These Costa Rican coconut empanadas combine sweet coconut bathed in evaporated milk and baked inside a floury pastry dough for the perfect decadent dessert.
About Coconut Empanadas
Coconut empanadas (empanadas de coco) are a popular Costa Rican sweet treat. Obviously, there are tons of coconuts in Costa Rica, so the basic ingredient is easy to find and abundant year-round.
Many old-school bakers in Costa Rica will buy a whole coconut and crack it open, then shred the fresh coconut to make the filling. I do not have the time or energy for that, and so I just buy shredded coconut at the grocery store.
This recipe calls for dulce de coco, a popular homemade coconut preserve. I make the miel de coco every so often and store it in my fridge, and then just fill the empanadas de coco when I am making them.
While coconut empanadas are available at bakeries year-round, they are an especially popular Costa Rican Holy Week food.
The pastry dough for this recipe is the traditional Costa Rican recipe, also known as the 3-2-1 recipe. You’ll see why in the ingredients list below.
Costa Rican Coconut Empanada Recipe
Ingredients:
- 3 cups white flour + 1/4 cup extra
- 2 sticks margarine
- 1 box whipping cream (about 8 ounces)
- 1 cup Costa Rican Miel de coco
- 1 egg, beaten
- tortilla press with plastic inserts
- medium mixing bowl
- 2 baking sheets
Instructions:
Combine flour and margarine in a mixer or just using your hands. Make a hole in the middle of the mixture and pour in about 6 ounces of the whipping cream.
Mix thoroughly until you have a nice dough and the consistency of cookie dough.
Make 30 equal-sized balls out of the dough. Place each ball inside your tortilla press with a plastic insert on each side (see FAQ). Press down firmly.
On half your empanada circle, place about 3 teaspoons of dulce de coco. If you get too much, it will seep out when you bake and make a huge mess. I know this from experience.
Close the empanada and seal it by making marks around the entire thing with a fork. I just a salad fork or a kid’s fork for this.
Place the empanadas on a lightly floured baking sheet. Lightly brush the beaten egg on the top of each empanada with your finger or a small brush.
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes.
More 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 for margarine. You can also try this with half whole wheat flour. Finally, you can use just sweetened coconut instead of the dulce de coco- you will just need to use a lot more and the coconut empanadas will be a bit drier in texture.
This works great with gluten-free flour too.
Variations
So many! You can fill these dessert empanadas with all kinds of fillings. Here are a few of my favorites:
You can also make savory empanadas:
Serving Suggestions
We serve these for breakfast alongside gallo pinto and fresh fruit. We serve them at coffee hour with Costa Rican coffee, tea or agua dulce. These are also a great snack to send to school with your kids.
FAQ
What are the plastic inserts for the empanada press?
You need to make sure the empanada dough doesn’t stick to your tortilla press. In order to not use a ton of cooking oil, I take Ziploc bags and cut them into squares just a little bit bigger than the circle of my tortilla press. Then I can just place one on each side before pressing down and make perfect empanadas!
Printable Recipe
Costa Rican Coconut Empanada Recipe
These Costa Rican coconut empanadas combine sweet coconut bathed in evaporated milk and baked inside a floury pastry dough for the perfect decadent dessert.
Ingredients
- 3 cups white flour + 1/4 cup extra
- 2 sticks margarine
- 1 box whipping cream (about 8 ounces)
- 1 cup Costa Rican Miel de coco
- 1 egg, beaten
- tortilla press with plastic inserts
- medium mixing bowl
- 2 baking sheets
Instructions
- Combine flour and margarine in a mixer or just using your hands. Make a hole in the middle of the mixture and pour in about 6 ounces of the whipping cream.
- Mix thoroughly until you have a nice dough the consistency of cookie dough.
- Make 30 equal sized balls out of the dough. Place each ball inside your tortilla press with a plastic insert on each side (see FAQ). Press down firmly.
- On half your empanada circle, place about 3 teaspoons of miel de coco. If you get too much, it will seep out when you bake and make a huge mess. I know this from experience.
- Close the empanada and seal by making marks around the entire thing with a fork. I just a salad fork or a kid's fork for this.
- Place the empanadas on a lightly floured baking sheet. Lightly brush the beaten egg on the top of each empanada with your finger or a small brush.
- Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes.
Pin it!
