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As you may remember I was in New York last week to attend an event. I got to visit the Pepperidge Farm headquarters, as the winner of a contest hosted on Recipe Girl. I will share some of my trip tomorrow as part of Thursday Things, but I have to share this recipe with you first. As part of the event, they had a small cooking competition. Lori and I were the winners, and were crowned the Puff Pastry Queens for the day. After sharing on Instagram, lots of people requested the recipe, so as soon as I got home, I recreated it. Our dessert was amazing too, Lori posted the Raspberry Mango Dessert Bruschetta recipe here!
As part of this cooking competition we were asked to make 1 savory dish and 1 sweet dish using a few of the trends they talked to us about (yogurt in a savory way and Brazilian flavors). Off the top of my head when I think of that area of the world I think of cumin, turmeric, cayenne, cinnamon, ginger, pine nuts, and dried fruit. I mixed all of these things together with some chicken, a few other ingredients, and wrapped it in puff pastry. After baking it is flaky, and full of so much flavor. To cool things down we made a dipping sauce out of Greek yogurt and avocado. It was the perfect pairing to make you want to keep going back for more.
We had to share our dishes with 2 professional chefs, and 1 other Pepperidge Farm employee to be judged. They ate everything in front of us, and then gave us feedback. Everyone loved these little turnover bites. They had the right amount of heat, and after the cooling yogurt dipping sauce, you just wanted another bitee. I hope that you try these, they really are wonderful. You can cut back on the cayenne a little if you aren’t big on spicy. Serve them at a party, or just have a few for dinner; whatever works for you!
Brazilian Chicken Turnovers w/ Avocado Yogurt Dip
Ingredients
- 1 egg, beaten
Turnovers
- 2 packages Puff Pastry Sheets
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 3/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/3 cup dried apricot, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 2 clove garlic, mined
- 2 teaspoon olive oil
- 3 Tablespoons cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 of a lemon, juiced
Avocado Yogurt Sauce
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 avocado, mashed
- 1 Tablespoon cilantro, chopped
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Thaw the puff pastry according to the package directions. Cut each sheet into 9 equal squares. You should have 36 squares.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a skillet heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic, shallot and pine nuts. Saute until veggies are soft, and the nuts are golden.
- In a large bowl combine chicken with the remaining ingredients. Add the pine nut mixture and mix well.
- Scoop a heaping tablespoon into the center of each square. Fold over into a triangle, and press the edges together. Use a fork to seal. Place in a lined baking sheet. Brush with the beaten egg.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden brown.
- Meanwhile, prepare the dipping sauce. In a bowl combine all of the ingredients, and mix well.
- Serve turnovers immediately out of the oven along side the dipping sauce
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Puff Pastry Queens—-wow that is so IMPRESSIVE. Gold Stars! Gold Stars! Of course this recipe reminds me of epamandas—I am sure I misspelled that, but you know what I am talking about. Anyway these are easier and BAKED to boot. I love love love the apricot in the mixture.
What a fun little adventure! This does sound delicious!!
Sounds wonderful. Love all the ingredients so I bet I’ll love it!
Delicious! Both turnovers and dip.. great combination of flavors.
These were the best little appetizers ever! Thank you so much for your creative idea (and making us look so good!!) It was so great meeting you finally, and hopefully we will get to see each other again sometime soon! XO
Thanks for posting! These look so good, I can’t wait to try those spices with that sauce. I shared this in my July meal plan article.
sounds soooo gooooood!!! gotta try this sometime! thanks 🙂