dough recipe will also work.
This variation uses light and flaky puff pastry, which is a perfect complement for the sweet interior. Although this is not a “traditional” dough used to make empanadas, it is incredibly delicious.
Ingredients:
8 sheets of frozen puff pastry, defrosted
4 tablespoons melted butter
3 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
8 oz. semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°
Place mashed bananas in a glass bowl. Add sugar and lemon juice and stir to combine. Gently stir in chocolate chips with rubber baking spatula.
On a lightly floured surface, take one sheet of puff pastry and fold it in half, length-wise, to form a long rectangle shape.
With a pastry brush, brush melted butter on exposed portion of pastry sheet.
Spoon 1/8 of chocolate-banana mixture toward the top of the puff pastry. (Position the filling so you can fold a corner “flap” of the puff pastry over it to form a triangle). Continue folding the dough in a triangle shape (like you were folding a flag) until all the dough is wrapped around the filling in a neat triangular shape.
Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet and repeat process with remaining sheets of puff pastry and filling. Brush top of each triangle with additional melted butter. Dust the folded empanadas with powdered sugar and cinnamon and bake in 400° oven for 12 – 15 minutes, or until the pastries are golden brown. Remove from oven and serve hot with either cinnamon ice cream or homemade whipped cream.