Empanadas de Cajeta Sonorenses

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 6-quart pot for the cajeta, the widest you own
• •Long-handled wooden spoon for stirring
• •Rolling pin
• •4-inch round cutter (or the rim of a glass)
• •Two heavy sheet pans lined with parchment
• •Pastry brush for the egg wash

Instructions

1. 1

   Start the cajeta

   Pour the goat's milk into a heavy 6-quart pot, the widest and heaviest one you own. A wide pot lets the milk reduce evenly and gives you the surface area you need. Add the sugar and the cinnamon stick. Set over medium heat and stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar dissolves completely. Bring to a gentle simmer, never a boil. Boiling milk scorches and a scorched cajeta is a ruined cajeta.

   Goat's milk is non-negotiable for cajeta. Cow's milk gives you dulce de leche, which is a fine thing in its own right, but it is not cajeta. The barnyard depth of goat's milk is what carries the burnt-sugar flavor.
2. 2

   Add the soda and reduce

   Once the milk is simmering, pull the pot off the heat for a moment and stir in the dissolved baking soda. The milk will foam up dramatically. This is the reaction that prevents curdling and gives cajeta its smooth, glossy body. Return to medium-low heat and let the milk reduce, stirring every few minutes at first, then more often as it thickens. This takes between two and two and a half hours. There is no shortcut. No me vengas con atajos.

3. 3

   Watch for leche quemada

   As the cajeta reduces, the color shifts from pale cream to honey to deep amber. Around the ninety-minute mark, you will smell the burnt-sugar note that gives leche quemada its name. Stir constantly now, scraping the bottom and the sides. The cajeta is ready when it coats the back of the wooden spoon and a line drawn through it on the spoon holds for a few seconds. The color should be a dark caramel, the consistency thick enough to spread but still pourable warm.

   Cajeta thickens as it cools. Pull it off the heat slightly looser than you want the final texture. If it sets too stiff, you can warm it gently with a tablespoon of milk to loosen it back up.
4. 4

   Cool the cajeta

   Stir in the vanilla off the heat. Discard the cinnamon stick. Pour the cajeta into a clean glass jar or shallow bowl and let it cool to room temperature. Then refrigerate for at least an hour. Cold cajeta is what you want for filling empanadas. Warm cajeta runs out of the dough and burns on the pan.

5. 5

   Make the wheat dough

   Sonora is wheat country. The dough for these empanadas is made with flour and lard the way the women in Hermosillo and Magdalena have made it for generations. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add the cold lard and work it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal with some pea-sized pieces of fat still visible. Those pieces of lard are what give the empanada its flake.

6. 6

   Bring the dough together

   In a small bowl, beat the egg with the cold milk and vanilla. Pour into the flour mixture and stir with a fork until a shaggy dough forms. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead just until it comes together smooth, no more than a minute. Overworked dough turns tough. Wrap in plastic and rest in the refrigerator for thirty minutes. The rest relaxes the gluten and lets the lard firm back up.

7. 7

   Roll and cut

   Heat the oven to 375F and line two sheet pans with parchment. Divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured counter, roll the first half to about an eighth of an inch thick. Cut into 4-inch rounds with a glass or a cookie cutter. Gather the scraps, rest them five minutes, and re-roll. Repeat with the second half. You should have around 20 to 24 rounds.

8. 8

   Fill and seal

   Place a heaping tablespoon of cold cajeta in the center of each round. Brush the edges lightly with the egg wash. Fold the dough over to make a half-moon and press the edges firmly with your fingers, then crimp with a fork or fold them over with a repulgue, the rope-twist seal you see on empanadas across northern Mexico. Seal them well. Cajeta that escapes during baking is sticky armor on your pan and a sad empanada on your plate.

   Do not overfill. A heaping tablespoon is plenty. The cajeta will spread as it warms in the oven and an overstuffed empanada bursts at the seam every time.
9. 9

   Bake until golden

   Arrange the empanadas on the prepared sheet pans, leaving an inch between each. Brush the tops with egg wash. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the tops are deep golden and the bottoms are browned. The kitchen will smell like burnt sugar and warm flour. That smell is the dish telling you it is ready.

10. 10

    Dust while warm

    The moment the empanadas come out of the oven, sift or sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture generously over the tops. The sugar must hit the dough while it is still warm and slightly damp from the egg wash so it adheres. Let them cool on the pan for ten minutes before moving. They are best eaten the same day, still warm enough that the cajeta inside is soft. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Goat's milk is the recipe. You can find it at Mexican grocers, at health food stores, and increasingly at regular supermarkets. If you absolutely cannot find it, half goat and half cow's milk is an acceptable compromise. Pure cow's milk is not. That is dulce de leche, not cajeta.
• •The lard must be cold and the dough must rest. Northern Mexican empanada dough is closer to a pie crust than a yeasted bread. Warm lard makes a greasy, leaden empanada. If your kitchen is hot, refrigerate the lard, the bowl, and even the flour for thirty minutes before you start.
• •Make the cajeta a day or two ahead. It thickens beautifully overnight in the fridge and the flavor deepens. A two-day-old cajeta is better than a one-hour-old cajeta. This is a make-ahead dessert by design.

Advance Preparation

• •The cajeta can be made up to one week ahead and refrigerated in a glass jar. The flavor only improves.
• •The dough can be made one day ahead and refrigerated, wrapped tightly in plastic. Let it sit at room temperature for fifteen minutes before rolling.
• •Assembled, unbaked empanadas can be frozen on a sheet pan, then transferred to a bag for up to one month. Bake from frozen, adding 5 to 7 minutes to the time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 65g)