I use to buy these in the corners of El Barrio. They are a fried puffy flour meat turnover and they can be very addictive.

2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
6 teaspoons of very cold shortening
8 tablespoons of iced water
They can be stuffed with grated shedder cheese or a meat picadillo

Sift the flour into a bowl with the baking powder and salt. Add the shortening to the flour mixture and with a dough blender or two knives blend it together working very fast.

Add the water spoon by spoon and mix well. Flour a flat surface and place the dough on top of the surface. Using your palms knead the dough very well until smooth. Make into a ball and cover with a towel and let sit for 30 minutes.

While you are waiting start your meat filling:

1 pound of lean ground beef
1/4 pound of chopped olives stuffed with pimentos
1 packet of Sazon con achiote
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of recaíto
1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
4 ounces of tomato sauce

In a frying pan brown the ground beef. Add all of the other ingredients and stir well and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the frying pan onto a cold dish and let cool.

With your hand role out the dough in a long roll about 14 inches and cut it into 1-inch parts. Roll out a piece of the dough so it's about as thin as paper. Put some of the grated cheese or meat in the middle and flap over one side so that the cheese or meat is covered. Cut and form like a half moon and seal the edges with a fork making sure there are no openings. Place them on top of a floured piece of aluminum paper.

Fry them in 4 cups of vegetable oil at 375 degrees. Once you put them into the oil start basting them immediately and they will begin to inflate. Fry until golden brown then turn them onto absorbent towels.

Make 12 to 13

MUÑOZ MARIN, Luis (1898-1980). Puerto Rico's first elected governor was a poet as well as a politician. Luis Muñoz Marin went from writer to reformer as he worked for social and economic progress. Muñoz Marin was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Feb. 18, 1898. His father was Luis Muñoz Rivera . Muñoz Marin was educated in the United States, where in the 1920s he worked as a journalist and befriended such famous poets as Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg. In 1926 he returned to Puerto Rico, where he was editor of the newspaper founded by his father, La Democracia. He was elected to the Senate in 1932. Muñoz Marin believed firmly in Puerto Rican independence from the United States, a view that put him at odds with Puerto Rico's Liberal party. In 1938 he organized the Popular Democratic party, which in 1940 won control of the Senate. Muñoz Marin then held the post of president of the Senate until 1948. Concerned about the poverty-stricken, underdeveloped state of his homeland, Muñoz Marin changed his mind about Puerto Rican independence and worked to develop Operation Bootstrap, a program that encouraged United States companies to open factories on the island. Puerto Rico made rapid progress, and when in 1948 the United States allowed the people of the island to choose their governor, Muñoz Marin was elected. In 1952 Puerto Rico was granted commonwealth status. Muñoz Marin was awarded the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and gave up the governorship the following year. He died on April 30, 1980, in San Juan.