Drool-Worthy Homemade Pineapple Empanadas

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Sometimes you are just craving a homemade sweet treat fresh out of the oven. These pineapple empanadas combine homemade pastry dough and sweet pineapple preserves baked to perfection. These pineapple empanadas are a delicious and fun baking project for any time of year.

About Costa Rican Pineapple Empanadas

Pineapple is a staple Costa Rican ingredient- not only are some of the sweetest pineapples in the world grown and exported from Costa Rica, but the fruit is also sold literally everywhere in Costa Rica at dirt-cheap prices. We even export a pink pineapple!

Tons of pineapples mean all kinds of delicious recipes with pineapple. Fresh pineapple juice and fresh slices of pineapple during Costa Rican breakfast, Costa Rican fruit salad, pina coladas… you get the idea.

And then there are the homemade pineapple preserves that grace literally every single baked good- including these sweet baked empanadas.

Pineapple empanadas can be found year-round at bakeries all across Costa Rica (and much of Latin America), and many ticos will make them in small batches at home as well. This pineapple emmpanadas recipe uses the traditional Costa Rican 3-2-1 empanada recipe for the empanada dough, and then filled with pineapple preserves and baked to golden perfection.

For this recipe I use pineapple jam instead of making my own pineapple preserves- and you can hardly taste the difference. Here’s the recipe.

Costa Rican Pineapple Empanadas Recipe

(printable recipe below)

Ingredients

• unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
• heavy whipping cream
• margarine – room temperature
• egg, beaten
• granulated sugar
• pineapple preserves

Kitchen Tools

• large mixing bowl
• tortilla press
• large baking sheet
• small spoon
• fork

Instructions

Using your hands, combine the flour and margarine in a small mixing bowl. A tablespoon or two at a time, add the whipping cream. Continue to use your hands to mix until a slightly sticky pastry dough is formed. It will be the consistency of a pie crust.

On a floured surface, roll all of the dough into 1.5-inch balls. Place the dough balls in another mixing bowl. You will have about 30-40 dough balls.

Place a piece of plastic on each side of the tortilla press, completely covering the circular surface. This will prevent the dough from sticking to the press. I either cut up plastic shopping bags or Ziploc bags in order to do this.

Press each ball of dough into a flat surface and set aside. I keep a bunch of extra pieces of plastic so that I can just leave the flat empanadas on the plastic.

Once you have pressed the empanadas, place a small amount of the pineapple filling just to the left or right of the center of the circle of empanada dough. At this point, you can preheat the oven.

Fold the circle in half and seal the empanada shut. Use a fork to press lines around the edge of the empanada. Use your finger to rub some of the egg wash on the top of the empanada so it doesn’t burn.

Place the empanada on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat this process until all the dough has been used. Put the pan into the heated oven.

Bake the empanadas at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and allow to cool. Serve warm to your best friends. They will love you for it.

Additional Costa Rican Dessert Recipes:

• Costa Rican Tres Leches Recipe
• Costa Rican Suspiros Cookies (Espumilla)
• Delightful Baked Costa Rican Empanadas de Chiverre
• Traditional Costa Rican Tamal de Masa Recipe

Substitutions

You can substitute butter or lard for the margarine, but the color will vary slightly. I love the taste of these pineapple empanadas when made with butter, personally. But Costa Ricans scoff at the color since it is lighter.

You can use brown sugar instead of granulated sugar, but it will turn the empanadas a different color. If you want to try that, I’d say start with half brown sugar and half granulated sugar.

Variations

So many! The most popular empanadas at Easter time are Costa Rican empanadas de chiverre. You can also do Costa Rican dulce de leche empanadas, coconut empanadas, and guava empanadas.

Other countries will make this same recipe with cheese, basil, or even pesto inside. I’d love to try these with caramelized apples for fun baked apple empanadas, cherry preserves or even raspberry or strawberry. Yum!

Serving Suggestions

Serve hot or cold with Costa Rican coffee, Costa Rican agua dulce, or chamomile tea. Preferably with company!

Some people sprinkle these empanadas with cinnamon sugar or just plain granulated sugar, but Costa Ricans usually don’t I did it just for the photos.

FAQ

Our most popular Costa Rican recipes:

• Costa Rican Arroz con Pollo Recipe
• Costa Rican Black Bean Dip Recipe
• Traditional Costa Rican Gallo Pinto Recipe
• Costa Rican Tres Leches Recipe

Printable Recipe

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