Make Dessert Empanadas with a delicious sweet dough that makes a crispy on the outside, buttery and bursting with fruit fillings empanadas. Perfect for dessert, to serve at brunch or as a snack.
Sweet Empanadas
These dessert empanadas look so pretty, you won’t believe how easy they are to make. From holiday desserts to everyday snacking, they’re sure to be a hit with your family.
The flavors are simple and classic, yet irresistible. On of Mexico’s favorite treat!
These sweet empanadas are a must-try if you love buttery, flaky pie crust enveloping sweet or tart filling. Pro tip: They freeze really well, so you can make a big batch and store them for whenever the mood strikes!
Why this recipe works
- Choose your favorite filling or mix and match!
- The crust turns out perfectly sweet and not overly done.
- Easy to make!
*** Make sure to read the entire blog post. Every step matters since I provide helpful tips along the way!
Ingredients
This recipe for Sweet Empanadas Dough is great for adding your favorite filling. The dough is buttery, perfectly sweet, and totally delicious
- All-purpose flour
- Kosher salt and ground cinnamon
- Unsalted butter or Earth balance buttery spread – use this butter for Vegan Empanadas.
- If you’re using salted butter then reduce the added salt in the recipe to 1/4 tsp.
- An egg (or egg replacement for a vegan empanada)
- White sugar
- Vanilla extract – You should definitely use the highest quality you can because it does make a difference in the taste.
- Water at room temperature
- 2 cups of your favorite filling
How To Make Empanadas Dough
Making empanadas may seem that there are a lot of steps but the process is simple. Don’t be intimidated when baking from scratch! Follow along the photos to help you during the process.
- Whisk the flour, kosher salt, and cinnamon together in a large bowl,
- Add the butter. Using your hands or a pastry cutter, work in the butter until the mixture resembles pea-sized crumbles.
- Add 1 egg, sugar, vanilla extract and 4 tablespoons of water.
- With your clean hands knead the mixture a few times in the bowl just until you can gather the dough together.
- Transfer the dough to a clean surface and continue to knead the dough adding two tablespoons of water at a time (about 8 to 10 tablespoons total). Note: The dough is ready when it no longer sticks to the counter and it does not look dry.
- Continue to knead about 3 to 5 minutes; then form dough into a disk, wrap with plastic, and chill for at least 20 minutes.
Note: The instructions on how to form each empanada dough is made with a tortilla press as I find it easier to get the perfect thickness for the dough.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove chilled dough from the refrigerator
Rolling dough by hand: Divide into 4 equal portions. Roll out dough onto lightly floured surface to about ¼ to ⅛ -inch thickness. Cut out circles of dough about 4-6 inches in diameter.
- Use your hands, a spoon or a medium ice cream scoop to portion the dough into a 2-tablespoon ball (35-40 grams, or about the size of a golf ball), then use your hands to roll the ball until it is nice and round.
- Place the dough ball between two pieces of plastic in a tortilla press. (I use a ziplock bag) Then gently press the dough ball until it forms a 4- to 5-inch circle.
- Spoon about 2 tablespoons of your preferred filling into the center of the dough circle.
- Fold the dough over the filling to make a half-moon- shaped pie and crimp the edges of the crust together with a fork, leaving little fork lines in the dough. Gently lay the empanadas onto the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until the empanadas’ edges start to turn golden brown.
- Immediately dust with sugar & cinnamon if using any.
- These are best eaten warm and can be reheated in an oven or microwave for about 12 to 15 seconds.
Optional Fillings
You can fill them with whatever you like!
- Your favorite fruit jam.
- Dulce de leche
- Cajeta or nutella
- Pumpkin puree
- Fresh fruit
Serving Suggestions
These Sweet Empanadas are a wonderful dessert or afternoon snack. Pair them with a cup of Mexican Hot Chocolate, Champurrado, Atole or Horchata during warm weather days.
Alternatively, serve these Empanadas as part of a larger brunch with a Chilaquiles Rojos or Verdes, Sweet Corn Tamales, or Huevos Divorciados and Agua De Sandia to drink!
How to Store
- At Room Temperature: I recommend keeping these empanadas in an airtight container or resealable bag. On the counter, they’ll last for about 3 days.
- Fridge: Place in an airtight container or resealable bag for up to a week.
- Freezer: Store in resealable freezer bags for up to 3 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
The origin of Empanadas has been claimed by many countries. However, they became popular when they first appeared in the area of Spain during the time of the Arab invasions. It is said that Spaniards were inspired by the Arabs gyros to create what we call now, Empanadas.
This dough only needs a minimum of 20 minutes chill time in the refrigerator but the longer the better.
If the dough feels too dry and stiff to knead, you can let it rest a few minutes after combining all the ingredients, before you start kneading. If after a few minutes of rest is still stiff, add one tablespoon of warm water and knead. It could be that you added too much flour.
MORE delicious…
Mexican Desserts
I hope you like this recipe! Share it, or leave a rating and comment below. For questions that need an answer right away, please contact me and I’ll get back to you asap. Gracias!!!! xx, Ana
Print Recipe:
Sweet Empanadas Dough Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt If you’re using salted butter then don't add any salt to the dough.
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 ¼ cups earth balance buttery spread (or your favorite unsalted butter) see note below
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 8-10 tablespoons water room temperature
- 2 cups favorite filling such as dulce de leche, cajeta, nutella, pumpkin puree, fresh fruit, or your favorite fruit jam.
- Mix sugar & cinnamon (to taste) for dusting empanadas optional
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, kosher salt, and cinnamon together in a large bowl,
- Add the butter. Using your hands or a pastry cutter, work in the butter until the mixture resembles pea-sized crumbles.
- Add 1 egg, sugar, vanilla extract and 4 tablespoons of water.
- With your clean hands knead the mixture a few times in the bowl just until you can gather the dough together.
- Transfer the dough to a clean surface and continue to knead the dough adding two tablespoons of water at a time (about 8 to 10 tablespoons total). Note: The dough is ready when it no longer sticks to the counter and it does not look dry.
- Continue to knead about 3 to 5 minutes; then form dough into a disk, wrap with plastic, and chill for at least 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Rolling dough by hand
- Remove chilled dough from the refrigerator.
- Divide into 4 equal portions. Roll out dough onto lightly floured surface to about ¼ to ⅛ -inch thickness. Cut out circles of dough about 4-6 inches in diameter.
Using a Tortilla Press
- Use your hands, a spoon or a medium ice cream scoop to portion the dough into a 2-tablespoon ball (35-40 grams, or about the size of a golf ball), then use your hands to roll the ball until it is nice and round.
- Place the dough ball between two pieces of plastic in a tortilla press. (I use a ziplock bag) Then gently press the dough ball until it forms a 4- to 5-inch circle.
Add the filling & baking:
- Spoon about 2 tablespoons of your preferred filling into the center of the dough circle. Fold the dough over the filling to make a half-moon- shaped pie and crimp the edges of the crust together with a fork, leaving little fork lines in the dough. Gently lay the empanadas onto the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until the empanadas’ edges start to turn golden brown.
- Immediately dust with the sugar & cinnamon mix if using any.
- These are best eaten warm and can be reheated in a low oven or microwave for about 12 to 15 seconds.
Muy Delish Notes:
- Earth balance buttery spread – use this butter for Vegan Empanadas (Plant-Based) or you may use your favorite unsalted butter.
- Keep these empanadas in an airtight container or resealable bag. On the counter, they’ll last for about 3 days. If you store them in the fridge, they’ll stay good for up to a week. If you want to store them long-term, you can keep them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Add Your Own Private Notes
Whenever you come back to this recipe, you’ll be able to see your notes.
Nutrition
The nutritional information and US conversions are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data. If this is important to you, please verify with your favourite nutrition calculator and/or unit conversion tool.
Hi, I think your vanilla extract must be a bit different to the stuff we have in the uk, because we usually only add say a teaspoon in a recipe, rather than a tablespoon?- so we just used that.
We made half quantities and used Biscoff spread for the filling. – They worked well, and were tasty, thank you!
These were wonderful! Easy and delicious. I would like to know if I omit the sugar and vanilla if I could make savory empanadas? Or should I use a different recipe entirely?
Thank you
Kelly
So what is the difference between cajeta and dulce de Leche? I have never heard of cajeta.
Can you mix cajeta and apples for a filling?
Thank you
Made these with mango fruit jam. Wow, what a wonderful treat! Family loved them so much!
Oh wow, another delicious option to fill the empanadas with. So happy all the family loved them. Thank you!!!!
This is beautiful! Why have I never heard of dessert empanadas before? Definitely on my to-do list, bookmarked to make next weekend 🙂
Thank you Cathleen, this empanadas are from Sonora a state in the North of Mexico, but in Arizona are popular too. Not sure where are you located, but so glad you saw the recipe, hope you like them!
The step by step instructions were so helpful! These were delicious.
So happy you like them Brandi!! Thank you.
These empanadas look and sound spectacular. I love that I can switch up the fillings based on my family’s likes.
Exactly Andrea!!! hope you like them when you make them. Thank you.
These empanadas look fantastic. Can’t wait to try this recipe.
Thank you Kushigalu! hope you like them.
So I followed the recipe as is did not use the cinnamon sugar dusting the empanadas came out soft but crisp around the edges and paired very well with a cup of coffee
Just made a batch of sweet empanadas and they turned out yummmmyyyy!! Gracias!
My sister turned me onto these sweet empanadas and I’ve been addicted ever since. I’ve made them several times now. They’re delicious served with or without tea, fresh from the oven!
My Tia used to make empanadas all the time and these are the closest thing I can find to her recipe! They’re so easy and they explain everything step by step it’s hard to mess up! I made empanadas de piña.
Hi Ana! Have you ever prepped these all the way to filling and sealing, but then frozen them to just bake whenever you need them? Want to make for my son’s birthday and would love to prep ahead of time and bake fresh. Thank you!
Hi Sol! You can definitely do that! I haven’t done it for these but other types of cookies I have and works perfect. I also like to make things ahead of time. Happy Birthday to your son!
My daughter and I made these on the weekend and they didn’t last long! So good. Thanks for the recipe and the great step by step instructions!
So glad I found this recipe! I can’t wait to try it to make Nutella and dulce de leche empanadas for the holidays!
These empanadas would be great with dulce de leche or Nutella!
I’ve never made my own empanadas. With these directions I can now. They make a fantastic treat for the whole family.
These little treats were so easy to make and baked up perfectly in the oven! We served them for dessert last night and everyone loved them!
These empanadas turned out delicious! The dough is extra buttery and has lots of flavor. They cooked perfectly too.