Blog-iversary Chicken and Black Bean Empanadas

It's pretty hard to believe a year has already passed since I began this blog. Though I haven't been writing much here lately, I'm still trying to keep up with most of the blogs in my reader. It's been difficult. Hell, as I write this, I'm rocking my three week old with my foot. I've become quite the multitasker. Yesterday, however, I came across a post for empanadas over at Thursday Night Smackdown that captured my attention. With my multitasking abilities increasingly improving, I set out to make some empanadas. Nevermind that I spread it across 3 naptimes and it basically took me all day with clean up. Making empanadas was a first for me. I had leftover shredded chicken and black beans from tacos the night before so all I really had to worry about making was the crust. These were great.
Chicken and Black Bean Empanadas (Dough recipe taken verbatim from Michelle at TNS)
Makes 14 empanadas (7 servings)
Ingredients:
For the filling:
1 1/2 cups shredded seasoned chicken
1 6 oz can black olives chopped
1/2 can black beans, drained and seasoned
1 cup shredded cheese (your choice)

For the dough:
3 c. AP flour
1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter
1 egg
1 tbsp. white vinegar
up to 1/3 c. ice water
pinch of salt

Directions:
Combine all filling ingredients in a large bowl and stir well. Don't be like me and forget the cheese. Can you believe I forgot the CHEESE???? This is what multitasking does to you!

This is easiest to make in a Food Processor or stand mixer, but you can also use a pastry cutter, 2 forks or your fingers to cut the butter into the flour.

For the Food Processor version, put the flour, butter, egg and salt into the Food Processor and pulse until the mixture is crumbly and the butter is pea-sized. Add the vinegar and 2-3 tablespoons of water, pulse a few more times. Keep adding ice water and pulsing until the dough just starts to pull together - you don’t want so much water that you end up with one big, wet dough ball. Dump the dough out onto your work surface and briefly knead/mush it around until it comes together. Flatten it into a disc, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Pre-heat your over to 425.

Roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thick and cut out rounds the size of your choice. Add a spoonful of filling to the center of each round, moisten the edges with water and fold the rounds in half.
Crimp the edges closed with a fork to seal. Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.
Allow to cool a few minutes before eating.