I love dessert empanadas. I’m all over the apple ones from Taco Bell, but some of the ingredients don’t agree with me, I save buying one for when I’m really jonsing for a fix. Probably this time last year DH asked me why I don’t make my own at home. His reasoning is I couldn’t be that hard. It looked like pie dough with apple pie filling, deep fried.

I’ve been sitting on this recipe idea for far too long. At first I was looking to duplicate it with my own apple pie filling, and then I wanted to do some pears in preserve juices, but neither of those ideas got made because of the preservatives that would have come with the fruit. This is the ingredient part my body has a problem with.

Along comes Autumn thoughts and recipe ideas, and it hit me a few days ago as I looked at some leftover pie filling I had sitting in my fridge. Of course! Eureka! A plan was hatched. I knew what I wanted, but not how to get it, so I worked it out in my brain for a whole… maybe 30 seconds? Not sure. I lose track of time when I’m recipe formulating in my head. {Ahem}

Pumpkin Pie Empanada

This is what I came up with: Pumpkin Pie Empanadas. Radical, huh?

Well, I thought so anyway.

1/8C pumpkin pie filling (already mixed with egg and condensed milk)
Store bought pie filling (defrosted then brought up to room temperature and rolled out)
Large round biscuit cutter
Chinese Dumpling former (optional but well worth $10 at most grocery stores)
Flour (a small handful to throw on a work surface)

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Note: You can bake these at 400 degrees for 10 – 12 minutes if you like. I used a longer, cooler bake to ensure even cooking of the dough and filling as I was finding my legs with this recipe idea. Consequently, you can also deep fry the empanadas if you’re into that. make sure your oil is heated to roughly 375 degrees or higher and drop them in for about 6-8 minutes to start with. I’m not a fan of deep fried foods, but if you are, have at it!

Drop flour onto a work area and roll out the pie dough and careful cut the dough into large circles, butting the cut marks against each other to maximize the dough. Ball up any extra and roll out again till you end up with a dozen rounds.

Using a dumpling former, place the dough on the edges and drop about 1/2 – 3/4 of a teaspoon of the pie filling in the center. Carefully bring the handles of the former together and squeeze crimp the dough to seal the half moon empanada.

Place them on a Silpat or parchment paper and bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Be careful in the last three minutes. The dough burns easily.

Drizzle the tops with this lovely icing courtesy of Ice Queen:

2 tbsp Half & Half cream
2 C + 3 tbsp icing sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
small pinch of ground ginger

Mix up well, place in a plastic baggy, clip of one corner to create a small hole, and start piping on top of your pastries.

Oh, and enjoy. Mange!