What better way to enjoy dessert than digging in with both hands? Or perhaps, just one hand. Is an empanada a sandwich? A dumpling? Something entirely different? Whichever way you classify empanadas — whether sweet, savory, or somewhere in between — an empanada press is an essential tool for making the most convenient and delicious desserts. Put your empanada press to work on handheld sweet treats so you can save time and savor the flavor. The hand pie possibilities are seemingly endless with an innumerable amount of pie types and flavors from around the world.
One major consideration for turning your pie into a portable handheld is the crust factor. Because an empanada press is typically used for adding filling to the dough and sealing it up, you’re going to want to choose a crust with enough structural integrity to handle filling and crimping. Ideally, this would be a traditional “double crust” pie. Too thin or stretchy of a dough won’t work correctly under the weight of your filling. Creating the right crust as a base will ensure your pie can be optimally empanada-fied.
Impressive dessert empanadas
While traditional sweet Spanish empanadas usually contain apples, the variety of fruit, cream, or other fillings to place inside of a rich crimped crust is only limited by your imagination. Take, for example, an all-fruit mincemeat pie, which boasts a bevy of boozy dried fruits and warming spices. Imagine filling a nice, flaky crust with all of the above and preparing it in the style of a baked or fried empanada.
For year-round peach pie goodness, you wouldn’t even have to wait for the fresh summer fruit to plop these peaches into proper pie dough and load it into your empanada press. You could even apply your empanada press to rugelach hand pies, which boast a beautiful cream cheese dough filled with fruits and nuts. Any pie with a custard filling and thick crust can also be easily translated into an empanada format. Your empanada press will make dessert preparation a breeze and the crust encasing your luscious sweets will make consumption and cleanup even easier.
