DENTON, Texas

Denton is a university town with lots of fun antique stores,

a great ice cream parlor across from the Courthouse,

and a wonderful used bookstore called RECYCLED BOOKS.

The Motel 6 has surprisingly nice rooms . . .

and a great pool.

What I enjoyed most about Denton, however, was meeting some of James’ family.

PawPaw David with Kepler 

 

Nana Fran and Kepler

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 I've only been home for a few days but already I'm feeling nostalgic so I'm feeling like doing some Tex-Mex cooking. 

My immediate reaction when I see recipes that involve making little meat pastries is, ‘That looks yummy but way too much work and the pastry would probably end up tough.’ 

But it turns out, the pastry was a cinch!  And delicious!  So I decided I had to type up the recipe because I really liked the technique for putting the empanadas together.  Instead of pinching the dough edges together, you pull the bottom edge up and over.  This holds in the filling so much better!

(The filling was good, too, but took a lot time to prepare and there was double the amount needed for 8 empanadas.   The good thing about that is that I making another batch of empanadas and freezing them.  The next time I make empanadas, however, I will make a different filling so I didn’t type up the Hello filling recipe.)   

CINCO de MAYO EMPANADAS 

        From HELLO MAGAZINE;  April 7, 2014

Dough:

1 ¼ cups flour

one-half tsp salt  

½ cup lard (4 oz)

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp vinegar

1 tbsp cold water

·        Put flour and salt into food processor.  Pulse to mix.

·        Add lard.  Pulse to mix well.

·        Turn mixture into a bowl.

·        In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk, vinegar, and water.

·        Stir into flour with a fork. 

·        Turn dough out onto counter and knead into a smooth ball.

·        Divide dough into 8 equal pieces.

·        Roll each piece into a ball in your hands and flatten with the palm of your hand.

·        With rolling pin, roll pieces dough out on counter into 6 inch circles.

·        Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

·        Prepare egg wash by beating another egg yolk with a tablespoon of water.

·       Brush one of the dough circles all around the edge with egg wash.

·        Place a large spoonful of filling inside the circle.

·      Fold one side of the dough (A) over the filling so that it is about a half inch away from the other edge.

·        Pull the other edge of the dough up over the filling and over the dough.

·        Tuck it down a bit to seal but you don’t have to pinch or anything.

·        Transfer to baking sheet and make the other empanadas.

·        Brush the tops with egg wash.

·        Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden.

*To reheat, place in 375 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes.  Serve 2 per person with a salad on the side.