Jill Can Cook: Apple Pie Empanadas

How this recipe came to be will definitely not surprise anyone.

I bought some Pillsbury cinnamon roll biscuit/buns in a can. You know what I'm talking about. I have no idea what they're called. All I know is I had never made them before, they were on sale, and I was totally feeling some cinnamon buns. Between buying them and actually making them, Joe ended up buying me a huge cinnamon bun from Cinnabon's.

I can't tell if the guy loves me or hates me. Those cinnamon buns are so good, but so fattening and bad for you. This also proves that he definitely doesn't listen to me because why would he buy me that which I planned to make?! But his not listening to me resulted in a delicious cinnamon bun the size of my head, so can I really complain? I mean, really... Cinnabon's.

Anyway, this post is not about the inter-workings of my marriage. It's about how my Pillsbury can of cinnamon buns was about to expire and I was all cinnamon bunned out.

Then something kismet happened: My mother gave me a big bag of apples. She told me my brother gave her 2 big bags of apples. She didn't know what she was going to do with all those apples. And then proceeded to sneak a bag into my car. Hahaha I'm kidding.  (she made my dad do it!)

That's when I got the bright idea to make apple pie pockets. I prefer to call them Apple Pie Empanadas. It sounds more exotic and less bad for you!

I found this recipe at Tablespoon.com and grabbed my ingredients:

Apple Pie Empanadas

 

Ingredients

• 2 granny smith apples
• 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 can (16.3 oz.) Pillsbury Grands refrigerated biscuits
• 1 egg, lightly beaten  
• vanilla icing to drizzle over top                                      

Directions

1.  Using a mandolin or sharp knife, core and thinly slice the apples into wedges.
2.  Toss the apple slices into a medium skillet. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and brown sugar. Sauté on a medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the apples have softened a little bit.
3.  Transfer apples to a small bowl and stick them in the fridge for 15 minutes, letting the apples cool.
4.  While they cool, preheat the oven to 375°F. Roll out the biscuits on a floured surface until you get roughly 6-inch circles.
5.  Evenly distribute the cooled apples among one half of the 8 biscuits.                           
6.  Fold over the biscuit dough, pinching the ends together to create an empanada. Then, using a fork, crimp the edges to make them ridged.
7.  Place each empanada on a rimmed baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Then brush each one with a light egg wash. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.
8.  Lightly dust with more cinnamon and/or vanilla frosting/glaze and serve immediately.

 

OK, there's a lot of fail in this post, but don't fret my pet, these came out pretty good!

 

Joe was just hanging around the house when I decided to make this for the 4 of us as an after dinner treat. I can never open the Pillsbury cans, so I pleaded with Joe to do it for me. Good thing I did, too, because it took him a while to get it opened, too (any advice on how to do this without killing yourself is welcome!)

 

While he opened the worst can in the universe, I peeled my apples...

 

I peeled the whole apple in one long piece!

 

 

This is where the fail happens. Joe finally gets the can open and 'lo and behold, they're weird. They're not biscuit, they're strips. Of course they're strips. They are meant to be cinnamon buns. Also, they're covered in cinnamon and sugar which makes sense because (and why didn't I think of this when I was planning this recipe out?!!?!?!) they're cinnamon buns.

 

I was a little sad. I had high hopes for this recipe. I didn't want to give up! Joe, my awesome supporter, told me to work on the apple part of the recipe while he tried to finagle the cinnamon bun weirdness into something we could work with.

 

So, that's exactly what I did.

 

I cut up the apples into small little pieces.

 

I put all the ingredients into the pan with the apples.

 

I sautéed the mixture on the stove until the apples were nice and tender.

 

I worried the entire time.

 

And then I peeked over at what Joe was up to.

 

Heck yeah, dude!! You rule!!

 

Joe managed to stick everything together and even peel off a good amount of the cinnamon/sugar mixture. We had ourselves a workable dough. Granted, it was not perfect, but it turned out WAY better than I thought.

 

(and, yes, we got that t-shirt when we visited California, right after we got married!)

 

We're doing the best we can, folks!

 

This wasn't going to turn out too pretty, I knew that right away. We figured we'd just make 4 empanadas. We had just enough mixture to do so.

 

They look really gross right now!! HAHA

 

Oh that egg looks awful on the top. Since then, I've purchased one of those cooking paintbrushes so I can just paint the eggs on instead of blobbing them on.

 

And off these little uggo's went, into the oven, to cuten up.

 

I told you they'd get cuter and I don't lie! (Well, my hips don't lie, at least).

 

I grabbed the little can of frosting the cinnamon buns came with and put some on top. These smelled so enticing!! Joe and I loved how they turned out, even though the kids were not too impressed.

 

Mmm..

 

I wrapped the 3 we didn't get a chance to eat that evening individually and threw them in the fridge. These were great for an on-the-go snack. They were great to have for breakfast. They'd have been better had we started out with the right dough, but they were still pretty easy and yummy. This recipe gets an A from Joe and I. The kids, well, they're sometimes tough to please unfortunately.