I'm so behind!

I'm so behind, the last blog I entered was the Victoria Sandwich cake in May! Unbelievable. So I'm not even going to write a full blog post, just the recipe I made and a couple notes.

First, in June, I made beef and cheese empanadas. For future attempts, I would roll the dough thinner and add more cheese. They were a little dry, and you couldn't even tell the cheese was there! But once you add some guacamole/salsa/sour cream, they were pretty darn good.

Then in July, I attempted a tart. It was so bad and ugly, I'm not even going to post the recipe. I'll just share a picture that made it look better than it was. Who would have thought a tart would be so much harder than a pie?

Sometime in September, I'll make my August swiss roll...

Beef and Cheese Empanadas*

Ingredients

• 3 1/4 cup all purpose floor

• 6 oz butter

• 1.5 teaspoons salt

• 2 small eggs

• 1.5 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

• 1 cup cheese

• 1 egg (for eggwash)

For the beef mixture

• 1 pound ground beef

• 1/2 onion

• 2 cloves garlic

• 2-3 chipotles in adobo

• 1 tablespooon adobo sauce

• 1-2 tablespoons chili power

• 1/2 teaspoon cumin

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• splash of water

Instructions

• Mix the 1.5 teaspoons of salt into the flour. Dice up the butter into small (1/2 inch) chunks and put them in the flour. Use our fingers to disintegrate some of the butter into the mixture. Mix it in just enough to make it crumbly with a few chunks of butter laying about.

• In a bowl, combine the 2 small eggs, vinegar, and 1/2 cup ice water. Add this to the flour mixture and use a fork to roughly combine.

• Dump into a work surface and combine into a cohesive ball. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

• For the beef, saute the onion in oil over medium-high heat for a few minutes. Add ground beef and cook until browned. Add the garlic and saute briefly. Add the chipotles, adobo sauce, chili powder, cumin, salt, and a little bit of pepper. Add a splash of water and simmer over medium heat, while stirring well.

• Once the dough is chilled, roll it out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into circles using a bowl. Fill each with 1-2 tablespoons of the beef, and plenty of cheese chunks. Fold and seal using your fingers, and then use a fork to seal further.

• For the eggwash, crack an egg, add a splash of water and whisk. Brush the empanadas with the eggwash.

• Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

And one of my sad tart...

*Recipe courtesy of https://www.mexicanplease.com/spicy-beef-cheese-empanadas/