The dough recipe is perfect to make bake or fry empanadas, also it works great if you want to make sweet empanadas with fillings like: dulce de leche and banana, strawberries and blueberries or even Nutella.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 4 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 cup of cold butter, cubed
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup of milk
• 1 tsp of sugar
• A pinch of salt

For the filling:

• 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 2 cups of ham, cubed
• ¼ cup of butter

Instructions:

1. If you have a food processor, add the all purpose flour, sugar and salt. Pulse to mix.
2. Incorporate the cubes of butter and pulse again until you get a sand texture and there are no big chunks of butter visible.
3. Add the egg and milk. Pulse again to finally combine all the ingredients.
4. You will end with a soft dough.
5. If you don’t have a food processor, mix all the ingredients in the same order in a large bowl. When adding the butter make sure to smash it really well into the flour using a fork or a serrated knife.
6. In a previously floured flat surface, place your ball of dough and knead it for at least 5 minutes.
7. When kneaded, cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour before using.
8. When chilled, rollout the dough on a floured flat surface, around 1/8 inch thick.
9. Using a pastry cutter, cookie cutter, the rim of a glass or any other circular tool that you might have at home, cut your dough discs.
10. The usual empanada shape is kind of a half moon but you can use your imagination to create different shapes!
11. Add some of the cheese and ham in the middle of the dough disc and, carefully, pinch the edges together on top to create a tiny pouch.
12. Brush some butter to the outside of the empanada and place it in a tray to bake.
13. Bake the empanadas for 15 minutes or until golden with the oven at 180 °C (or 356° F).