Cinnamon/Sugar Sweet Empanadas

So when I was younger, my family used to take road trips to see my Tia and cousins in El Paso Texas. Our trips were fun and always around the holidays. We would enjoy each others company, play board games, and eat great food!

One of the main things we looked forward to was getting some dessert empanadas. We would have a local person make them for us and they were AMAZING. Flattened dough filled with any jam or jelly (raspberry, apricot, guava etc) that were then sealed and baked to a golden brown and of course rolled in cinnamon and sugar.

Obviously our recent holidays were not what they should have been. Pandemic blues hit and I was thinking about past memories and this popped in, so I decided to try a GF version. Most doughs are sticky, and this one is just that but I have a few tricks to help. This is a slightly time consuming recipe, but it's worth it.

Cinnamon/Sugar Sweet Empanadas

• 1/2 cup of softened butter

• 3 oz of softened cream cheese

• 4.8 oz of Melly Belly Flour Blend

• Fruit preserves of your choosing

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 2 tsp cinnamon

• water

Cream your butter and cream cheese together with a mixer. Add in your flour until well incorporated making sure to scrape down the bowl at least once with a rubber spatula to make sure it's all mixed well.

Scoop your dough mixture in a gallon bag or wrap in a nice big piece of plastic wrap and set it in the fridge for a minimum of one hour. You can do this a day ahead and leave it in the fridge just make sure to set it out to room temp 30 minutes before you start putting them together if you choose to keep it in the fridge for 24 hours because it will be hard to work with when it's very cold.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line some baking sheets with parchment.

Set out your preserves with a spoon and a little bowl of water. I use a tortilla press with some pieces of wax paper. I grab a 1- 2 inch ball of dough (depending on how big you want your empanadas) and I flatten the dough in the tortilla press first. If your dough is a little sticky, get some tapioca starch and dust some on the wax paper and rub a little on your hands.

You can try to also do this with tapioca dusted wax paper and a rolling pin and use a round cookie cutter to cut out circles. It could be slightly difficult to do it this way if you think your dough it too sticky.

Once you have a decent circle of dough, peel it off the wax paper and place it in the palm of your hand. Put a spoonful of preserves into the center of the dough and fold it over so it is a half moon. Using water, rub the edges to seal and pinch to your liking. If you notice any cracks, its because your dough is still cold but you can use your water and fingers to seal them. Set the empanada on your baking sheet one inch apart and repeat the process with the rest of your dough. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Once they are golden brown in color, take them out and immediately roll them in cinnamon and sugar. Set them aside to cool and then enjoy!