• Cooking Time: 65
• Servings: 70 small
• Preparation Time: 45
• Empanada Dough (or your own pie dough)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup lard
• 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup ice water
• EMPANADA FILLING
• 1 lb ground beef or ground pork
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/3 cup almonds, toasted,chopped
• 1/3 cup black raisins
• 8 plum tomatoes
• 24 serrano peppers
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• egg wash

1. FOR DOUGH:
2. Put flour and salt in cuisinart, pulse to combine.
3. Add cold lard and butter, pulse to form crumbs.
4. Add water and pulse until it just comes together.
5. Chill at least 30 minutes.
6. Roll out and cut out circles.
7. Preheat oven to 400F
8. FILLING:
9. Saute meat, drain fat.
10. Saute onions for 2 minutes, add garlic, almonds and raisins and saute for 2 minutes more.
11. Place tomato, chiles, lime juice, salt and pepper in blender.
12. Puree until smooth.
13. Add puree, cumin, cloves, cinnamon meat and onion to skillet.
14. Cook 5 minutes or until excess liquid evaporates.
15. Cool. Fill pastry circles, fold and crimp with fork.
16. Brush with egg wash.
17. On parchment lined baking sheets, bake 10 minutes or until golden at 400F.
18. After eggwash and before baking these can be frozen.
19. Bake frozen empanadas for 20 minutes at 400F.

Make them any size you want. They make wonderful appetizers served warm or room temp. Make them bigger to serve as an entree. These were awesome... just the right amount of sweet to offset the spice!