How to Make Sweet Empanadas

These empanadas are very versatile - you can fill them with whatever sweet filling you've got handy. Makes 20 cookies.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• 16-oz. Jar Pomegranates Jelly Or Other Fruit Preserves
• 1/2 cup shortenings
• 1/3 tsp. salt
• 3 tbsp. granulated sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour

1. Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the shortening with two knives or your fingertips.
2. Add 3/4 cup tap water a little at a time until a dough forms.
3. Knead the dough briefly, and then form into 20 balls. The balls should be about golf-ball-sized.
4. Roll the balls with a rolling pin on a floured surface to about five inches in diameter.
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
6. Take a heaping tablespoon of jelly and place on one half of a dough circle. Try not to get the jelly too close to the edge of the dough.
7. Moisten the edges of the dough with some water and then fold the other half over the jelly. Crease the folded edges of the dough with the tines of a fork to seal it.
8. Repeat with the remaining dough. Bake on greased cookie sheets for 16 minutes or until golden brown.

Tips & Warnings

• To cut in shortening with knives, hold one knife (use table knives) in each hand, with the blades facing inward. Draw the knives simultaneously through the shortening lump in the flour, to break it up. Keep doing this until the shortening is evenly dispersed in the flour. If using your fingertips, smear the shortening into the flour to disperse it. The idea is to get the still-solid shortening evenly mixed into the flour.
• The traditional filling for these cookies is a mixture of Mexican pumpkin cooked with brown sugar and spices.