Kitchen Adventures: Peanut Butter-Cinnamon Empanadas!!

Hi Readers! (or reader..haha!) As you know, being the curious cat that I am, my interests does not only focus on beauty alone. I am also fond of doing little experiments in the kitchen. This is primarily due to the influence of my mom who used to make ME her little helper around the kitchen. Everytime she would try her new concoctions, she would call me to her side and teach me every trick up her sleeve. I did enjoy those bonding moments with my mom and I'd like to thank her for instilling it upon me. Aside from my mom, I'd like to thank my other mentors: Alton Brown, Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, and all the other chefs from my favorite cable channel-The Food Network. :D I basically became more interested in cooking because of these guys.

Anyways, before I even began cooking savory dishes, I have been pretty much into baking. I always find the smell of freshly baked breads comforting and calming. I like how you could already make many things with just a kilo of flour, sugar, yeast, eggs, and milk. My mind is always busy formulating new recipes...what could I do with this, what would happen if I mix this and that together...you know, those things.

As I also love peanut butter (I literally would eat it out of the jar like winnie the pooh but with a spoon and underpants..haha..) and cinnamon, I tried making something out of nothing. I was craving for some snacks the other day but could not find anything to munch on so, I decided to make these from scratch since I have some flour and some butter on hand.

So what I did first is to make a basic pie crust dough (so many recipes on the internet on this). I took a cup of flour and incorporated some chilled butter until it develops a coarse consistency. Then I added some cold water to help them stick together and then form it into a big ball. I wrapped it in cling wrap and let it rest inside the fridge. After atleast 30 minutes, I took it out, knead it and rolled it out flat and cut out circles big enough to house as much peanut butter you want, in my case, a big one!! I then put in the peanut butter, sprinkled some cinnamon and turned the dough over. Sealed the edges of the empanada and then sprinkled some sesame seeds on top.  I popped it inside the oven and baked it for like 30 minutes. And here's what it looked like after..



Of course I put some garnishes to make it more appealing to your eyes.. :D





And Here's what it looks like cut in half. just to show you the peanut butter filling..YUM!

This is a simple snack you could do at home. You can even make batches of the pie crust dough ahead of time and just stick it in the freezer for future use! Make different empanadas with different fillings whichever do you fancy. :D

So Have you also experimented in the kitchen lately? I'd like to know! :D