A sweet pastry pocket filled with pumpkin. These sweet treats are perfect with a cup of Mexican coffee before breakfast or after dinner.
Growing up we always knew the fall and winter meant lots of sweet and tasty treats we call empanadas.
These sweet pastry pockets are filled with whatever jam or preserves are in season and or whatever you were lucky enough to preserve over the summer.
PUMPKIN EMPANADA FILLING
The filling is simple to make using canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling), dark brown sugar, and classic holiday spices like ground cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
The filling can be prepared one week ahead of time and refrigerated in a covered container.
You can find our traditional fresh homemade pumpkin puree in our published Muy Bueno cookbook.
Empanada Dough
This dough is a classic family recipe used by my grandmother, my mother and now my sister and I. We love this dough because it makes just enough to bake 2 dozen sweet empanadas.
The empanada dough is sweet and tender made from flour, shortening, eggs, and milk. It comes together easily without the need of a stand mixer of food processor.
Love pumpkin? Try these pumpkin recipes
- Pumpkin Spice Tamales
- Pumpkin Granola Fruit Tarts with Vanilla Yoghurt
- Mexican Pumpkin Rice Pudding
- Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake
- Fresh Homemade Pumpkin Puree + Pumpkin Bread
- Calabaza en Tacha (Candied Pumpkin)
- Pumpkin Apple Bundt Cake
- Tres Leches Pumpkin Flan
Pumpkin Empanadas
Ingredients
Pumpkin Filling:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed firmly
- 1 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Empanada Dough:
- 3 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup shortening
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup milk
- 2 tablespoons sugar
Instructions
Make Pumpkin Filling:
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar until it dissolves with the butter. Stir in the pumpkin and the spices. Continue to stir over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Make sure the filling is not too watery; otherwise let it cook for a couple more minutes.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and let it cool down. After it’s cooled off for about 15 minutes, put the filling in the refrigerator to help it set for 30 minutes or overnight.
- You can make the Empanada Dough while the filling is cooling off.
Make Empanada Dough:
- Mix the first 3 dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening with the dry ingredients. Works better if you use your hands. Add the eggs, milk and sugar. Continue to work in with your hands. Split the dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap and put into the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes. Take out one half of the dough and split it into 12-18 balls of dough. Depending on how small you want your empanadas. I prefer one dozen per half of the dough. They also fit nicely on one large cookie sheet.
Assemble and Bake Empanadas:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. You can fill your empanadas with any preserves made ahead of time.
- Roll out the dough into small round circles. Add a small dollop of filling on one half of the rolled out dough. Wet the bottom edge of the dough with water to help seal the two halves. Fold over the dough to seal. Seal off the edges with a fork by pressing down along the two edges. This also makes for a pretty pattern when baked.
- Brush each empanada with egg whites, sprinkle with sugar and puncture each empanada with a fork to allow steam to escape while baking. Spray a large cookie sheet with cooking spray, place the empanadas on the cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes on medium rack in the oven. If after 15 minutes you notice the bottoms of the empanadas starting to brown, move the cookie sheet to the top rack and continue to bake for the last 5 minutes.
This is such a great recipe! I love it more than my moms… shhh don’t tell her I said that;)
Hi I love your recipe pumpkin empanadas ,do you have a recipe that I can use fresh pumpkin?
Can these be made ahead of time and frozen?
the first photo on this page looks like you rolled one big sheet of dough and used a circle cookie cutter but that is not stated in the actual recipe. Is it possible to do that or will it make the dough tough- I am not a baker but really want to make these but the thought of rolling out all that dough gives me anxiety lol
Thank you for sharing this.  I’ll make them on Friday for a small gathering, a cousin reunion of sorts. The family is from Chana Colorado.