Chicken and Corn Empanadas with Chipotle Cream

I adore empanadas.  One of my favorite meals in Rio de Janeiro is going to the empanada stand and picking out a variety of the tasty little pastries.  I cannot get enough of the flaky dough and savory fillings.  I really like to serve empanadas with soup for a quick meal.  Any leftover shredded chicken will work fine in these empanadas.  In fact, I used this leftover taco meat from the freezer for this batch.  One of these days I will stop finking out and actually try my hand at empanada dough.  But the flakiness of the puff pastry works just fine and makes for a quick weeknight meal.

Chicken and Corn Empanadas with Chipotle Cream

1 chicken breast
1 can Rotel
¼ cup water
1 cup frozen corn
½ cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
2 sheets of puff pastry, thawed

½ cup sour cream
3 chipotles in adobo
1 teaspoon salt

In a small sauce pan, combine the chicken, Rotel and water. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken to a plate and shred with two forks. Return the chicken to the pan and stir in the corn.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray. In a bowl, stir together the cooled chicken and cheese. Roll out each puff pastry sheet on a floured surface. Cut 10 six inch circles on each sheet of pastry, you will have 20 circles in total. Spoon ¼ cup of the chicken mixture onto 10 of the circles. Top each with the remaining 10 pastry circles, crimping at the sides to form a seal. Place the empanadas on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes until the pastry is golden.

Add the sour cream, chipotles and salt in the bowl of a small food processor. Puree until smooth. Serve the chipotle cream with the empanadas.

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