We have made the Empanada Tartas for so many different occasions. It is the perfect weeknight dinner along with a salad or side dish. It is also great for a party.
This time, we wanted to try to make individual empanadas, and we were so pleased with how they turned out! You get the same delicious flavor, but all in a neat little package. I think these would work really well at a dinner party as an appetizer.
The beauty is that you can use whatever you want in the filling. You must use cream cheese - it adds the perfect tang and creaminess. Goat cheese would work equally well. After that, you can just stuff them with your favorite cooked vegetables. Just make sure not to use anything too wet since it would make the whole thing soggy. I really like putting a slice of roasted sweet potato or butternut squash on top of the cream cheese, and then piling whatever vegetables I have in my fridge on top. Onions, mushrooms and peppers are a great combo. In the pictures below, I sauteed some onions, brussels sprouts and corn. See the original post for more ideas and instructions.
Ingredients:
Dough:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter
1 large egg
1/3 cup ice water
1 tbsp distilled white vinegar
Filling:
~4 tbsp cream cheese (whipped or brick-style) - goat cheese could also be substituted
~ 1 1/2 cups cooked vegetables (see above)
1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp water
Directions:
In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Cut the butter into cubes and add to the bowl. Using your hands (or a pastry blender or two knives), work the butter into the flour until you have small pieces/ribbons of butter that are no larger than the size of a pea. Put the whole bowl in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to keep it cold.
In a small bowl, mix together the egg, water and vinegar.
Pull out your bowl from the fridge/freezer and add the egg mixture to the flour mixture. Use a fork or spoon to gently mix together until there are no visibly wet areas. Use your hands to help form it into a ball. It will seem like there is too much flour - that is okay!
Lay out a piece of plastic wrap onto your counter and dump the contents of the bowl on it. Use the plastic wrap to help guide the dough into a disc - it helps to act as a shield so it won't stick to your hands, and will help some of the excess flour adhere to the dough. Wrap the disc well with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 1-1.5 hours.
At this point you can roast up some veggies, if you don't have them already. Make sure you let them cool completely before adding to the dough.
Preheat oven to 400 F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Lightly flour a large work surface. (I like to use this pastry mat, since it has measurements on it.) Once the dough has been chilled, set it out and divide it into 12 equal portions. I like to use a food scale to make sure they are all equal in size, but you can definitely estimate it. The easiest way to do it by hand is to divide it in half, divide each of those portions in half, and then divide each of those into 3. Making small divisions feels a lot easier.
Keeping the rest of the dough portions covered with plastic wrap or a clean towel, roll out each one until it is a 5 inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. It doesn't have to be a perfect circle, but it does help if it is symmetrical since you will be folding it over.
Put ~1 tsp of cream cheese on one side of the dough, then top with ~1.5-2 tbsp of your veggies.
Carefully stretch the other side of the dough over it to close. Crimp the edges closed - you want to make sure it is sealed really well so nothing leaks out. Transfer to your parchment paper-lined baking tray, and repeat with the remaining 11 pieces of dough. Put 6 empanadas on each tray.
* If at any point the dough starts to feel too warm/soft, put it back in the fridge. The entire tray can even be kept in the fridge while you are working on them. You don't want the butter to melt out before baking, so keeping everything cold is essential.*
Brush the top of the empanadas with your egg wash. Bake until golden brown and flaky, for about 25 minutes. Make sure to switch positions of the baking trays halfway through. I like to swap from top to bottom racks, and to also rotate each pan 180 degrees.
Let cool for 5 minutes before eating.
These are best right out of the oven. If you are reheating them I find it works best to microwave for a short amount of time, just to warm (15-45 seconds, depending on how many you are heating at once) and then put them in the oven or toaster oven to crisp up. Keep leftovers in the refrigerator.
Disclosure - I have included affiliate links in this post. If you buy any of the products I recommend on Amazon, I get a tiny tiny percentage of the sale, but it's still the same price for you
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