Paula Deen's Lean: Chicken Empanadas

With my 10-year high school reunion planning/coordinating over, I have returned to cooking and entertaining for my family. Since there was a left-over pie crust from the Mini Mummies made on Halloween, I decided to make Chicken Empanadas. They are wonderfully delicious chicken and cheese filled pie crust pieces! They make a great party food or easy to grab snack. Now, Paula's recipe makes 12-15 servings, but since I only had one pie crust, I cut the recipe in half. Here is my 1/2 sized Empanada recipe!

CHICKEN EMPANADAS
Serves 6


INGREDIENTS:
1 refrigerated pie crust
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon salsa
2 ounce FAT FREE cream cheese, softened
1 cup 2% Mexican cheese
1 cup chopped, cooked chicken (1 large chicken breast)


DIRECTIONS:


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly spray a baking sheet. In a large bowl, combine chicken and next 7 ingredients. Unroll 1 pie crust onto a lightly floured surface. Roll onto a 15-inch circle. Cut out rounds, using a 3-inch cookie cutter. Re-roll dough as needed. Arrange 1 pie crust round on a clean, flat surface. Lightly brush edges of crust with water. Place 1 heaping teaspoon of chicken mixture in center of the round. Fold dough over filling, pressing edges with a fork to seal. Repeat with remaining rounds and chicken mixture. (Up to this point, the recipe can be made ahead and frozen for up to 1 month). Arrange empanadas on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.


THE RESULTS:
Once I served these things...they went fast! I was able to get 14 empanadas out of one pie crust, which was plenty for four adults. I served them with salsa; a fat free, low-calorie condiment. Fat free or light sour cream would have also been good. Paula serves her empanadas with a cheese dip, but for the added calories...it wasn't worth it. They are really tasty just plain. The most you'll need is salsa (for all you dippers out there). I really love the idea of empanadas. I think I am going to experiment with these and try other ingredients for filling the pie rounds. I'll keep you all posted.
ENJOY!!

NUTRITION FACTS (per serving): 150 calories;  10g fat;  3.4g carbohydrate;  11.8g protein;  0g fiber