Happy Three Kings Day (Empanaditas de Gayaba and Pineapple Mini Pies)

January 6, 2006 | Filed Under Empanadas, Pineapples, Fruits, Three Kings Day, Holidays, Desserts/Sweets | 1 Comment 

Three Kings Day (also known as Día de los Reyes, The Epiphany, The Adoration of the Magi, and The Manifestation of God) is celebrated on January 6 (12 days after Christmas).This holiday is observed in Mexico, Puerto Rico, the greater Caribbean, Latin America and throughout the United States. It commemorates the Bible story of the Three Kings (Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar) who followed the Star of Bethlehem to bring gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (see a photo of a friend’s three kings version here) to the Baby Jesus. After my first failed attempt to make Empanaditas de Gayaba and Pineapple Mini Pies, I decided that this holiday would be a good excuse to try making the dessert empanadas again. Earlier, I’d put the delicate dough, that wouldn’t work under my hands, back in the fridge. A few days later, after making the meat empanadas, Empanadas Chilenas, I pulled dessert dough out to give it one more try. At first, the dough was nice and firm, but within a few minutes it turned super soft and glue-like, again. I was only able to form three (three!) guava empanadas before giving up and throwing the rest of the dough in the garbage can. I put my three poor-looking Empanaditas de Gayaba in the oven and waited (I didn’t even have a chance to make the pineapple version!). When they were ready and I’d pulled them out, I found that they’d lost their shape. What a disaster. The guava had exploded out of the center and the shells had opened up, turning into a blob. I shook my head and placed them on the stove top to cool. A few minutes later, I tasted one of my disappointing-looking empanaditas. To my surprise, despite its look, it tasted delicious! What a surprise! The dough was sweet, creamy, flaky, and the combination of the dough with the guava filling tasted very good. I finished the three empanaditas by myself.

Mishapened, unsuccessful but tasty Empanaditas de Gayaba and Pineapple Mini pies

For Three Kings day, instead of the Empanaditas de Gayaba dough, I decided to use the dough recipe from the Empanadas Chilenas to make the dessert empanadas. I had no problem with the dough. I put the guava and pineapple fillings in the shell and baked them.

Gayaba (Guava) filling - Goya brand found at local supermarket

They came out fine (perhaps still a little thick) but not bad. However, the dough tasted different. I found that for a dessert empanada, I prefer the dough from the recipe which gave me trouble in shaping it. Perhaps it was the extra ingredients like the cream cheese and sour cream that made the difference in taste. So, while my dough from the Empanadas Chilenas turned out well, in the future, I’ll only use it for meat empanadas. I’ll go back to the Empanaditas de Gayaba recipe once more to try to make a successful dessert empanada. I think the effort will be worth it. For a nicer photo of a successful Guava Empanada and its recipe, go to Melissa CookingDiva’s blog here. If any of you try it, let me know. I’d love to read about your success story. Paz

Ed. Note: According to Angelika and Cindy, this holiday is also celebrated in Austria and France. In France, Cindy writes that they make a galette de rois and she wondered what others make. According to the Wikikpedia encyclopedia, “In Mexico, it is traditional for children to leave their shoes out on the evening of January 6, sometimes filling them with hay for the camels, so that the Kings will be generous with their gifts. In Puerto Rico, it is also a tradition for children to fill a box with grass or hay and put it underneath their bed, for the same reasons. This is analogous to children leaving mince pies or cookies and milk out for Santa Claus. In some parts of northern Mexico the shoes are left under the Christmas tree with a letter to the Three Kings. In the afternoon or evening of the same day the ritual of the Rosca de Reyes is shared with family and friends. The Rosca is a type of sweet-bread made with orange blossom, water, and butter; decorated with candied fruit. Baked inside is a small doll representing the baby Jesus. The person who finds the doll in his piece of rosca must throw a party on February 2nd, Calendaria Day, offering tamales and atole (a hot sweet drink thickened with corn flour) to the guests.” Look here for more info.