The Pastry Pockets That Made Me Question Every Dessert I Ever Settled For

Movement Notes

I am going to level with you: before I tried chocolate empanadas, I thought regular fruit-filled empanadas were perfectly fine. Adequate. Respectable. I was content in my ignorance, the way you might be content with basic cable until someone shows you streaming and your whole world shifts. These chocolate empanadas are the streaming service of the pastry world, and there is no going back. The dough is the first clue that something special is happening. Cocoa powder is worked right into the flour, so the entire shell is chocolate-flavored from the outside in. When you roll it out, it looks like regular empanada dough that got a really great tan, all rich and brown and smelling faintly of brownies. Then you cut your circles, spoon a generous dollop of dulce de leche into the center of each one, and fold it into a half-moon. This is the part where I always overfill, because apparently I have not learned that dulce de leche expands when heated, and at least two empanadas per batch will breach their seams and leak sticky filling onto the baking sheet. I have started calling these the rebels, and honestly, they taste the best because all that escaped caramel gets crispy and chewy on the outside. Once baked, the empanadas get brushed with melted butter and showered in a cinnamon-sugar mixture that sticks to their warm surfaces like fans at a concert. The first bite releases a puff of chocolate-scented air, and then your teeth crack through the slightly crisp shell into the soft, melty interior where the dulce de leche has become this thick, warm, impossibly sweet river. You will burn your tongue. You will not care. You will reach for another one while fanning your mouth with your free hand. These are the kind of treats that make you close your eyes and sway slightly, which is embarrassing if anyone is watching but completely justified under the circumstances.

Score Trail

Source Reference

Original score log: https://jennyisbaking.com/2020/05/01/chocolate-empanadas-with-dulce-de-leche/