It’s never easy to try to change your streaming identity.
First, some things: I’m not going anywhere. I’m still h4ckNinja. I’m not changing my name. I’ll still play games on stream. But my cooking streams have become more than just something I enjoyed – it has become part of my streaming identity.
I’ve been considering this for a while. In the coming weeks I’ll be working on new graphics and more. I’m in a new city, in a new state, and I wanted to use this opportunity to make changes to my channel. As I’ve explored who I want to be as a streamer, this felt right.
I have so much to share and I felt like this rebranding would help drive my focus on the cooking streams. I want The Bachelor’s Kitchen to be more than just sharing recipes. I want it to be a live cooking class where we can learn skills in the kitchen and enjoy tasty food.
Combine the dough, bake powder, sugar, and salt in to a bowl. Cut the shortening in to fine pieces and add to the flour mixture.
Note:I had trouble with melting the shortening with with the heat of my hands. I don’t have a pastry blender, so keep that in mind when working with the shortening.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, then add the chicken stock. Combine the the egg with the flour mixture and knead until it becomes a dough. I used my whisk to do this, which was a mistake … Once a dough, put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
After working on the filling (below), roll out the dough and cut in to rounds. I used my largest cookie cutter, which I felt was still a little too small. My cookie cutter is 4.5 inches.
Note: With the 4.5 inch cookie cutter, I got about 6 rounds. You may get a few more if you roll the dough thinner, so keep that in mind if you do 6 inch rounds.
Fill the rounds, ensuring there’s enough room to close the round. Once closed, pinch close at the seam and poke holes with a fork. I did this, but apparently not well enough, and a few popped open during cooking.
Preheat the oven to 350. Place the empanadas on a cookie sheet with the parchment paper and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until done.
Ingredients and Equipment (Filling)
1 pound ground beef
8-10 oz of beef stock (optional)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Half large onion
Bell pepper
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 cloves minced garlic
Yield: ~12 servings (I had lots leftover and not enough dough)
Directions:
In a large skillet, heat olive oil, and brown the ground beef. Turn the heat down and add the tomato paste, cumin, chili powder, oregano, garlic, onion, and chopped bell pepper. I added some beef stock because it was a bit dry and let it simmer. It was worth it.
Final thoughts: The filling was good, but needed something more. The dough was a bit thick (my fault for not rolling it out more), but nice and flaky. Overall I’m pretty pleased.
Note: Aside from a bit more flour and baking, this is a copy of the recipe. I agree with several of the comments that were left about the dough being bland. In some cases where I left the dough a bit thicker, they fluffed up, but the flavor was that of a plain dough. I might try this again and add something. Feel free to experiment and let me know!
Ingredients and Equipment
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon shortening
1/3 cup warm water
Honey
Round cookie cutter or other implement
Parchment paper
Yield: 12
Directions:
In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut the shortening in to fine pieces.
Note: I found it difficult to work with the shortening because the heat from my hands caused it to start melting.
Slowly add the water, mixing with a fork until the dough forms crumbly balls.
On a floured surface, knead the dough. I put the dough in the fridge fridge for 10-15 minutes while working on other things, but you can put it aside.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Once the dough has rested, roll out and cut with a knife or the cookie cutter. This is where a round cookie cutter came in handy. Place the rounds on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Bake for 5-10 minutes, or until done. Drizzle with honey or dip in to honey once cooled.
Welcome. I wanted a place where I could share my thoughts on the gaming industry, share the recipes I created on stream, and give some insight in to who I am as a streamer and a person. Enjoy!
