Quarantine Cooking: A Birthday Happy Hour

Last week was a neighbor's 60th birthday. Another neighbor coordinating her celebration asked me to bake cupcakes, but I decided to also bake a personal mini cake for the birthday girl and went to Joann's to buy the smaller cake pan.

I had also said I was going to bake empanadas, which I got started. I took out leftover roasted spatchcocked citrus marinated chicken, a couple of hardboiled eggs, preserved lemon stuffed olives, paprika, and olive oil. I chopped onion and shallot and sprinkled them with a bit of salt and cayenne and chili powder. Lastly I chopped the chicken.

Then I sauteed the chopped aromatics until translucent.

I thought the chicken might be too dry for filling, and so I also chopped up a tomato before it could turn--it was that ripe.

And waited for my onions to get more translucent in the hot pan before adding my liquidy tomatoes.

Finally after 5 or 6 minutes, I added the chopped tomatoes to my softened aromatics.

And now for the chicken, which I just warmed through to get moistened and melded with the flavors of the vegetables and spices.

I probably cooked the chicken for only 4 or 5 minutes.

Then came the hard part: rolling dough and constructing the meat pies. I should have used pie dough, but was looking for a creative way to use up the canned biscuit dough in my fridge. Below is my first rolled empanada. Ever.

The empanadas became easier to make after the first one, sometimes. 

One of the things you start to guess on while making them is how much filling can you stuff into a mini pie? Sometimes too much. Sometimes too little.

As the meat pies were baking, I got to frosting the cooled cupcakes and cake. And decorating. My next cake will be prettier and fancier for sure. This cake bake for a 60th, but I told her it was really her backwards 60th as in 06 or sixth birthday; hence, 6 candles.

And for a 6th birthday and to feed the other party guests cake, you gotta make the cupcakes equally whimsical and fun.

As well as baking dessert, I baked a happy hour snack of empanadas. Not bad if I do say so myself.

They were pretty tasty too as evidenced by there being only two left and which I gave to a neighbor. Definitely, I have to make empanadas again, for the possible delicious fillings are endless.