bringing the cheer: pumpkin empandas

Posted: February 2nd, 2011 | Author: anita | Filed under: recipe | Tags: alan bergman, chef alan bergman, dessert, empanada, pumpkin, pumpkin empanada, recipe, sweets | 2 Comments »

as i write this, i have no idea what punxsutawney phil is going to say about winter, but i do know that some spirits are sagging under the weight of all the snow, shoulders are tired from being hunched up against the wind, the sight of muddy snowpiles isn’t terribly inspiring, and slush is just a treacherous mess. i’m not going to even mention the ice.

allison and i tested this recipe, courtesy of chef alan bergman, a new twist on a comfort food that just may revive a little holiday spirit to lift us through the next few cold ones (hopefully it will be mere days, and not weeks more of this wintery mix). and, since this is our first cooking endeavor together for the blog, we’re going to team up for this post. so look for allison’s notes here, too!

if you can get your hands on fresh or frozen pumpkin meat, you will appreciate the deep caramelization from roasting it in the butter and spices. but these empanadas will be popular with pumpkin pie fans if you use good quality canned stuff.

a note about chef bergman’s recipe.
it calls for 1 pie pumpkin. this seemed alarmingly vague to me, being not so familiar with fresh pie pumpkin purchasing. should it be 5 lbs? 2 or 3, before peeling? but as my boss likes to say, when confronted with an uneasy situation, “i view this as an opportunity…” and so it seemed like allison and i could “play” with the proportions, and adjust the balance of pumpkin to apple, according to our own taste. *note from allison: we ended up doubling the sugar, too, to bring out the sweet flavors of the pumpkin. we should note that these empanadas are not for fans of the super-sweet. they’ve got a faint hint of sweetness, but it really seems to work perfectly with the dough.

i would say, err toward something small (though if you wind up with extra roasted pumpkin you can either freeze the leftover filling, or incorporate it into some other dish or savory side). *note from allison: we were so inspired by the idea of savory pumpkin empanadas, that we’ve decided to use the rest of the pumpkin filling we have leftover to create a savory version of the empanadas. possibly goat cheese and walnuts? possibly fontina cheese and hazelnuts? stay tuned for “round two.”

we doubled everything–two apples, twice the amount of spices and butter– and it turned out we had twice the amount of filling we needed for the amount of empanada dough that we made.

as for the dough–chef bergman’s recipe is tailored for a store bought empanada or puff pastry dough. we sweetsaltythings wanted to make our own. we decided to use “mad hungry” lucinda scala quinn’s recipe. *note from allison: using a puff pastry dough would probably give these empanadas a much lighter texture, and we preferred using something a little more substantial.

i have made many an empanada in my day (my mom used to do a bit of catering and i used to help make the empanadas, filled with beef or chicken or a sweet walnut paste) and this cream cheese-based recipe is very similar to what mom and i have worked with before. *note from allison: i did not know this fact about anita and am thoroughly impressed (and will now be requesting batches of empanadas from her frequently).

i creamed the butter and cream cheese with a mixer, and mixed the rest by hand–and you really can do it all by hand, which is nice.
it’s easy to make and work with–you can feel confident rolling the dough many times, pinching and poking it, too. intense manipulation by the most inexperienced hands will not compromise the flakiness, though you may want to keep the dough on the cool side, it’s easier to shape that way. and of course, keep the board and rolling pin floured.

you don’t even really need a rolling pin, but i like to roll any chance i get.

you also don’t need to use a biscuit cutter (my mom and i used to roll the dough into balls of a roughly even shape, pound  and stretch them out with our fingers, and crimp the sides by stretching and folding the edges)

we used two kinds of apples (granny smith and fuji) *note from allison: we roasted the apples until they were soft, but not falling apart. we wanted them to still have some bite!

we decided to opt for the cinnamon sugar topping

but we got so carried away, chatting away over coffee, with the i love lucy marathon on in the background, we forgot to add the cinnamon sugar to the first batch…so most of our empanadas received a dusting of confectioner’s sugar…

a finished cinnamon-sugar dusted empanada

our first batch…

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a note about the baking time: if you use the lucinda scala quinn cream cheese pastry dough recipe or another rather sturdy dough recipe, your oven temperature and baking time should correspond to the instructions for the dough.

stick to chef bergman’s timing, of 15-20 minutes, if you use a delicate or store-bought puff pastry…

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pumpkin empanadas, courtesy of chef alan bergman of johnson and wales university

Yield: 20

Ingredients

Filling:
Pie Pumpkin 1
Apple: Green or Honey Crisp 1 medium
Cinnamon 1 T
Nutmeg 1 tsp
Brown Sugar 2 T
Granulated Sugar 1 T
Butter, softened 3 T
Egg, beaten 1

Method of Preparation

1. Peel the pie pumpkin and remove all seeds.

2. Cut the pumpkin into one inch cubes and place in medium sauce pot. Cover with water and simmer over moderate heat until tender.

3. Meanwhile, peel the apple and chop into small pieces. Place the apple in a small bowl. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and softened butter.

4. Next, drain the pumpkin and add to the seasoned apple mixture. Use your hands to toss the pumpkin and apple in the holiday spices until they are thoroughly covered.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

6. Place the filling mixture in a shallow baking pan and roast in oven for approximately 25 minutes or until fork tender.

7. Remove the caramelized filling and slightly mash with a fork. Once finished, the filling should remain chunky and have a stringy texture.

8. Roll out the empanada dough on a floured surface. Use a four inch round cookie cutter to make twenty circles of dough.

9. Place one rounded tablespoon of pumpkin filling in the center of each dough round. Fold the dough over the filling and secure the edges with your fingertips. Finish the empanadas by pinching the edges with a fork.

10. Place the empanadas on a piece of parchment paper over a baking
sheet. Lightly brush with the beaten egg.

11. If you are serving the empanadas as a dessert, you can sprinkle each with additional cinnamon sugar before baking.

12. Bake the empanadas in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

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