Easy Homemade Empanadas

• Serves: 6 - 12

When you want easy, quick, and delicious it does not get much better than ham and cheese empanadas. You can eat empanadas in almost any form and with a whole range of fillings, but ham and cheese is an easy win and you, your friends, and your kids will love them any time you want to serve them.

The following recipe will show you an easy and quick way to make great ham and cheese empanadas that will soon become a staple in your house. These you can make beforehand and freeze or make whenever you need and serve right away. As far as practical and affordable goes, empanadas are certainly a good choice.

After you have made these a few times, you can even try experimenting with other fillings, for instance substituting bacon for the ham or adding some sun dried tomatoes. Empanadas taste good with nearly any kind of filling, sweet, or savory, and you can try whatever you like. For now this recipe is an extremely easy one, but you can make empanadas at home in all sorts of ways, from sweet to savory to spicy. Follow this recipe at least once, but then feel free to experiment as desired.

Ham and Cheese Empanada

Ingredients

• 1 package of empanada wrappers
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups shredded cheddar or the cheese of your choice
• 2 cups ham
• 3 tbsp bread crumbs
• 1 small onion minced
• 1 clove of garlic minced
• 1 egg
• 4 tsp sour cream
• 2 tbsp parsley
• Egg/water mixture for washing

Instructions

Heat the olive oil in a good frying pan. Throw in the garlic and onions until completely cooked. Add ham, and allow to fry for about 3 minutes, or until just slightly cooked. Remove everything from the heat.

When the ham is only moderately warm or cooler add the egg, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, parsley, cream, and cheese of your choice. Mix thoroughly until a sort of paste is formed. This will be the filling for the empanadas.

Take your empanada wrappers and arrange them on a tray. Wash each lightly with your egg wash so that they are only moist.

Place two or three tablespoons of the ham and cheese mixture onto each empanada wrapper. As you go, fold the empanada with the filling over onto itself creating a seal all around the filling by slightly pressing your fingers. Using a fork crimp the edges and poke small holes in the top so that it cooks properly. Place each on a baking sheet.

Put the baking sheet into an oven preheated to 400 F for about 20 minutes, though in some cases it will take longer. When they are finished they should be a pretty golden brown. Allow these to cool for only a few minutes, then serve hot.

(Serves 6-12, makes 12 empanadas)