creamy corn empanadas

We make a few kinds of empanadas, but these are most people's favorite.

The filling is adapted from Alton Brown's Better Than Grannie's Creamed Corn recipe. I use La Salteña's wrappers (para hornear) and this is an easy, crowdpleasing recipe.

Directions:

1. Make filling and let it cool
   
2. Line 1 cookie sheet with parchment paper (in case of blowouts)
   
3. Fill wrappers, fluting the edges or using a fork to seal them well
4. Paint with a beaten egg yolk (for color)
   
5. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until golden brown

Creamy Corn Filling
Prep Time:10 min
Cook Time: 12 min
Yield: 3 cups

Ingredients
1/2 onion, diced
1 TBSP butter
2 pinches kosher salt
2 cups frozen organic corn
1 TBSP sugar
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 TBSP yellow cornmeal
1 TBSP corn flour or all-purpose flour (to thicken it so that it doesn't ooze out)
1 cup heavy cream
Fresh ground black pepper

In a saucepan over medium heat, sweat the onion in butter and salt until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the corn and cook over medium high for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the corn with the sugar and turmeric and stir constantly for about 2 minutes. Sprinkle the cornmeal and flour on the corn, using a whisk to combine well. Add the heavy cream and cook until the corn has softened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Season with freshly ground black pepper.

zucchini bread

My friend Audra made this the other day and it was the right mix of spicy and sweet. She served it with softened salted butter, and it was a great complement to the other flavors.
It is a Paula Deen recipe, and because Paula's the queen of butter, I did a double-take when I saw that she used oil in the recipe. Being a butter fascist myself when it comes to baking, I substituted unsalted butter for the oil. I also omitted the nuts and added the zest of half a lemon.

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (or 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled (it works just as well with 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup applesauce)
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water
2 cups grated zucchini
1 teaspoon lemon juice
zest of half a lemon
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.

Thanks to Audra N for sharing this Paula Deen recipe with me.