These chicken & cheese empanadas are so delicious, I have a hard time not stuffing myself. The dough is classic latin style, with a harder, more durable texture than regular pie dough. The filling is savory, classic Mexican flavors with a bi-product of wicked good chili sauce that you can use as gravy for your empanadas, or as a base for chili.

I made this standard empanada dough recipe that I found online. For this recipe, you will need to make a double batch.

Filling:

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts, bone-in
• 2 onions, peeled and quartered
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and quartered
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and quartered
• 4 dried Ancho chili, seeded
• 4 dried New Mexico chili, seeded
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 small can stewed tomatoes
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 4 cups chicken stock

• 1 block Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
• 1/2 stick cream cheese
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced

• 1 egg, beaten with 1 tbsp water

Directions:

In large pot, add all but the cheeses and jalapeno. Bring to simmer, reduce heat to LOW, cover and cook for 20 minutes, or until chicken is just poached. Remove chicken and set aside to cool. Using an immersion blender, puree the broth mixture until completely smooth. Increase heat to medium and simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes longer. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, shred chicken into small pieces. Add in 1/2 cup of the reserved sauce. Mix in cheeses and jalapeno. Divide the mixture among the 20 empanada disks or make into 40 for a smaller snack-size. Brush with beaten egg mixture and bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until lightly golden. Can also be fried, if you prefer.

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