Weekend Cooking – Quick Breakfast Empanadas

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Okay, I admit it, I’m pretty spoiled at times.  Carl gets up on the weekends and cooks breakfast.  He’s been saying he needs to find some new breakfast recipes, so I was really excited when I spotted the Quick Breakfast Empanadas in the KitchenAid Best-Loved Recipes cookbook.  I showed him the recipe when he got home and he agreed that it looked tasty.  He decided to make them last weekend and they were delicious.  He did say that he thought he would add more salsa and more cheese the next time.  (This recipe would be easy to modify lots of different ways.)  The picture I took of his creation doesn’t do it justice – they looked much better than this.  Here’s the recipe:

½ pound bacon (about 10 slices)

1 package refrigerated pie crust

9 eggs, divided

1 teaspoon water

1 teaspoon salt

dash black pepper

1 tablespoon butter

2 cups (8 ounces) Mexican style shredded cheese, divided

4 tablespoons salsa

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF.  Spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.  Cook bacon in large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp; drain on paper towels and wipe out skillet.  chop bacon into ¼-inch pieces.  Cut pie crusts in half to make 4 semicircles; place on prepared baking sheet.
2. Beat 1 egg and water in small bowl until well blended’ set aside.  Beat remaining 8 eggs. salt and pepper in medium bowl until well blended.  Heat large skillet over medium heat.  Add butter; tilt skillet to coat bottom.  Sprinkle bacon evenly in skillet.  Pour eggs into skillet and cook 2 minutes without stirring; gently stir until eggs form large curds and are still slightly moist.  Transfer to plate to cool.
3. Spoon one-fourth of cooled scrambled egg mixture onto half of each semicircle of pie crust.  Reserve ¼ cup cheese; sprinkle remaining cheese evenly over eggs.  Top with salsa.
4. Brush inside edges of each semicircle with reserved egg-water mixture.  Fold dough over top of egg mixture and seal edges with fork, making 4 empanadas.  (Flour fork tines to prevent sticking, if necessary.)
5. Brush tops of empanadas with remaining egg-water mixture and sprinkle with reserved cheese.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden.