Uruguayan · Dessert
Chocolate empanadas

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Method
- For the filling place the can in a large pot and cover completely with water. Boil for two and a half hours, occassionally adding water. Let cool before opening. For further tips, please check here.
- 2
- For the dough combine the flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add the cold butter in small pieces and rub into crumbs with your fingers Add the egg and work into a dough. You may have to add milk, a tablespoon at a time if it still is to dry. Wrap and chill for at least half an hour or overnight.
- 3
- Line a baking sheeet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
- 4
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, it should be thin. Cut out circles of 12cm either with a cookie cutter or with a smaller plate/dish. Put two to three teaspoons of the dulce de leche in the middle of each circle. Brush the edges with milk, I do this with my pinkie. Fold each circle in half so that you have a half moon and press down the edges with a fork. You can also turn the edges about half a centimeter inwards every centimeter or so to create a pattern.
- 5
- Place the prepared empanadas on the baking sheet and brush with egg wash. Bake for about 20-25min.
- 6
- Towards the end of the baking time, melt the remaining butter and mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Once you take the empanadas out, immediately brush with the butter and sprinkle with the sugar mix. Empanadas can be enjoyed either still warm or cold. If eating warm, be careful not to burn yourself with hot filling!
Cooking notes
Baked goods are unforgiving with rounding — use weights rather than volumes whenever possible, and verify pan capacity if you scale up or down significantly.
For volume-to-weight conversions of any ingredient — flour, sugar, butter, salts — use the ingredient converter. To translate the recipe's oven temperature between °C, °F and gas mark, see the temperature converter.
When you scale this recipe up or down, remember that cooking time does not scale linearly. A doubled cake takes longer, but not twice as long; a doubled soup takes roughly twice as long. The cooking-time guide gives sensible starting estimates by dish geometry.
Recipe video
Chocolate empanadas
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Volume
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OpenWeight
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OpenTemperature
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OpenCooking time
The cube-root rule for scaling up, the differences between meat / cake / soup geometry, and sensible starting estimates.
OpenPan size
9-inch round vs 8-inch square vs 13×9. The math is surface area, not diameter — and the converter shows you both.
OpenLength
Inches and centimetres — for when a recipe says “cut into 1-inch pieces” and your ruler is metric.
OpenIngredient density
A cup of flour weighs 120 g; a cup of honey weighs 340. The full table of ~40 staples, with sources.
OpenOpen in main scaler
Edit the recipe text, scale by serving count, and copy the result. Same parser as the in-page scaler, more room to work.
OpenFrom the journal
Original essays on the small details.
The why behind the technique — original writing on the ingredient and equipment choices that separate a good cook from a frustrated one.
Eggs by weight, not by count
Why your four-egg recipe might really be a five-egg recipe
Read essayApril 12, 2026
The case for the oven thermometer
Your oven is probably lying to you, and here's how to catch it
Read essayFebruary 28, 2026
Butter temperature ruins more cookies than the oven does
Cold, softened, melted — three states, three completely different bakes
Read essayDecember 15, 2025
Go deeper
Where this recipe sits in the wider tradition.
Each guide below is a real essay on the cuisine or the category — pillars, staples, techniques worth learning — paired with a curated grid of recipes filed under it.
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