Gluten Free Paleo Empanadas

As part of my dabbling with the paleo diet I decided I would attempt to make empanadas, primarily because I had a wicked empanada craving and the ones I eat are corn based. Empanadas have become one of my favorite foods since discovering them about a year ago. 

Using this recipe as inspiration I started off by making the dough. Being quite stingy with my almond flour I decided to makes some substitutions. I don't highly recommend as the dough was a bit difficult to work with, but did taste nice at the end of the process:

• 1 cup almond meal
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 tsp xanthum gum
• 3 large eggs + 2tbsp egg whites
• 3 tablespoons Olive Oil

SImply put all ingredients into bowl and mix with stand or hand mixer. I had to get in there and give it a good knead as well until it was just a big ball. I wrapped it up in saran wrap and refrigerated while I prepared the filling. 

Cook the vegetables first

Speaking of the filling, I used:

• One small onion diced finely
• 4 carrots diced
• 2 celery stalks diced
• 3 tsp chopped garlic
• 1 lbs extra lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup organic tomato sauce
• 1 tsp parley
• 1 tsp chipotle pepper



Then spices, beef & tomato sauce

• salt and pepper to taste

Cook the above over a medium-high heat. I cooked the vegetables first (about 7 minutes), then added the ground beef, spices and tomato sauce. Once the beef is browned, reduce heat to medium and make sure it is cooked well (about 15 minutes or so).

Now it's time for the painfully annoying assembly. Preheat your oven to 400F at this point. I had to tweak my dough recipe at this point (revisions already listed above). I wanted nice clean lines so I used a 3 1/2 inch diameter circle cookie cutter to cut my dough once rolled out. I also used a lot of flour when rolling as it really did love sticking to my counter. My first few were atrocious and more resembled murdered empanadas (see left), however I got the hang of it after a few and ended up redoing my first few.

Once they're all assembled brush the tops with either egg whites or a beaten egg. Then bake in your preheated oven for about 20 minutes until they are nice and browned. 

My yield was 16 empanadas, which stored nicely in both the fridge and freezer. To reheat, just put into 400F oven for about 8-10 minutes (de-thaw first if frozen). Nice on their own, or with a massive salad for a meal.