Custard-Filled Turnovers

Yes, you read that right! Pastry cream and empanadillas together in the same preparation. A divine bite and hard to beat. Especially if they're homemade. They can be made with supermarket wrappers, a passable solution for a moment of need. But incomparable to empanadillas made with homemade dough. With their lard, a little sweet wine and lots of care.

This is a recipe my grandmother used to make. Well, I don't know if her empanadilla dough is exactly the same. But the fact is she made exquisite cream empanadillas that left the whole family speechless. She lived a block from my parents' house and when she made them she would call us to come pick up a tray. Once at home the cream empanadillas lasted no time at all. The same as they lasted at my place and they will at yours if you make them.

Mold for empanadillas and Every Le Creuset cast-iron cocotte

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 110 g of sweet white wine (also water or milk)
• 110 g of melted pork lard (also olive oil)
• 350 g of wheat flour
• 40 g of sugar

• 500 ml of milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 85 g of sugar
• 50 g of refined corn starch (maizena)
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 cinnamon stick

• Plenty of vegetable oil for frying
• Icing sugar for dusting

You will get 25 to 30 empanadillas.

Every Le Creuset cast-iron cocotte and Mold for empanadillas

Preparation

1. For the pastry cream we place the milk and the cinnamon stick in a saucepan.
2. With a very sharp knife we peel the half lemon very carefully and very thinly, we only want the yellow part of the peel, and add it to the milk (a curved knifeis ideal for this).
3. We put the milk on the heat and warm over low heat for a couple of minutes without letting it boil.
4. Separate the egg whites from the yolks. In a deep bowl we mix the egg yolks with the sugar and the fine corn flour. When the milk is hot we remove the cinnamon stick and lemon peel, pour half over the previous mixture and stir with a whisk until incorporated.
5. We pour into the little pot and bring back to the heat.
6. We heat over low heat for about five minutes, without stopping stirring gently with a whisk.
7. When the cream thickens we pour it into a bowl and cover with cling film, touching the surface so that a crust does not form. Once tempered we put it in the fridge where we let it cool completely before using.
8. To make the empanadilla dough we put the sweet wine and the melted lard in a deep bowl and add the sugar. We beat with a whisk until the latter has dissolved.
9. We add the flour, little by little, and mix well until homogeneous. We should get a soft dough that does not stick to the hands. If it sticks a lot, add a bit more flour.
10. We wrap in cling film and let rest in the fridge for at least one hour.
11. To assemble the empanadilla, we take portions of dough and roll them out with a rolling pin. The thinner the better. But be careful not to overdo it.
12. We cut the dough with the bottom of a empanadilla mold (it's better to use a small one). We place the cut disc on the surface, fill with a teaspoon of pastry cream, brush the edges with a little water and close using the mold.
13. We repeat the operation as many times as necessary until the dough and/or the pastry cream are used up.
14. We heat plenty of oil in a deep pot (I used the casserole Every, which is perfect for this task) and fry the empanadillas two by two at high temperature.
15. We remove when golden and let the excess oil drain on a dish lined with paper towels.
16. When serving we dust with icing sugar. They are delicious hot or cold, but always on the day they are made.