Sweet Apple Empanadas

4.72 from 7 votes

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These apple empanadas have homemade empanada dough and a sweet caramel apple filling. Make this Mexican dessert recipe for a delicious fall treat!

close up: Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Apple Empanadas


Empanadas are fun and easy to make. They can baked or fried, and filling options are basically endless! They’re
basically Mexican hand pies, so they’re fantastic for grab and go meals. Or, in the case of sweet empanadas, they’re an easy handheld snack or dessert.

I make a lot of empanada recipes because I am always coming up with new filling ideas. Plus, they freeze beautifully, and are a snap to reheat!

If you like kid-friendly dinners, serve a batch of beef empanadas with sides of Mexican rice and authentic elote (street corn). Your kids will clean their plates! Then you can treat them to golden brown, baked caramel apple empanadas for dessert!

Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Apple Empanadas1

Ingredient notes for apple empanadas

  • Empanada dough– As long as you have a food processor, making the dough is a snap! If you don’t want to make the dough, you can buy frozen empanada discs from your local grocery store or Mexican market.

SHOPPING NOTE

If you’ll be buying empanada dough for this dessert recipe, be sure to buy sweet empanada dough or discs. This is because dough for savory empanadas isn’t sweetened with sugar.

If savory dough is all you can find, you may want to add 1 teaspoon of sugar to the apple filling.

  • Apples – I use Granny Smith apples, but any crisp, sweet, firm-fleshed baking apple is perfect. Other good options are Gala, Pink Lady, Honey Crisp, Cortland, and McIntosh.

    If you’d like to use a different fruit, feel free! Baked rhubarb empanadas are delicious, and pears, berries, and cherries all work well for sweet empanadas, too.
  • Caramels – Kraft makes a product called caramel bits and they are really convenient to use. They’re essentially unwrapped Kraft caramels, but much smaller in size.

Substitutes for Kraft Caramel Bits

25 unwrapped Kraft caramels may be substituted for 1 cup Kraft caramel bits. Cut these into smaller pieces if using. If you’ll be using a different brand of caramel candies, keep in mind that you’ll want 5 ounces of caramels for this recipe.

If you aren’t a fan of using ingredients with so much corn syrup in them, you could make my recipe for homemade caramel and use that instead! You’ll probably need to thicken it a bit first though, because it’s a bit thin for a filling like this. I’ve included notes below on how to thicken the caramel sauce.

Of course, if you’d rather bake apple empanadas without caramel in them you can omit the caramels altogether.

How to thicken caramel sauce for empanada filling

There are a couple of options for thickening caramel sauce that’s too thin.

  • Cool it down. The easiest way to thicken the sauce is to simply allow it to chill a bit longer. Until it’s completely cool, it will continue to thicken.
  • Add a slurry. Place a cup of the thin caramel sauce into a small saucepan over medium heat. Gently stir in 1 teaspoon of cornstarch combined with 1/2 teaspoon of water. This mixture is called a slurry, and it’s a great thickener! After the slurry is stirred in, continue heating the caramel for a minute or two, stirring gently. It should thicken up perfectly for you.

Recipe Video

If you know how to make biscuits or a basic pie crust, you’ll have no problems making the empanada dough, because the ingredients are almost identical. The process is the same for all three as well; just a few pulses in a food processor and it’s ready to go into the fridge to chill!

To watch the process of making this dessert recipe from start to finish, watch the video located in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Want to make some other Mexican dessert recipes?

Save your appetite for churros with chocolate sauce or fried bananas with cinnamon honey sauce!

Apple Empanada Recipe Notes

  1. Use cold ingredients for the dough.

The key to a perfect, flaky empanada crust is using ingredients that are very cold. Sometimes, I’ll even use butter straight from the freezer. I just grate it on a box grater instead of dicing it. Chill all of the ingredients for the empanada dough; you can even put your flour into the freezer for a few minutes if you’d like.

  1. Chill the dough before cutting the discs.

Even when you use very cold ingredients, they tend to warm up in the food processor. If you try to cut the discs out of warm dough, it is likely to tear. Take a break and let the dough chill for 30 minutes or so first.

  1. Measure out the apple filling.

It is very easy to use too much filling, and trust me; if you do this, the apple empanadas will most likely burst open in the oven. To avoid that mess, use a 1/4 measuring cup to portion out the filling.

Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Apple Empanadas9

FAQ

Can baked empanadas be frozen and reheated?

Yes, freezing empanadas is one of the best meal prep ideas ever! Not only do empanadas freeze well, they reheat just as beautifully.

To reheat baked apple empanadas, simply place them frozen or thawed on a lined baking sheet and into a 350°F. oven. From thawed or room temperature, cook for 10 minutes. If empanadas are frozen, give them 15 minutes to heat through.

Why are my empanadas soggy?

In most cases, the reason empanadas get soggy is that the filling is too wet. If you’re making sweet empanadas, dry fillings such as apples or pears work better than berries, which tend to have more juice.

If you’re making savory meat empanadas, you can place the filling into a strainer to allow any meat juices to drain before adding it.

Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Apple Empanadas12
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close up: Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Apple Empanadas

Caramel Apple Empanadas

4.72 from 7 votes
These apple empanadas have homemade empanada dough and caramel apple filling. Make this Mexican inspired dessert recipe for a sweet fall treat!
Servings: 12 servings
Prep: 35 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Total: 55 minutes

Equipment

  • 6-inch round biscuit or cookie cutter
  • silicone baking mat or parchment paper
  • rimmed baking sheet

Ingredients 

Dough

Filling

  • 2 Granny Smith apples peeled and diced
  • 1 lemon
  • 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 cup Kraft caramel bits (See Note 1)
  • 1 egg beaten (for egg wash)

Garnish

Instructions 

Make Sweet Empanada Dough

  • Add flour, sugar and salt to bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the cold butter, eggs and water and pulse several times, until a dough forms.
  • Remove dough from bowl and transfer to a floured surface. Use your hands to knead the dough a few times. Divide dough into 2 equal sized balls, flatten them into thick discs, wrap with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Make Apple Filling

  • Peel, core and dice the apples. Transfer diced apples to a large bowl, and squeeze lemon juice over top. Add 2 tbsp flour, cinnamon and caramel bits, then toss to combine. Set aside.
  • Set oven to 375° F.

Make Empanadas

  • Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a thin sheet (1/8-inch thickness) and use 6-inch round biscuit/cookie cutter to cut 12 empanada discs. Dough scraps may be gathered and rerolled as necessary. Place discs on a rimmed baking sheet lined with silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
  • Place 1/4 cup apple filling in center of each empanada disc. Note: Be careful not to add too much filling, as it will tear the dough.
  • Dip your index finger into water and moisten outer rim of each disc, then fold each disc in half to enclose the filling. Gently press edges of dough with your fingers to seal the empanada closed, then use tines of a fork to crimp edges together. Refrigerate the empanadas for at least 30 minutes before baking.
  • Brush tops of each apple empanada with egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar crystals. Bake the empanadas for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Video

Notes

  1. 25 unwrapped Kraft caramels may be substituted for 1 cup Kraft caramel bits. Cut these into smaller pieces if using. If you’ll be using a different brand of caramel candies, keep in mind that you’ll want 5 ounces of caramels for this recipe. Alternatively, you could make and use homemade caramel or use Nestle Pumpkin Morsels.
=============================
To Thicken Thin Caramel Sauce
If homemade caramel seems too runny, allow it to cool and thicken. Alternatively, place 1 cup caramel in saucepan over medium heat and gently stir in 1 teaspoon cornstarch and 1/2 teaspoon water. Simmer contents over medium heat until sauce reaches desired consistency.

Nutrition

Calories: 380kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 83mg | Sodium: 297mg | Potassium: 142mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 559IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 48mg | Iron: 2mg

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Course: Desserts
Cuisine: Mexican
Have You Made This Recipe? Let Me Know on InstagramTag @keviniscooking or tag me #keviniscooking!
apple empanadas stacke don plate

Kevin

Whether in the kitchen or on the grill, you’ll find me cooking American favorites with a love for BBQ, Mexican and Tex Mex. I’m passionate about making tasty food because life’s too short to be bland!

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26 Comments

  1. This might be obvious but I don’t bake sweets often. Is the butter supposed to be salted or unsalted? Or does it not matter?

      1. 5 stars
        I think I ended up using salted butter. They turned out AMAZING! My hubby brought them to work and at the end of the night there wasn’t a single empanada left to bring back home.

  2. Hello! I will be trying out this recipe tonight. I have a question. Can I prep them tonight, sit in the fridge overnight and bake them tomorrow? Or is it better to go ahead and bake them tonight and reheat tomorrow?

    1. I’m sorry I missed your comment in time for you to make them ahead, Marie. Empanadas are always best when baked fresh. In the future, you could full bake them, then either freeze for up to 3 months or keep at room temperature in an airtight container for up to a week.

      1. Yes there is a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon that goes in as well Josie. Hope you enjoy these. 🙂

      2. Hi Kevin,
        Today I am going to try and make the apple empanadas of course using your recipe. I just hope my dough comes out looking just like yours and tasting like my mama’s.

  3. Hi Keven, I have never heard of Kraft caramel ‘bits’ and see that you suggest the caramel pieces which I had on hand, however no instructions as to how I would incorporate the large caramel pieces into the 12 empanadas. So I tried melting them too add to the chopped apple pieces but that was an epic failure because as soon as the melted caramel hit the cold apples they formed large clumps so I quickly stopped that. I them decided to add the 1/4 c apples to each circle and then added about a TBSP of melted caramel to the top. It wasn’t pretty and felt awkward. What else could you suggest doing? Ty.

    1. Nora, I’m so sorry that the recipe didn’t turn out well for you. Rather than melting the caramels, I think it may work better if you used a sharp knife to cut each caramel in half. Use just two or three caramel halves per empanada (depending on the size you make). Hopefully that will work better for you. Please let me know!

    1. Thanks so much Yvonne, appreciate it. AND for reminding me of this one. I need to make a batch myself! 🙂

  4. 3 stars
    Oh Wow, a “Mexican” Dessert, Yurrrmy.
    Could I ask what Nestlé Toll House Pumpkin Spice morsels are? Never heard of or seen anything like that here in the Bush LOL. or if you can give me an idea of what it is basically, so I can try find a sub 🙂

    Thanks Mills Kevin

    Flee
    South Africa

    1. 5 stars
      I wonder if the Pumpkin Spice morsels are seasonal? We’re using caramel chips for now and will look for the pumpkin spice chips in the fall.

  5. 5 stars
    All those tablespoons of butter…. AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW YESSSS! I want to dig my face in them, like a straight guy wants to dig his face in…. BAH HA HA HA AH 😉