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Craving some sweet empanadas? Then read on for a step-by-step guide on how to make empanada dough from scratch!

This is actually a super simple recipe with only 3 ingredients: cream cheese, all-purpose flour, and butter.

That’s all you need for this super authentic Mexican recipe. Well, that plus whatever delicious filling you decide to add inside.

How to make empanada dough for sweet empanadas

First Step:

Bring your butter and cream cheese to room temperature. Then mix until well combined. You do not need a hand mixer or kitchen aid for this. It can easily be done by hand or with a mixing spoon.

Second Step:

Add in your flour and mix until well incorporated. The consistency is quite thick and, similar to the previous step, is best mixed by hand or with a mixing spoon.

Third Step:

Roll into 30 g balls (about golf ball sized) and use a plastic lined tortilla press (or rolling pin) to flatten into an empanada disk that you can fill with whatever sweet fillings you like.

To seal your empanadas, you can use the fork method for a more traditional seal or the flatten & twist method, which I prefer most (it’s prettier).

Sweet empanada fillings

You can fill your empanadas with whatever you’d like but here are some different filling ideas to get your started:

• dulce de leche
• sweetened pumpkin
• cinnamon apple

My personal favorite filling is dulce de leche (cajeta).

Bake your empanadas.

This dessert empanada dough recipe is meant to be baked at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Once baked, immediately dip each empanada in a bowl of cinnamon sugar and then place on a plate to cool.

As long as your dessert empanadas are still warm, the cinnamon sugar should adhere to the pastry no problem.

As far as taste, I would describe these as almost cookie like. Kind of like a shortbread cookie but stuffed with a sweet melty filling and topped with cinnamon sugar. An absolutely delicious, melt in your mouth dessert.