Pumpkin Empanadas
By: Anonymous
Published: Saturday, February 13, 2010 - 6:34am

Ingredients




2 cups Unbleached white flour
2 tablespoons Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking powder
teaspoon Salt
cup Shortening
cup Cold sweet butter
1 tablespoon Brandy
3 tablespoons Milk
16 ounces Canned pumpkin puree
cup Brown sugar
2 teaspoons Cinnamon, or 2 teaspoons minced wild anise leaves
teaspoon Freshly grated nutmeg
1 Egg
2 teaspoons Pure vanilla
1 Egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water for glaze
2 tablespoons Sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preparation

1 Thanksgiving day, I whipped up the following in lieu of the traditional pumpkin (ho-hum) pie. Both the crust and the filling are excellent. The flavors are a bit richer and more interesting than the traditional punkin' pie (at least my punkin' pie). The only problem that I encountered was that the dough was a bit hard to handleit tended to tear and was a bit hard to roll out thin. That may be because instead of chilling it for a half-hour like the recipe says, I put it in the fridge and forgot about it for two and a half hours! 2 It seemed to get easier to handle as it warmed up. Also, instead of making the dough by hand, I used my food processor and it turned out just fine. Just don't over process the dough if you do it that way 3 These remind me of Mexican Dim-Sum. In fact I'm sure that they'd be good with meat fillings toosay, curried pork or beef and onions 4 (without the final sprinkling of cinnamon sugar though). 5 Sift together first 4 ingredients. Cut in the shortening and butter using a pastry blender or 2 knives. The mixture should resemble coarse meal. 6 Combine brandy and milk, and drizzle over flour mixture, stirring with a fork to distribute. Do not over-blend. 7 Form into a flat disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes. 8 Preheat oven to 400F. 9 To make the filling, blend together the pumpkin, brown sugar, spices, egg and vanilla. 10 When dough is chilled, roll out thinly on a floured board or pastry cloth. Cut into 4- or 5-inch circles. Place about 2 tablespoons pumpkin filling on the lower half of each dough circle. Fold over top half. Press the edges together with a fork. Brush tops with egg wash and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden. 11 While still warm, sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. These may be baked 1 day ahead. Before serving, warm in a 350F oven for 8 minutes. 12 Makes 14 to 16 empanadas. Pumpkin Empanadas (Jacqueline 13 When Grandmama made these little pies she included anise, which grew wild around our rancho.