LOWER CARB PUMPKIN EMPANADAS

I had another inspiration….I’ve lived in San Antonio for almost 42 years and it’s impossible to ignore the tortillas and pan dulce (mexican sweet bread and pastry) that are available around every corner. Last weekend, we stopped at a Fiesta Bakery. This place has nothing but…you got it, high carb, sugar laden yummies. We bought some tradition pan dulce to take to my sister in law’s house to share during our weekly poker games. Of course I did not have any, but, as I looked at the empanadas displayed at the bakery…….the light bulb

went off again. I’m gonna try to make empanadas with carbalose flour. Carbalose flour is what they use to make Carbquik. My filling for this batch is pumpkin, made with a little bit of splenda brown sugar and cinnamon. I’m very pleased with the results. My approximate net carb count per empanada is 4.6.

EMPANADAS

Dough:

3 ounces Cream Cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup carbalose flour

Mix together the butter and cream cheese. Stir in flour to combine well and form into a ball. Place into a ziploc bag and refrigerate overnight.

Remove dough from refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling out.

Roll out into 3-4 inch circles. I used my tortilla press. Fill one side of circle with empanada filling. Moisten edges lightly with water. Fold dough over filling and press edges together to seal. I sprayed the top of each empanada with butter spray. Sprinkled cinnamon and granular splenda on top of butter spray. Bake at 375F degrees 15-20 minutes.

Filling-1 15 ounce can pure pumpkin

1 tablespoon splenda brown sugar

liquid splenda to taste-3 drops

1 teaspoon cinnamon

mix filling ingredients thoroughly-(I had half left over after filling empanada)

I plan to make other fillings—fruit and meat. To be continued…….

Another discovery I made last night–MARBLE SLAB NOW HAS SUGAR FREE FROZEN YOGURT!!! It still has 17 carbs per 1/2 cup serving, but much better than 44 carbs for the regular ice cream.

My veggie patch…..