Fried pie dough pockets filled with warm apple pie filling, dusted with cinnamon sugar and dipped into dulce de leche, what's not to love?!

If you loved McDonald's fried apple pies back in the day, you will love these empanadas!

Lately, I've gotten really into combining American and Latin food. Two things I love are apple pie and my mom's empanadas. So I've decided to combine the two by making fried apple empanadas, using pie crust dough and homemade apple pie filling.

Ingredients

Cold butter cut into cubes
All-purpose flour
Sea salt
Baking powder
Sugar
Cold water
Gala apples
Brown sugar
Butter
Fresh lime juice
Ground Ceylon cinnamon
Grated nutmeg.
Dulce de leche
Milk

Instructions

Make your pie dough

Prepare the dough by placing the flour, baking powder, salt cold butter and sugar in a food processor. Pulse a couple of times until the texture begins to look like big crumbs.
Add the cold water one tablespoon at a time and pulse in the food processor until homogeneous mass is obtained.
Remove the dough and knead the dough over a floured surface. Be sure not to overwork the dough. Then form the dough into a disk, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator.
Let the dough cool in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

Make your apple pie filling

Peel and cut the apples into small cubes and place in a medium mixing bowl. Add lime juice and stir so that all the apples are covered in juice to avoid browning.
Place the apples, butter, cornmeal, sugar, pinch of nutmeg and Ceylon cinnamon in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Gently stir the apples for about 8-10 minutes until the sugar and cinnamon slurry begin to boil.
Place the apples back in the medium mixing bowl and allow to cool completely.

Make the apple pie empanadas

Remove the dough from the fridge and start rolling it out over a floured surface.
Roll out the dough until the dough is about a half a centimeter thick. Be sure to move the dough around and keep flouring your surface to avoid it from sticking.
Cut out 7 inch circles (I used a soup bowl) and place it on the emapanda maker.

Fill the dough with 2 tablespoons of cooled apple filling, lightly wet the edges with cold water and close the empanada maker to seal the edges.
Place the sealed apple empanadas on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and place them in the refrigerator for about 10 to 15 minutes, this will harden up the dough.

In a frying pan, place 1 cup of sunflower oil or vegetable oil then heat at medium high heat and allow the oil to reach 350 degrees.
Fry the empanadas in batches of at least three at a time, so the oil will maintain the right temperature. Fry 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until they are golden brown.
Once fried, move the empanadas to a plate lined with paper towels and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Prepare the dulce de leche dipping sauce

In a microwave safe bowl, combine the dulce de leche and milk. Cook in the microwave for 1 minute and stir until combined. Continue to cook at 1 minute intervals until you reach the desired consistency.

Be sure to eat the fried apple empanadas nice and hot! If they get cold, you can microwave them for 10 seconds on high.

Variations and Substitutions

Don't have access to Gala apples? Opt for Granny Smith apples instead

Don't want to make your own pie crust dough? Opt instead for store-bough pie crust

Not a fan of Dulce de leche? Simply omit the dipping sauce and enjoy the fried apple handpies without it.

Storage

Cooked apple empanadas can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for upto 3 days. Reheat in the oven or toaster oven at 350 degrees for about 7-8 minutes.

Uncooked empanadas can be wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen.

Fried Apple Empanada Recipe!

Ingredients