Chicken and Cheese Empanadas

Submitted by Hey Jude

"These can be appetizers or a main dish. They're so easy to make, using the refrigerated pizza crust dough. I found this recipe in the July 2003 issue of Sunset magazine."

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photo by Dstipanovich

Ready In:: 45mins
Ingredients:: 11
Serves:: 6

ingredients

1 ¹⁄₂ cups chopped cooked chicken
¹⁄₂ cup shredded swiss cheese
2 tablespoons chopped roasted red peppers (jarred OK)
2 tablespoons minced onions
¹⁄₂ teaspoon pepper
¹⁄₂ cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, cut into small chunks
salt
2 (10 ounce) packages refrigerated pizza dough
1 large egg

directions

In a bowl, mix chicken with Swiss cheese, red pepper, onion and pepper.
In a 1 1/2-2 quart saucepan, mix broth with cornstarch; add cream cheese, whisk over high heat until mixture is boiling (it will be very thick), 2 to 3 minutes; scrape over chicken mixture and combine well, adding salt to taste.
On a lightly floured board, unroll the pizza crust dough; cut each rectangle crosswise into thirds; on one end of each piece, mound about 5 tablespoons chicken mixture; fold the other end of dough over filling to form a rectangle, then fold edges together and pinch to seal.
Gently place empanadas, slightly apart, on a greased 12 by 15-inch baking sheet; in a small bowl, beat egg to blend; brush generously over each pastry.
Bake in a 375° oven until richly browned, about 22 to 25 minutes; transfer to a rack and let cool at least 10 minutes.
Serve hot or warm.

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Reviews

Not very flavorful. I might try adding cumin next time.

stonecoldcrazy
I liked these pretty well. I followed the recipe (halved) using rotissere chicken from the deli counter. I think I will try to make it a bit more tex-mex next time by using monterrey cheddar and adding in some chopped green chilies and garlic powder. I loved the idea of the refrigerator pizza dough since I'm not good with pastry. Thanks for a good recipe.

dmac085
Tried this. It was great..I was bored so I made it at midnight and just cut down on the serving size. I had all of the ingredients so figured why not. I hope they reheat well since I was the only one up at the time. Leanne p.s. I tried this again and saved time by getting a rotissere chicken from the deli. I use part of it for sandwiches, soup etc. (its great for soup since you can use the carcass for the stock, and the extra chicken for the soup (or stew). Thought this might be helpful. They can be reheated. I used my panini press and they turned out great.

Chef at Heart
These are awesome, didn't have swiss so I used Monterrey Jack. May even try Pepper Jack for an added kick.

Donna H
wow these were great. only problem is that up here pillsbury has the 13 oz pizza crust tubes but that didnt stop me from making these. i made them with recipe #63396 spanish rice. nice thank you Hey Jude for a wonderful recipe

gregory schulte