Do You Like Piña Colada Empanadas?

AKA Pineapple Empanadas, Take 2

So, I did a little playing and came up with my own twist on pineapple empanaditas.

As far as I'm concerned, you can't go wrong with coconut.  And if you've got pineapple and coconut, why not add a little rum?

Piña Colada Empanadas (adapted from Eating Well)

filling

1 1/2 c chopped fresh pineapple*

1/3 c pineapple preserves

1/4 c shredded coconut

pinch of cinnamon

dough

3/4 c flour

1/4 c whole wheat flour

1/2 c shredded coconut

1/4 c sugar

1 1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

2 T cream cheese

2 T vegetable oil

4 T milk

glaze

1/2 c powdered sugar

1 T rum

water

* See below for oh-so important note.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, stir together pineapple and preserves. Stir frequently and cook mixture until thickened, about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat.  Add coconut and cinnamon and mix thoroughly.  

In a large bowl, combine flours, coconut, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add cream cheese and oil and get ready to play with your food. With your fingers, combine the ingredients until they're crumbly. One tablespoon at a time, add the milk and stir until the dough comes together. Knead the dough a few times in the bowl and a few more times on a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough in two, shape into discs and wrap in plastic. Chill in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Working with one half of the dough at a time, roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut the dough using a 3-inch round cookie cutter (you should get 12 pieces from each portion of dough). Put 1 teaspoon of the filling in the center of each circle (or whatever shape you choose). Fold the dough in half and press the edges together with a fork. Move to the prepared baking sheet.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Cool empanadas on wire racks.

For the glaze, stir together powdered sugar and rum. If the glaze is a little too thick, add water (or more rum) for desired consistency.  Drizzle on the empanadas and enjoy. 

 *Did you happen to notice the pineapple filling bubbling away?  The original recipe calls for using a fork to mash the cooked pineapple into smaller pieces.  Lesson learned - mashing steaming hot, juicy pineapple with a fork is not the smartest thing I've done.  Cool the pineapple before mashing or chop it into tiny pieces before cooking.  Your hand with thank you.

Pineapple Empanadas - Part 1

Well, I'm not exactly setting my kitchen on fire these days.  Hmm, bad turn of phrase.  Let's try this again.
 

This was a thoroughly unproductive weekend.  Last weekend I saw a great concert (thanks again, Mary Beth, for a fun time!) and tried a new recipe to bring to the pre-concert picnic -- pineapple empanadas.  They were cute and tasty and relatively healthy, too.  Check out the recipe from Eating Well here.

In my head, I've played around with the recipe to make it my own.  Now I just need to get the rest of me working with my brain (not always an easy task).  In the meantime, we'll call this Part 1. 

rolling and cutting the dough

adding just a wee bit of pineapple filling

all ready to bake

 Look for Part 2 coming soon!

Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes

 

Okay, so jumping back into life as usual has been a bit hit or miss.  Guess the point is just to keep on trying.  In that spirit, I'm really, really going to try to get (and keep) myself back into Sugared Sam mode.

Figured I'd start with something nice and simple.

These cute little liners inspired me and I found the perfect doctored cake mix recipe on Bird on a Cake.  

Dump, mix, fill, bake.  I can handle that.

I added the zest of an orange to vanilla buttercream and dyed half of the frosting orange.  Then I filled one frosting bag with white and one with orange and put both bags inside another to create a swirled pattern.

For an extra touch (and because I'm terribly clever), I cut the tips off toothpicks and inserted them in orange Mike and Ike candies to create little creamsicle toppers.

 

Voila!

Dark Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 


Today I whipped up a batch of dark chocolate sugar cookies.  I found the recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Sweetapolita.  Rosie's creations are always delicious and beautiful.  You can find the recipe here.

 

Following the instructions on Sweetapolita, I rolled out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper.  To keep the paper from slipping, I placed a Silpat liner underneath.  The quarter-inch wooden dowels helped me roll the dough to the perfect thickness.

Cutting the cookies.

 

I outlined the cooled cookies with royal icing.

Yum.

Daring Bakers' Challenge - Gevulde Speculaas

It’s official.  I’m a terrible blogger.

Since the sudden loss of my dad I’ve felt adrift.  Just forcing myself through each day seems to take all of my (limited) energy and (reduced) brain power.  But let’s face it, just existing is no way to go through life.

If you’ll bear with me, I’m making an effort to rejoin the world.  I used to love playing in the kitchen.  I used to love doing lots of other creative things.  The plan is to keep forcing myself to do those things until one day it’s no longer such an effort.  

I’m very late in posting this, but here’s the January Daring Bakers’ Challenge, a spiced Dutch pastry filled with almond paste, gevulde speculaas.  They seemed to be a hit at work – and they make your kitchen smell fantastic while they’re baking.  Check out the recipe here.

the speculaas spice mixture

 

 

fresh from the oven