Tiny Meat Cakes (Bolos de Carne)

This is a delicious recipe. In Portugal we use to buy this cakes at the bakery, but here in the US we make our own. They taste exactly the same, and make a wonderful snack and appetizer.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium diced onion
• 3 cloves of minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice
• 1 pound of extra lean ground beef
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• a dash of pepper
• cilantro (as much as you like)
• 1 package of puff pastry sheets thawed (we like Pepperidge Farm -- you can find it on the frozen food section)
  

Directions:

In a large skillet (medium heat), put the olive oil, onion, garlic. Let it cook until the onion is golden and soft. Add the beef, salt and pepper and let it fry for a few minutes in high-medium heat. As soon as the beef looses its pink/red color, add the lemon juice and bring the heat to a medium-low. Leave it cooking, stirring ocasionally, for 7 minutes. Let the meat cool off.

Next, take the puff pastry sheets and cut them into rectangle-shaped pieces (each sheet can be cut into 4-5 rectangles). Put a teaspoon-full of the meat on one of the sides of the the rectangle. Then take the other side and fold it over. This makes one tiny cake. Keep doing making the cakes until you run out of pastry.

Put the cakes in the oven for the amount of time it says on the puff pastry package (12-17 minutes).