How to Make Apple Cinnamon Empanadas
Empanadas can certainly be sweet instead of savory, and this apple empanada recipe will take you step by step through how to get a deliciously sweet empanada with apples, sugar, and raisins.
Here are the ingredients you'll need: dough ingredients: - all-purpose flour (3 cups, plus some for dusting) - granulated sugar (4 teaspoons) - vegetable shortening or lard (half cup) - large egg - water (3/4 cup) - baking powder (1 tablespoon) - ground cinnamon (1 teaspoon) - pinch of salt filling ingredients: - peeled apples chopped into squares (4 pounds) - granulated sugar (2 cups) - lemon juice (1 teaspoon) - raisins (1 cup) - cup of water plus separate 2 tablespoons water - ground cinnamon (1 tablespoon) - vegetable oil (for coating pan) |
First, let's make the empanada dough. Get all the dough ingredients together. Have a large bowl and whisk ready. Add the flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon, and salt to the large bowl and whisk everything together. Then cut in the lard/vegetable shortening with a knife. In a separate bowl, beat your eggs together, then add in the three quarter cup of water and mix together.
Add the eggs to the flour mix. Knead it all together until you get dough forming. Cover this, place in the fridge, and leave it for about half an hour.
Now on to the apple filling. Get a frying pan or skillet, add the cup of water from the filling ingredients, then bring to a simmer. Now add the cinnamon and apples, cook until the apples become tender and the water cooks off (add more water if all your water cooks off before the apples are cooked).
Combine the lemon juice, sugar, and 2 tablespoons water in a small saucepan. Put it on the stove on low heat until it begins to simmer - you'll want to keep stirring it throughout. You're waiting for the mixture to become golden dark in color. Once this happens, you'll take it off the heat while continuing to stir. Mix the cooked apples and raisins into the saucepan (ideally you've softened the raisins beforehand in warm water, then drained). If you notice this filling mixture harden too much before everything else is ready you can put it back on the low heat to keep it warm.
Now we're going to actually build the empanada. Flour a surface and roll out the dough to a thickness of around a quarter inch. You're going to cut out dough circles. Depending on what size you want your empanadas to be, cut out 4 inch, 5 inch, or 6 inch dough circles. You're going to spoon in 1, 2, or 3 tablespoons of the warm filling, respectively.
Once you've added the filling to the dough circles, fold the dough in half to create the empanada dough pouches, and press the edges together with a fork. Before baking, you're going to cool down the empanadas for about 3 hours in the fridge.
Once the empanadas are ready, add vegetable oil to a skillet (large enough for deep frying) and heat to about 350 degrees. Add in the empanadas in batches and deep fry each batch until the empanadas turn a nice golden brown.
Carefully drain the empanadas on a metal rack or via some other means. Your sweet apple empanadas are ready!
Check out these other desserts:
Lemon Meringue Cheesecake
Oreo Cheesecake
Nutella Cheesecake
Pineapple Coconut Chess Pie
How to Make a Chocolate Pie
Add the eggs to the flour mix. Knead it all together until you get dough forming. Cover this, place in the fridge, and leave it for about half an hour.
Now on to the apple filling. Get a frying pan or skillet, add the cup of water from the filling ingredients, then bring to a simmer. Now add the cinnamon and apples, cook until the apples become tender and the water cooks off (add more water if all your water cooks off before the apples are cooked).
Combine the lemon juice, sugar, and 2 tablespoons water in a small saucepan. Put it on the stove on low heat until it begins to simmer - you'll want to keep stirring it throughout. You're waiting for the mixture to become golden dark in color. Once this happens, you'll take it off the heat while continuing to stir. Mix the cooked apples and raisins into the saucepan (ideally you've softened the raisins beforehand in warm water, then drained). If you notice this filling mixture harden too much before everything else is ready you can put it back on the low heat to keep it warm.
Now we're going to actually build the empanada. Flour a surface and roll out the dough to a thickness of around a quarter inch. You're going to cut out dough circles. Depending on what size you want your empanadas to be, cut out 4 inch, 5 inch, or 6 inch dough circles. You're going to spoon in 1, 2, or 3 tablespoons of the warm filling, respectively.
Once you've added the filling to the dough circles, fold the dough in half to create the empanada dough pouches, and press the edges together with a fork. Before baking, you're going to cool down the empanadas for about 3 hours in the fridge.
Once the empanadas are ready, add vegetable oil to a skillet (large enough for deep frying) and heat to about 350 degrees. Add in the empanadas in batches and deep fry each batch until the empanadas turn a nice golden brown.
Carefully drain the empanadas on a metal rack or via some other means. Your sweet apple empanadas are ready!
Check out these other desserts:
Lemon Meringue Cheesecake
Oreo Cheesecake
Nutella Cheesecake
Pineapple Coconut Chess Pie
How to Make a Chocolate Pie