Rhubarb and strawberry empanadas
Easy recipe for homemade rhubarb and strawberry empanadas. These sweet dessert empanadas or turnovers are filled with a mix of fresh rhubarb and strawberries.
These rhubarb and strawberry empanadas or sweet turnovers are perfect to celebrate spring (and summer). It’s probably pretty obvious by now that I really like empanadas, and most of the time I make savory empanadas. As a kid I obviously preferred the sweet empanadas stuffed with yummy fruit inside.
Every now and then I want a sweet empanada either for dessert or breakfast or as an afternoon snack with some café con leche. I’m also trying to incorporate all the yummy things I get at the farmer’s market into my cooking, so while the original plan was to use strawberries as the filling when I saw the bright red stalks of rhubarb I had to add them -partly out of curiosity because I have heard all about how strawberries and rhubarb make this great combination, but had never tasted it before.
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Of course the first thing I did when I got home was try a piece of rhubarb. My reaction was yuck, this is so sour. Though it reminded me of a small plant that used to grow close the water canals on our farm in Ecuador. This plant had small and very thin green reddish stalks that I don’t how or why but I tasted them and they were very sour, yet almost refreshing. But essentially still tasted like something a normal person wouldn’t eat. I was skeptical but if “everyone” thought rhubarb, strawberries and sugar were great then I had to try it, so I chopped a few more pieces of rhubarb, added some chopped strawberries, sugar and cooked it for a few minutes, and it actually tasted quite good.
At first I was going to cook the rhubarb and strawberries to make the filling, but when I did my little taste test I noticed how quickly they both cooked, which meant that just the heat of the oven while they were baking would be sufficient, so I just mixed them with sugar, orange juice and cornstarch and let them marinate for an hour.
I drained the rhubarb and strawberry mixture to remove as much liquid as possible, because I didn’t want it leaking out, however despite that and despite trying to seal the empanadas they still leaked while they were baking. I’ve gotten a lot better at keeping cheese from leaking from empanadas, but need to work on the fruit ones. Though it is not really a big deal if fruit empanadas leak when baking, usually it is just the juices that leak out – and they leave a nice color on the edges, plus the empanadas still taste great.
I served these strawberry and rhubarb empanadas with some Grand Marnier (orange liqueur) whipped cream. I have one of those cool cream whippers where you just mix all the ingredients and then put them in the whipper container, charge it and done. I used 2 cups of heavy cream, 3 tbs of sugar and 2 tbs of Grand Marnier, and it was just right, not too sweet and with a hint of orange liqueur.
Rhubarb and strawberry empanadas
Ingredients
- 15-18 medium or 25-30 small sweet empanada discs made from basic sweet empanada dough
- 3 cups chopped rhubarb
- 3 cups chopped strawberries
- 1/2 cup to 1 cup sugar adjust based on your preference
- 2 tbs orange juice
- 1 tbs cornstarch or tapioca starch
- 1 egg yolk and white separated and lightly whisked
- 1/4 cup demerara sugar for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, orange juice and cornstarch in a large bowl, mix well and let rest for an hour.
- Drain the liquid from the strawberries and rhubarb.
- To assemble the empanadas spoon the rhubarb and strawberry mixture on the center of the empanada disc.
- Brush the edges of the empanada disc with the egg whites.
- Fold the empanada discs and seal the edges, use a fork to help seal the empanadas.
- Lightly brush the top of the empanadas with the egg yolk; this will give them a nice golden glow when baked.
- Sprinkle the demerara sugar on the top of the empanadas.
- Chill the empanadas for at least 30 minutes, this will help them seal better and prevent leaks.
- Bake the empanadas in a pre-heated oven at 375 F for 30 minutes or until golden.
- Serve either warm or cold with whipped cream.
Step by step preparation photos for strawberry and rhubarb empanadas
right now we still have rhubarb in season, but strawberries are on their way out. i bet it would be nice to try the rhubarb empanadas with raspberries to replace the dwindling strawberries.
also, for plants with a little longer duration, possibly early blueberries & rhubarb.
i made a rhubarb cake tonight with wild black raspberry /cream cheese frosting. the two were perfect together as the cake was tart and the frosting was moderately sweet.
i have some rhubarb left over, so i’m going to try to make these.
also, i wonder if the plant you knew in ecuador was burdock. it looks a lot like rhubarb but is darker overall. i don’t know if they taste similar or not.
Another great idea! I made these last night and to prevent the fruit from getting too juicy and spilling out I added a tablespoon of arrowroot powder to the filling (instead of cornstarch). First, mix the arrowroot with the sugar, then add it to the fruit. This acts like a thickener without compromising the flavor like cornstarch. Either way- the recipe is a keeper.
The empanadas look great. I was just talking to my mom yesterday about when I was younger helping my grandmother in the kitchen making them. She would make sweet ones like the one’s above and some fashioned like a meal such as meat and potato or chorizo and potato. The sweet ones were great too. Your empanadas look great.
These look gorgeous and taste wonderful too–yum–
These were delicious! AND as one who hates to ever throw anything away, I took the strained out juice from the Strawberry-Rhubarb mixture, added a little cornstarch, and condensed the liquid down to a thick syrup. It was wonderful as a glaze on top of the pastries instead of the demerara sugar
WOW they look so sweet and yummy . I can’t wait to git em a try !
I’ve never seen sweet empanadas before, only savoury ones – they look and sound delicous though, will try your recipe very soon – thanks for sharing!
Wow, that looks absolutely delicious! Great post, you did such a nice job presenting the pictures too…I am definitely going to have to try that recipe this weekend! Thanks :)
Very good job! That would be a great recipe to use for my annual summer party. Nice and portable.
Ahh… what a great idea! I bet they are delicious! You have me craving them right now!!!