An enduring fall dessert for the fall season
Every year after Halloween, when Yvette MarquezSharpnack’s carved jack-o’lanterns looked soggy, her grandmother in El Paso, Texas, saw an opportunity to repurpose them.
Jesusita Soza, who had immigrated from Chihuahua, Mexico, would cut the aging pumpkin into pieces and simmer it in cinnamon, cloves and piloncillo to make a purée that she stuffed into empanada dough.
“As much as I thought my jack- o’-lantern looked sad and wilted, she still found something to make it amazing,” said Marquez-sharpnack, a food blogger at Muy Bueno and an author of several cookbooks, who now lives in Highlands Ranch. “It’s a dessert that you crave, if you grew up with it.”
For many Mexican Americans, especially those living in states along the Mexican border, pumpkin empanadas are an enduring fall dessert, made at home or in bakeries, especially during the holiday season.
Houston restaurateur Sylvia Casares serves at least three dozen for dessert at her family celebrations. The recipe is from her grandmother Sarita Casares, who was born and raised in the late 1800s in the border town Reynosa, Mexico. Sylvia Casares has tweaked the formula, sprinkling cinnamon sugar on top to give the empanadas a sheen.
Casares is the author of “The Enchilada Queen Cookbook: Enchiladas, Fajitas, Tamales, and More Classic Recipes from Texas-mexico Border Kitchens.”
Empanadas have been around since at least 250 B.C. They made their way to Spain, and followed the Spaniards to Latin America, said Sandra Gutierrez,
the author of several cookbooks including “Empanadas: The Hand-held Pies of Latin America.”
The filling for pumpkin empanadas has its origins in calabaza en tacha (sometimes called ayote en miel or dulce de calabaza throughout Latin America), a squash dessert slow cooked with a spiced syrup, Gutierrez said. The squash, which is native to Mexico and Central America, is stewed in piloncillo or panela. In some areas of northern Mexico, the pumpkin filling also includes guava.
In Mexico, the empanada shell is made with wheat flour, yeast and cinnamon, yielding a texture that Gutierrez said is “almost like having a mixture of bread, a muffin and pie at the same time.” In the Southwestern United States, the dough has evolved into more of a flaky pie crust. Modern home cooks also sometimes use canned pumpkin or fro
zen store-bought empanada dough that is made specifically for baking.
For more than 50 years, bakers have made pumpkin empanadas every day at the Golden Crown Panadería in Albuquerque, N.M. The bakery’s founder, Pratt Morales, uses a recipe he learned in the 1970s from a New Mexican family whose members are no longer alive. They had been making the pumpkin empanadas — with a flaky pie- crust breading similar to a pastelito — for hundreds of years, he said, and taught Morales how to make the dessert that’s still served the same way today.
During the bakery’s busy season from October to January, Golden Crown will make nearly 5,000 pumpkin empanadas. Morales’ son, Chris Morales, said they taste like something you would have “sitting at home with Grandma and making it together.”
Pumpkin Empanadas
During the fall, many Mexican American households and bakeries simmer winter squash with sugar and spices to make a purée then stuff it into disks of dough to make pumpkin empanadas. This recipe from Yvette MarquezSharpnack, a cookbook author and food blogger, is similar to her grandmother’s, but opts for convenience with canned pumpkin. When Marquez-sharpnack was a child living in El Paso, Texas, her grandmother — from Chihuahua, Mexico — would cut up an old jack-o’-lantern and simmer it to make the filling, similar to ayote en miel. While Marquez-sharpnack recommends making the dough from scratch, you could also use store-bought empanada disks for baking, which are less sweet and slightly firmer but incredibly easy to work with. Recipe from Yvette MarquezSharpnack; adapted by Christina Morales,
Yield: About 24 empanadas. Total time: About 2 1/4 hours.
INGREDIENTS
For the pumpkin filling: 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 (packed) cup/ 150 grams dark brown sugar 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin purée
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg For the dough and assembly: 3 cups/384 grams all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs, plus 1 beaten egg for brushing
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons sugar
Cooking spray
DIRECTIONS
1. Make the filling: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
Stir in the brown sugar until it dissolves, about 5 minutes. Next, stir in the pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. (The sugar mixture might firm up when you add the pumpkin, but it will disperse as the mixture cooks further.) Cook, stirring frequently, until darkened and the flavor has deepened, about 10 minutes.
( You should have about 1 3/4 cups.)
2. Transfer the filling to a bowl and let it cool for about 15 minutes, then chill for 30 minutes (or overnight) to help it set.
3. While the filling chills, make the empanada dough: In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Using a large fork, cut in the shortening, then use your fingertips to blend it in.
4. Add the 2 eggs, milk and sugar; stir to combine. Continue to knead the dough just until all the dry spots have disappeared. Split the dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 20 to 30 minutes. Take out one half of the dough and split it into 12 balls of dough.
5. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the dough into small, 4 1/2-to-5-inch circles. Add about 1 heaping tablespoon filling on the top half of the rolled out dough. Wet the bottom edge of the dough with water, then fold over the dough to seal, pressing out any air. Seal off the edges by crimping them with the tines of a fork.
6. Brush each empanada with the beaten egg and puncture each empanada with a fork to allow steam to escape while baking.
7. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray, or place the empanadas on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes.