Candy Bacon Empanada served with Maple Bacon Ice Cream

Deliciously filled crescent moon empanadas fried with a nice golden color with a crunch. Add the maple bacon ice cream and enjoy a serving filled with sweet ice cream, salty empanadas, and smoky bacon!

Candy Bacon Ice Cream Empanada
Prep time 5 minutes 25 minutes 20 minutes
Cook/freezer time 10 minutes 3 hours (or longer) 10 minutes
TOTAL 15 minutes 3 hours, 25 minutes 30 minutes
Servings 8 (or 5 cups) 12

Ingredients:

Candy Bacon
  • 12 pieces bacon, precut (any flavor)
  • ½ cup pure maple syrup
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
Ice Cream
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 2 cups half and half
  • ¾ cup white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ cup pure maple syrup
  • Candy bacon
Empanada

     Pastry

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • ½ cup cold water

     Filling

  • ½ package (4 oz) cream cheese room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • Candy Bacon

     Topping (optional)

  • Powdered sugar

Directions:

Candy Bacon
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, get two cookie sheets and silpats or tin foil on top.
  2. For the bacon, cut each strip of bacon in half with a knife. Place them side by side, two rows to get as many pieces on the cookie sheets.
  3. Drizzle the maple syrup all over the bacon using a rubber brush to cover the bacon.
  4. Sprinkle the brown sugar all over the bacon pieces.
  5. Bake for 5 minutes. Flip the bacon over and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Watch the last 5 minutes carefully.
  6. While the bacon is cooking, get out a cooling rack and parchment paper. Place the parchment paper under the rack. When the bacon is done, place it on the cooling rack. ** The bacon will be sticky**
  7. After the bacon is cooled, chop up the bacon into small bite-size pieces. Separate into two piles, one for ice cream and one for the empanadas.
Ice Cream
  1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, half and half, sugar, vanilla extract, and kosher salt, until the sugar dissolves.
  2. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and follow the directions to churn and freeze the ice cream. I used my KitchenAid attachment.
  3. As you churn, slowly mix in the maple syrup and one pile of the chopped candy bacon.
  4. When the ice cream is thickened, you can eat the ice cream immediately as soft-serve ice cream. Or you can store the ice cream in a sealed container for 3 hours or more.
Empanada
  1. In a large bowl, sift in the flour then add the salt and make a small well in the center.
  2. Pour the oil and water into a measuring cup (do not stir).
  3. Add the oil mixture into the well of the flour mixture and stir lightly with a fork.
  4. Once the mixture becomes a dough you can handle, knead the dough and form two balls and flatten slightly.
  5. Roll each ball in between two sheets of waxed paper like a thin crust (pie crust).
  6. Once the dough is rolled, take off the top paper. Use a cup or a circle cutter approximately 4 inches long and cut the dough into small circles. Get as many cut-outs as possible. If you have any leftover scraps you can roll the dough out again and repeat the process. Once all the dough is cut into circles, set aside.
  7. Get out a frying pan or a deep skillet you can fry in. Add vegetable oil and set to medium.
  8. For the filling, grab a small bowl and mix together all the ingredients.
  9. Take about a half teaspoon or more of filling and place it in the center of the dough.
  10. Fold like a crescent moon and seal it tight with a fork. If it doesn’t seal, dip a finger in water and spread it on the edge of the dough then try to seal it.
  11. Once the empanadas are all filled and sealed, place about 5 or 6 in the fryer. Fry for 5 minutes, flip over and fry an additional 5 minutes or until golden brown on both sides.
  12. Place the empanadas on a paper towel to dry.
  13. (Optional) Get out the powdered sugar and sprinkle on top.
  14. Now that everything is done, get out the ice cream and assemble the empanada with the ice cream and enjoy!

NOTE: Each of these parts of the recipe can be made individually.