How to make empanadas with cream cheese pastry, filled with potato, Spanish chorizo and onion and baked
- With a dough that’s resilient, light and flaky, these pastry pockets have a spicy filling that combines Spanish chorizo, onion and potatoes
- If you have a tortilla press or dumpling skin press to cut the dough into discs it will speed things up, but if not, roll it out on a surface dusted with flour
Empanadas come with a wide variety of fillings, and are either baked or fried. In restaurants, I prefer the fried version, but baked ones are lighter and easier to cook.
Empanadas with cream cheese pastry
I love to use this dough for sweet and savoury tarts and pies because it is easy to roll out and, when baked, is rich and resilient, with a light flakiness. It is not traditionally used for empanadas, but it is delicious.
The dough recipe is adapted from one in The Pie and Pastry Bible (1998), by Rose Levy Beranbaum, and should be made at least an hour before you use it (although longer is better). The cream cheese and butter need to be very cold.
I use a tortilla press to form the circles of dough. If you have a metal press to make dumpling skins, you can use that instead. If you have neither a tortilla press nor a dumpling wrapper press, you will need to roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface.
For the cream cheese dough:
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370 grams (13 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting the wrappers
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¼ tsp fine sea salt
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¼ tsp baking powder
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170 grams (6 oz) cream cheese, chilled
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225 grams (8 oz) unsalted butter, chilled
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40ml (2 tbsp + 2 tsp) iced water
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15ml (1 tbsp) cider vinegar or rice vinegar
For the filling:
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225 grams (8 oz) Spanish chorizo
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1 small onion (about 150 grams)
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1 garlic clove
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600 grams (22 oz) potatoes
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½ tsp chilli powder
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¼ tsp smoked paprika
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Fine sea salt
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1 egg
