Cinnamon-Pumpkin Empanadas ( Empanadas De Calabazas)

Submitted by Molly53

"From Esperanza's Cafe (Joe T. Garcia's Bakery), Fort Worth courtesy of Texas Monthly magazine."

 

• Ready In: 40mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Serves: 16

ingredients

• Pumpkin Filling

• 425.24 g can pumpkin
• 118.29 ml sugar
• 1.23 ml salt
• 2.46 ml cinnamon (optional)
• 1.23 ml ginger (optional)
• 0.61 ml ground cloves (optional)

• Empanada Dough

• 236.59 ml water
• 59.14 ml sugar
• 4.92 ml salt
• 2 (28.34 g) package dry yeast (4 1/2 teaspoons)
• 0.61 ml baking powder
• 2.46 ml cinnamon
• 709.77 ml flour, divided in half
• 177.44 ml vegetable shortening

directions

1. For the filling: Mix ingredients together and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Combine water, sugar, salt, yeast, baking powder, and cinnamon.
4. Using an electric mixer, gradually blend in half of the flour.
5. Add shortening and thoroughly mix, then gradually blend in remaining flour.
6. Divide dough into 4 equal parts, then shape each of those parts into 4 dough balls.
7. Slap the dough balls between the palms of your well-floured hands until somewhat flattened, then roll out on a floured surface into circles approximately 4 inches in diameter and 1/8-inch thick.
8. Put about 1 1/2 tablespoons of pumpkin filling in the center of each circle, fold over, and seal edges by moistening slightly and pressing lightly with a fork on both sides.
9. Bake on a greased cookie sheet until golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes (watch carefully as they can burn quickly).

Reviews

[Chef Sarita in Aust]

No one had posted a picture of this recipe yet and I wondered why. Well, probably because they were gone as soon as they came out. I was quick to snap a photo before they were devoured! Very delicious. I added a couple of steps: 1.) The recipe did not indicate if the bread was suppose to rise (it had yeast) so I let it rise about 45 mins. 2.) I used pumpkin pie mix instead of the pumpkin filling because pumpkin pie mix already has most of the ingredients called for and tastes just as good. 3.) I brushed my empanadas with an egg wash before baking. This gave it a beautiful shine. Next time a will also try a pinnaple filling. Thanks for posting this recipe!

 

[Leslie]

Good recipe, reading some of the reviews before trying this recipe and with some helpful hints left out I would suggest that those not familiar with doughs and yeast would like to know that the water need to be about 115 to 120 degrees with an instant read thermometer and with some yeast recipes like pizza doughs, just cover with a clean kitchen towel or flour sackcloth on a dusted surface and let the dough rest for 10 or 15 minutes before dividing. A bench scraper works great for the dividing. Beautiful silky dough. I added 1tsp vanilla and replaced the ginger with cardamom. Really nice!

 

[barbgemini1]

Made these for my husband last night. They turned out pretty good! Our house smelled soooo good! He says they could probably use some sugar on the crust to make the crust a little bit more like a pastry. They were easy to make.

 

[littledebbie424]

I just made these as an appetizer for Thanksgiving and they were eaten by non-vegans, except myself. They were a huge hit! I used, by accident, a pumpkin pie can and it tasted really good anyways. It had cinnamon in it already, and I added more so there was a bit too much cinnamon. The wraps were easy to make and delicious. I used canola oil to coat the lining to keep it together, but it did on its own. I could not fit more than a tablespoon in each, so I had a lot of pumpkin leftover. I will take the leftovers and sprinkle sugar on top and eat it as a dessert.

 

[ex-NYU 2L]

These were tasty! I did have some issues trying to wrap the dough around the filling. I don't think this was the recipe's fault as much as my own (My g/f had no problem wrapping them, but I'm not the gentlest guy.) A lot of my empanada wrappers were torn and I was afraid that the filling would go everywhere. But the filling stayed inside and there wasn't a mess to clean up! They weren't the prettiest things I've ever seen though.