Banana and Chocolate Empanadas
These pastries are the hit of any party. Even non banana lovers come up to me asking for more. The chocolate, lemon juice, and banana blend to a scrumptious mess of heavenly goo. Using phyllo pastry makes these empanadas light and crisp on the outside. Warn people that the filling is very hot!
Prepare 5 minutes
Cook 15 minutes
Serves 4-6
about 8 sheets of phyllo pastry, cut in half lengthwise
melted butter or vegetable oil for brushing
2 ripe sweet bananas
1-2 tsp superfine sugar
juice of 1/4 lemon
6-7 oz/175-200 g semisweet chocolate broken into small pieces
confectioners’ sugar for dusting
ground cinnamon for dusting
1. Preheat the oven to 375 F/190 C. Working one at a time, lay a long rectangular sheet of phyllo pastry out in front of you and brush it with butter.
2. Peel and dice the bananas and place in a bowl. Add the sugar and lemon juice and stir well to combine. Stir in the chocolate.
3. Place a couple of teaspoons of the banana and chocolate mixture in one comer of the pastry then fold over into a triangle shape to enclose the filling. Continue to fold in a triangular shape, until the phyllo pastry is completely wrapped around the filling.
4. Dust the packages with confectioners’ sugar and dynamos. Place on a baking sheet and continue the process with the remaining phyllo pastry and filling.
5. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden. Remove from the oven and serve hot. Warn people that the filling is very hot.
