This is a quick recipe for sweet pastry dough to use for sweet empanadas; it is very similar to any pastry dough you would use for sweet tarts. You can adjust the amount of sugar based on your preference, also keep in the mind that more sugar a pastry dough has the more fragile it is, in addition I usually sprinkle sugar on top of the sweet empanadas so try to stay on the low end of the sugar quantity. You should get about 15-18 medium sized empanada discs or 25-30 small empanada discs.
Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
¼- ½ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 sticks butter or 16 tbs, cut into 16 pieces
2 eggs
2-4 tbs cold water
Preparation:
- Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor.
- Add the butter, eggs and water until a clumpy dough forms.
- Knead the dough for a few minutes.
- Form dough into 2 balls, flatten into thick discs, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Roll out the dough into a thin sheet and cut out round disc shapes for empanadas, use round molds or a small plate or cup as a mold, you can choose how large based on whether you want small or medium sized empanadas .
- Use the empanada discs immediately or store in the refrigerator or freezer to use later.
My wife is from Guayaquil, and I absolutely love the food there. Your website is definitely my favorite recipe site on the internet.
Empanadas de queso are my favorite, and I’m wondering, what kind of cheese would you use here in the states? I love the cheese in Ecuador, the bricks :) but I can’t find that here. I would love to make empanadas, but I want to make sure I use the right cheese.
Thanks :)
Hi Joseph – I usually use mozzarella, if I have some good queso fresco I’ll mix in with the mozzarella. I have found some local cheesemakers that sell cheese at the farmers markets that have a fresh cheese that’s very similar to the Ecuador one, but the prices are high so it’s more for special occasions. Even the queso fresco I like is one that is made in Oregon, called Froylan, and is one of the better ones I’ve had in the US. Ecuadorian cheese is made with raw milk so that’s also why it’s hard to find anything with a similar taste here.
I was trying to revamp sweet potatos and made the dough with Coconut & Rice flour for my gluten-free amigas. I had to double the water and– in hind sight– should have added a scoop of the campote to the dough for pliability… but they tasted great and my friends were so happy to have a baked goods that were wheat-free. I brushed the tops with butter & sprinkled with brown sugar and baked them at 350 degrees. DELICIOSO!! Mil gracias por la receta chica!!!
I’ve never really baked anything – I love to cook but I barely ever venture into anything that might require making dough and rolling out dough. I live in a tiny studio apartment with a very small kitchen and I set out to make Thanksgiving empanadas yesterday. I used your recipe (sans food processor!) and it came out so great!! I’ve never made dough so I was scared it wouldn’t work out for me but it came together nicely. I added a sweet potato, onion, and goat cheese filling to the empanadas. My only issue is that two of the empanadas opened up in the oven a little bit…I think they had too much filling inside them?? More egg whites solve this problem?? Muchas gracias por la receta! Riquisimo.
I will try this recipe soon! Sounds delicious and easy to make!
One question though, is the butter we need to use salted or unsalted?
I typically use unsalted butter.
Found the video on the “repulgue” technique to seal the empanadas in a neat and pretty way. That is on Rebecca With Love from Argentina site. Somewhere in my search for “how to make empanadas” the suggestion was made to look there and it sure was there.
These were delicious! Made them for a school spanish assignment!
Thank you so much! My new favorite Christmas cookie!!!
Hey,
I was looking for a recipe for spanish class when I came across this. I think it looks good, and I think might make it for my project. I think that my dad might like it also.
Sincerely,
Jenny Hopkins
These look amazing!! (Why didn’t I think of this?;) ) Guillermo adores strawberry rhubarb pie, and he was just saying the other day how he had never tried it before coming to the US, but was glad he did-it’s his favorite! I will definitely be making these-thanks!! (oh, and the whipped cream sound delish!)