Sweet Potato Empanadas!

I think I should start a feature called 101 ways to eat a sweet potato - I've been cooking with them so much lately. They are my new favorite food, which is funny since for 30 years I HATED them with a passion. Oh well - I've heard that your taste buds change every 7 years!!

So while trying to find something different to do again, I came across a recipe on FoodNetwork.com from Melissa d'Arabian for sweet potato empanadas. Hmm.... I like sweet potatoes, and I like empanadas, so why not try it out! The original recipe is here, I omitted the sweet part of it so I could eat them with dinner.

Her recipe is good (and INCREDIBLY easy), but I did not enjoy working with the crescent rolls because it made them too tiny with not enough filling. In fact, I have some filling leftover, so I need to decide what to do with it! I think when I make these again, I will find bigger shells so they will have more filling and be all the more tastier. Or else I won't cut the crescent rolls so small as suggested.

I also think I would add a pinch of paprika for a little something extra!

So without further delay - the recipe!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sweet potatoes, mashed or pureed (1 small sized yam)
1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt
1 tube refrigerated ready-made crescent rolls (uncooked dough)

Directions:

Heat oven to 450 degrees F and pierce your sweet potato with a fork. Place potato on rack in oven and let cook for 45 minutes to an hour to soften.

Once softened, let cool for 5-10 minutes, peel the skin off and mash the inside in a bowl.

Lower oven to 350 degrees F for later.

In a small bowl, mix the mashed sweet potatoes with the cream cheese, brown sugar, lemon juice and a pinch of salt until creamy.

Remove the dough from the tube and separate into 4 rectangles. Working with 1 rectangle at a time, roll over the perforated lines in the dough to seal together.

Cut the rectangle in half and then cut the halves into 2 triangles.

Place a heaping teaspoon of sweet potato filling in the center of each of 4 triangles.

Fold the dough over on each, as if you were making ravioli, and pinch the edges together. Note: Use a tiny bit of water if the dough is too dry to seal.

Continue making little triangle empanadas with the rest of the dough, 16 total. Place the triangles on a parchment-lined baking sheet and into the preheated oven.

Bake the empanadas until golden, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Enjoy!