I am a sucker for a philly cheesesteak.


Being a mama and a lady who likes to throw parties, I am always looking for things to make that can act as snacks or appetizers. My cousin told me a couple years ago that one of her favorite appetizers were empanadas. I had never had one but immediately upon consulting google, I feel in love.

Of course, I will try and make more traditional versions but I had a hankering for some cheesesteak. I had flour, I had meat...I had time. So cheesesteak empanadas it was.

This is super easy and tasty...and perfect for parties.  And the sauce....not your typical cheese whiz....a little heavy whipping cream and smoked gouda with some cheddar makes it delicious.


I used this dough recipe from Laylita.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 6 oz unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks), chilled and cut into 12 pieces
• 1 egg
• 4-5 tbs water

Making homemade empanada dough:
1. Mix the flour and salt in a food processor.
2. Add the butter, egg and water until a clumpy dough forms.
3. To make the empanada dough by hand, follow the same instruction but use your hands to mix the ingredients together. To make it easier to incorporate the butter you can freeze it and then grate it into the flour mix.
4. Form a ball, flatten slightly, and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
5. Roll out the dough into a thin sheet and cut out round disc shapes for empanadas (use round molds or a small plate).
6. Use immediately, or store in the refrigerator/freezer to use later.
Assembling and baking the empanadas:
7. To assemble the empanadas or turnovers, place a spoonful of the filling on the middle of each empanada disc. The amount of filling will vary based on the size of the empanada, but in general, it’s easier to seal an empanada that isn’t overstuffed. Also, the more you make empanadas, the easier it becomes to stuff them to the max and still seal them properly.
8. To seal the empanadas, fold the disc and seal the edges by pressing the dough with your fingers. If you’re having a hard time sealing the edges, you can use brush the inside edges with egg white, it will act as a glue for the empanadas. You can also use a fork to help seal the edges, just press the top of the fork against the edges. To the repulgue or churito, the curl type seal, use your fingers to twist the curl the edges. There are also empanada molds that you can buy and will help seal the empanadas.
9. For best results, I recommend refrigerating for at least 30 minutes the empanadas before baking – this also helps them seal better and prevents the filling from leaking out.
10. If you want your empanadas to have a nice golden finish, then you can brush them with egg wash (a whole egg whisked or egg yolk plus a few drops of water whisked).
11. Bake the empanadas in a pre-heated oven. I usually bake them at 375F-400F, the temperature will vary based on the oven and the size of the empanadas. I bake the smaller sized empanadas at 375F. The baking time also varies (again based on the oven and size), but it’s in the range of 18-25 minutes – the empanadas will be ready once they are golden.

I consider myself The Sandwich Queen. I will make anything into a sandwich. Imagine my delight when watching a cooking channel when I saw this bad boy of a burger made by the Hukilau Cafe. It was patty, it was thinly sliced teriyaki beef, it was onions. I knew as soon as I saw it, I had to make it.

Theirs of course, include a fried egg but my family, while usually very accomodating when it comes to my cooking experiments, said no. So I left that off. I must say this was one amazing burger.




I cooked a regular burger, grilled the buttered bun, added pepperjack cheese, some onions I sauteed in Teriyaki sauce and steak strips I marinated in teriyaki sauce. Man oh, man, so gooooooood.

Add sliced jalapeno for a little kick and how awesome would some sundried tomato be on this!??? I die.