Recipes on HIGH demand from those who “Went to Paraguay and Lived to Tell About It”…

Three treats!

Empanadas al Horno…Oven Empanadas
You can use any kind of filling…ground or shredded turkey, chicken or beef with sautéed onions, peppers and garlic. You can add olives or hard boiled eggs to the filling. In Argentina they even put in raisins. Sometimes we make pizza fillings (ham, cheese, hard-boiled egg, tomato, oregano), cabbage ones (sautéed cabbage, onions, carrots, chicken pieces), or scrabbled egg and cheese empanadas.
Here's the recipe for the dough.
2 Cups Flour
2 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
Mix all together. Knead well. Cut up into little balls. Roll out with a rolling pin. Fill the dough with desired filling and seal with a fork. Bake till golden brown. Have fun.
P.S. These can be made in advance and frozen. Hungry teenagers will pop them in the microwave...whenever!

Chipas (Cheese Bread)
16 ounces Mandioca starch - 3 1/2 cups
Salt
anise seeds (optional - a very Paraguayan treat)
1/2 cup Sunflower seed oil
3/4 cup milk
3 eggs, large
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese grated
1-3/4 cups Mild cheddar, grated
Bring milk and oil to a boil in a small saucepan. Add to the mandioca starch. Mix and allow to cool a little. Incorporate the eggs, one at a time. Add the cheese and blend well. The dough may be very sticky. Place a little oil on the hands and round dough into balls. Divide into pieces the size of a walnut or small plum. Arrange on a baking sheet. Bake at 375ºF until golden brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Serve warm.

Alfajores (Sugar cookies with Carmel filling)
This recipe is a favorite…an original…from my Aunt Kath who lived in Argentina about 20 years. (Maybe I’ll hear back from her if it isn’t correct!) It is one of the best we ever tried. Everything is measured in grams, here and in the recipe, so I am not sure about the exact cup measurements. Try these out!
2 cups margarine (400 grams)
1 ½ cups of sugar (300 grams)
6 yolks
2 tablespoons vanilla, “dulce de leche” liquor or rum
3 cups corn starch (600 grams)
2 cups flour (400 grams)

Mix the margarine and sugar. Add yolks and flavouring. Stir in cornstarch and flour. Roll out. Cut out with a round cookie cutter. Bake until LIGHTLY browned. Cool. Cover one cookie bottom with dulce de leche (carmel jelly) and stick another bottom cookie together to make a sandwich. Roll in shredded coconut.

Ben, Ellen and I are working on a Paraguayan Cookbook that we want to promote for this year's camps. Let me know what you liked when you were here and we'll add it to the cookbook.