Roasted Sweet Potato Empanadas

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you might be thinking to yourself, “Hey, haven’t I seen that before?” And of course the answer is sort of. I’ve been making empanadas lately because I had some leftover puff pastry in my freezer, and didn’t feel like going shopping. I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner with a friend of mine, and she had brought over sweet potatoes, so this is what we settled on. I truthfully don’t know if I should call this an entrée or a dessert, they’re pretty sweet, but on the other hand, they are made with potatoes. What I do know is that I’ll call them good any time I eat them.

I didn’t try it, but I think this would be really good with either some goat cheese, or if you’re not quite adventurous some cream cheese. Try it yourself and let me know what you think.

Roasted Sweet Potato Empanadas

Makes 9 empanadas

2 Large sweet potatoes
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
¼ tsp salt
1 Tbs packed brown sugar
¼ cup maple syrup
½ cup chopped pecans
Flour for dusting
1 egg beaten

1, Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cut the sweet potatoes into ~ 2 inch chunks (I left the skins on mine). Place them on foil on a cook sheet and roast until cooked through, about 15-20 minutes.

2. While sweet potatoes are roasting, unfold the sheet of puff pastry. Cut the pastry into three strips by cutting along the folds, and then cut each strip into thirds.

3. Working on a well floured surface, roll each piece of puff pastry out into a roughly 5 x 5 inch square. Set the squares aside.

4. Put the roasted potatoes in a large bowl. Use a masher to mash them up. Mix in the salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, and pecans.

5. Place equal portions of the potato mixture on each square of puff pastry. Put the filling on one half of the pastry, leaving a border of between one and two centimeters. Fold the puff pastry over the filling, and then curl up and crimp the edges (see photo below for final product).

6. Place the empanadas on an oiled cookie sheet (they even stuck to my non-stick sheet). Brush each empanada with egg. Use a fork to poke holes in the empanadas. I poked three sets of holes in the larger ones and two in the smaller ones.

7. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until puff pastry is puffed and golden.