Recipe - Pineapple-Apricot Empanaditas

FILLING
1 lg Ripe pineapple
One half cup Goodquality apricot
preserves
3 tablespoon Sugar
3 tablespoon Triple Sec
One fourth cup Fine dry bread crumbs,
(commerically prepared)

PASTRY
2 cup Unbleached ap flour
One half teaspoon Salt
8 ounce Unsalted butter, slightly
softened
6 ounce Cream cheese, slightly soft

GLAZE
1 Egg, beated with 1T water
3 tablespoon Sugar

With a serrated knife, remove the top from the pineapple. Quarter the
pineapple vertically and trim away the tough core from each quarter. Cut
the pineapple flesh away from the rind. Chop the pineapple; there should be
about 2 Three fourths cups. In a medium saucepan, combine the pineapple, apricot
jam, sugar, and Triple Sec. Set over medium heat and bring to a simmer.
Cook, uncovered, stirring often, until thick, about 40 minutes. Cool to
room temperature, and in a food processor partially puree the pineapple
mixture. Some texture should remain. Stir in the bread crumbs. (Filling
can be prepared up to 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

In the work bowl of a food processor, combine the flour and salt and pulse
briefly to blend. Add the butter and cream cheese and process until a soft
dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and
divide it in half. Gather each half into a ball, kneading briefly if
necessary until smooth, and flatten each ball into a 5inch disk. Wrap the
disks of dough separately in plastic and refrigerate for at least 5 hours.
(The dough can be prepared up to 2 days ahead.)

Let the discs of dough stand at room temperature until softened slightly.
Dust one disc of dough with flour and on a wellfloured surface roll it out
to about 1/8inch thick. Using a 3 1/2inch circular cutter, form the dough
into about 12 rounds. Lay the rounds in a single layer on a plate or
cookie sheet, wrap in plastic, and return them to the refrigerator. Repeat
with remaining dough. (The rounds of dough can be prepared 1 day ahead.)

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the
oven to 375F. Lightly butter two large baking sheet pans.

Let the rounds of cream cheese pastry soften at room temperature just until
flexible. Making one at a time, spread a heaping teaspoon of pineapple
filling across the center of each round, leaving a border. Fold the round
in half, then pinch the edges of the empanadita to seal and crimp it
decoratively. Repeat with the remaining pastry rounds and filling,
transferring the completed empanaditas to the baking sheets and spacing
them well apart. Brush each empanadita with the egg wash and sprinkle it
lightly with sugar. Bake the emapanaditas, changing the position of the
sheets on the racks from top to bottom and from front to back at the
halfway point, until they are puffed, crisp, and golden, about 20 minutes.
Cool them on a rack before serving. (The empanaditas can be prepared up to
1 day ahead and stored, airtight, at room temperature.)

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini