Beef Picadillo Empanadas

Filling must be completely cool and relatively dry or dough will get soggy. Crimp edges well to prevent leaking. The egg wash creates a beautiful golden color. For extra flaky crust, use Goya discos para empanadas from the freezer section.

Empanadas — stuffed and baked or fried pastry pockets — arrived in Latin America with Spanish colonizers, who brought the tradition from Galicia, the northwestern Spanish region where empanadas (derived from the Spanish empanar, meaning "to bread" or "to coat in bread") have been made since at least the medieval period. A 1520 cookbook by Robert de Nola documents empanadillas in Spain. Picadillo, the seasoned ground meat filling used in Cuban, Mexican, and other Latin American versions, reflects the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking during the period of Muslim rule (711–1492 CE): the combination of meat with sweet elements like raisins and olives echoes North African and Arab flavor traditions of pairing savory protein with dried fruit and nuts. The word picadillo derives from the Spanish picar, meaning to chop or mince. Each Latin American country developed its own empanada tradition: Argentine empanadas differ from Chilean, which differ from Colombian, which differ from Mexican — regional variations reflecting local ingredients, preferences, and the specific Spanish colonial lineage of each nation. Mexican beef picadillo empanadas are characteristic of northern Mexico, where Spanish colonial wheat cultivation supported a flour-dough pastry tradition alongside the corn tortilla culture of the center and south.