The Border Table · Source Edition
Pineapple Empanadas
Small baked turnovers with pineapple preserves and a cinnamon-sugar finish.
The owner’s 2021 recipe keeps the filling simple: a measured spoonful of preserves.
Cook it
The owner’s 2021 recipe keeps the filling simple: a measured spoonful of preserves.
- Make the pastry. Sift the flour with the teaspoon of sugar and the salt. Cut in the shortening with two forks. Separately combine the beaten egg, vinegar and water, then mix the liquid into the flour mixture by hand until it forms a ball.
- Chill and fill. Chill the dough for 30 minutes. Divide it into small balls and roll each into a circle. Put about ½ teaspoon pineapple preserves on one side of each circle, fold over and pinch the edges firmly to seal.
- Bake. Set the empanadas on a baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 14 to 18 minutes, until the pastry is baked and lightly colored. Mix the remaining cup of sugar with the tablespoon of cinnamon while they bake.
- Coat. Carefully remove the warm empanadas from the baking sheet, coat in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and let cool on a platter.
Serve it
Serve at room temperature after the coating sets. For gifting or a dessert table, arrange the small turnovers in a single layer until completely cool so their pastry stays distinct.
Understand it
What makes this version work
Use a small amount of preserves, even when the pastry looks able to hold more: the archived measure is only half a teaspoon per piece, which helps the folded edge stay shut. Chill the dough before rolling so the high-shortening pastry is easier to handle. The coating goes on after baking while the surface can still catch the sugar. The source also allows a different preserve flavor, but pineapple is the featured recipe here.
Know it
The recorded recipe and its place at the table
This is the owner’s recorded 2021 pineapple version. The archive contains the dough, preserves, fold, baking range and cinnamon-sugar coating, but does not establish an inventor or one exact regional origin for empanadas. Mexican American baking includes many filled pastries; this page keeps the claim to what the card can support. The pineapple filling is preserved here because changing it would make a different recipe.
Sources and method
About this version
The ingredient proportions and core method come from the owner’s 2021 Authentic Tex-Mex Recipes card. The Border Table has clarified the instructions for readers without claiming an undocumented inventor or origin for the exact formula. The external source gives broader culinary context; it does not authenticate the owner’s private recipe.
- Smithsonian National Museum of American History, The Tex-Mex Invasion.
- FoodSafety.gov, Four Steps to Food Safety — refrigeration and safe handling guidance where relevant.
See our corrections policy to suggest an update.
