My stepbrother’s wife gave my mom her recipe for empanadas. I asked for it. When I got it the empanada shell had quantities associated, but the filling didn’t, so I totally had to guess at amounts. Dawg thought the empanadas were delicious (I did too!) so I’m sharing my quantitied version of the recipe with you.

Shell:
4+1/2 cups flour
1+1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoon sugar
1 cup melted butter
Lisa‘s suggestion: Add cheddar cheese to the crust! (I of course recommend anything Cabot.)

Mix together, roll out and cut into 4″ circles. I used the top of my little cereal bowl for this, worked awesome!

Filling:
1+1/2 pounds ground beef
1 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
1 bell pepper, diced
1/2 large sweet onion, finely chopped
2 small raw potatoes, diced
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
dash salt
dash pepper

Mix all filling together in a bowl. Transfer to saute pan, brown all.

Assembly:
1 egg white, beaten

Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup filling to one half of each shell, pull other half of shell over onto filled side, close and crimp the shell so that no air goes into the shell. Brush egg white on each shell for shine. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Makes 18 empanadas. Cut the recipe measurements by 1/3 or 1/2 to make less.

And here’s a flickr set of the glorious end result!

In the set you’ll notice I also made an empanada cupcake with the extra dough. It was delicious, although the meat itself was a little dried out so maybe lower the oven to 325 and/or cover with aluminum foil while baking those. Omit egg white for the cupcakes.

Enjoy!