These baked pumpkin empanadas recipe uses premade refrigerated pie dough sheets. Since they are baked it produces twenty-four empanadas in under an hour, no frying required.
Pumpkin puree is simmered with brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice until thick. The finishing technique is what makes these special. Each empanada gets brushed with melted butter, then “painted” with a dry spice and sugar mixture using a damp pastry brush. The result is a lacquered, aromatic, slightly crispy coating that a plain egg wash can’t replicate.
No cookie cutter? A clean empty tuna can cuts perfect 4-inch circles. That’s the kind of Sonoran kitchen resourcefulness that makes these recipes worth knowing.
The Spice Painting Technique
Brushing the empanadas with melted butter and applying dry spice and sugar with a damp pastry brush is the most distinctive part of this recipe. The butter provides fat for the spices to adhere to and bloom in, and the damp brush picks up just enough dry mixture to coat without clumping. The result is a caramelized, aromatic crust that smells extraordinary as it bakes.
Equipment
- 1 4-inch circle shaped cookie or biscuit cutter
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup butter divided
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar divided
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice divided, preferably Burlap & Barrel’s Everything Nice
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 boxes pre-made refrigerated pie dough sheets
Instructions
- Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium-low heat in a medium saucepan. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice and continue stirring until dissolved. Then stir in the pumpkin puree and simmer, stirring occasionally, until it thickens, and is no longer visually watery, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Unroll the dough sheets onto a non-stick cutting board, according to package directions. Using a 4-inch circle shaped cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out circles from the sheets of dough. (If you don’t have a cookie cutter you can use a clean, empty tuna can.)
- Spoon about a teaspoon of the pumpkin mixture into the middle of each circle. Fold the circle in half and crimp the open edge with a fork to seal.
- Melt the remaining butter. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining pumpkin pie spice and brown sugar. Brush the hand pies with melted butter, then using a clean, pastry brush dampened with water, “paint” on the dry spice mixture.
- Bake on large cookie sheets for 12-15 minutes, or until browned and crispy. Let cool before serving.
