Recipe - Pear Empanadas

1 One half cup Dried pears (about 3/4
pound)
2 One fourth cup Water
Three fourths cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
One fourth teaspoon Ground cloves

DOUGH
2 cup All purpose flour
One half cup Lard; cold
2 One half tablespoon Unsalted butter; cold
One half teaspoon Salt
One half cup Iced water; about
1 lg Egg; beaten, for egg wash

In a covered pot, simmer the pears in the water for 30 to 40 minutes, until
soft. Drain and reserve the liquid. When pears are cool, place them in a
blender with just enough reserved liquid to make a thick puree. Heat 1/2
cup of the leftover pear liquid in a saucepan. Stir in One half cup of the sugar
and cook for about 5 minutes, until the sugar begins to caramelize. Add the
pear puree, One half teaspoon of the cinnamon and cloves, stirring well. Remove
from heat and cool. In a small bowl, combine remaining One fourth cup sugar and
One half teaspoon cinnamon. Set mixture aside. Prepare dough: In a large bowl,
combine the flour with the lard, butter and salt. Mix lightly with your
fingertips until the dough forms grapesized pieces. You should still be
able to see chunks of fat. Stir in the iced water. Lightly knead, handling
dough as little as possible, until the dough forms a ball. Add a little
more iced water if necessary. Transfer to a plastic bag and shape into a
log. Seal the bag, pressing out any air, and chill 1 hour or as long as 3
days. The dough can be frozen for as long as a week. On a lightly floured
board, roll out dough to 1/8inch thickness and cut 4inch circles. Brush the
edge of each circle with the beaten egg mixture and place 2 tablespoons of
the filling in the center. Fold dough over to enclose filling. Seal the
edges by pressing the top to bottom with the tines of a fork. Chill for at
least 30 minutes before baking. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place
empanadas on a baking sheet and brush the tops with the egg wash. Sprinkle
with cinnamon sugar. With a sharp knife, cut three small slits in the top
of each for steam to escape. Bake for 30 minutes, or until dough is golden.
Transfer to a cooling rack to cool slightly and serve warm with crema or
blue cheese. Yield: 16 empanadas Copyright, 1996, TV FOOD NETWORK, G.P.,
All Rights Reserved 11/8/96 show
Recipe By : TOO HOT TAMALES SHOW #TH6312

Posted to MCRecipe Digest V1 #287

Date: Fri, 08 Nov 1996 21:17:21 0600

From: Pat Asher asher@mcs.com