Family recipes rule the roost all through the holidays

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Pumpkin empanadas are a cool weather treat that Gloria Martinez's mother, Amalia Sanchez, always made. "Everybody has their own recipe," says Martinez of Bowling Green, Ohio. "My mom loved cinnamon so our dough looks a little darker."Although her mother died 10 years ago, the recipe lives on through her six living children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.Three years ago Martinez and her sister Anita Serda began to designate one day each fall as the annual Sanchez Empanada Making Day, according to their brother Dave Sanchez. Their sisters, sister-in-law, children, and nieces and nephews gather and everyone brings their owns supplies and learns how to make empanadas so the recipe always stays in the family.Family members cook the pumpkin to make a sweet mashed pumpkin filling and then they make a cinnamon dough to roll and fill with the filling to be baked. It's a giant production line of empanada making so that everyone who participates has empanadas to take home as well as extra filling to freeze and/or make more at home."It's a chance to gather with family and learn our culture and foods that my mom made for her family each year," says Martinez.This year, niece Melissa Ledesma-Leese and her husband Rob Leese who is in the U.S. Air Force drove from their home in Washington, D.C. area for the weekend to enjoy Empanada Day and to celebrate their son's fifth birthday with extended family.Melissa's mother and Martinez's sister Marty Ledesma of Perrysburg, Ohio, was there. Dave Sanchez's wife Mary attended with granddaughter Mari Flores, 10.Even though her mother who was a sister of Martinez and her sister are deceased, Annette Roberts of Flat Rock, Mich. keeps the empanada tradition. Attending with her was her husband Wayne and daughters Jessica, 10, and Aleeya, 6. Mrs. Roberts' niece Teresa Ramirez and Abel Gutierrez with daughter Elianna, 2, of Adrian, Mich. were there.Martinez's daughters Michelle Snow of Haskins and Monica Martinez, a Bowling Green State University student, alternated between kitchen duties and rolling and filling empanadas while their brother Henry assisted and brother Paul's children Faith 12, Payton 11, and Tevon 10, participated.In all about 20 adults and 18 children gather to help with the culinary project and enjoy each other's company.Football games outside, crafts for the kids, and food went along with the empanada making. There was a babysitting rotation each half hour and children's movies to occupy the kids.Each family was told to bring a small pumpkin, 5 pounds flour, 5 pounds sugar, a can of ground cinnamon, butter, anise, Crisco, cookie sheets, rolling pins, aprons, oven mitts, and gallon sealable plastic bags to take the finished product to take home.Empanadas have been described as a single-serving turnover with a pastry crust and savory meat-and-vegetable filling. But they can also be filled with fruit and served as a dessert."We use the empanada as more of a dessert or sweet bread," said Martinez, who was born in Texas but has lived in northwest Ohio for most of her life.For this family, making the pumpkin empanadas is one part work, two parts family reunion.The night before the event, Martinez made a batch of pumpkin filling. One group of adults cut up the many pumpkins family members brought and removed the seeds and strings, readying them to be boiled. Once the pumpkin is soft, it is removed from the water. The skin is peeled off and the cooked pumpkin is mashed and mixed with sugar, cinnamon, butter, and pure anise extract."We put the anise in both the pumpkin (filling) and the dough," she said.Meanwhile another group is making the dough in large bowls. Martinez shared her recipe for the dough, which makes several dozen empanadas."We use cinnamon in the dough, which I love," she said. "Some people don't make the dough as dark as we do, but the cinnamon gives it more flavor."The dough is kneaded until it is smooth. "It almost looks shiny," she said. "You don't want it to have lumps.""This is one of the resounding memories of growing up," says Melissa Ledesma-Leese.Once the dough is ready, several adults make little flat balls about the size of a small biscuit. Another group is gathered around at table ready to roll each lump of dough. Then a couple tablespoons of pumpkin filling is placed on half the rolled out circle of dough and the other half of dough is folded over and pinched with a fork. About 6 to 8 empanadas fill a cookie sheet, which is put in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes; then Martinez likes to turn each empanada over and bake another 5 minutes so the top gets slightly brown.When baked, the empanadas are cooled. Many are eaten and the rest are placed in freezer bags for each family to take home."This is a great way to get our family together," said Martinez. "The kids appreciate their culture and learn how to keep it going.""Different family members have taken my mom's recipes and made them," said sister Anita Serda. "Every one of us have a different part of my mom's recipes."Usually sometime during the afternoon, "my dad (Florentino Sanchez Sr.) may come," says. Martinez."My dad will eat the first empanada," says her sister Anita Serda.What's a lot of work for one cook turns out to be fun when everyone takes part.It's a custom that many families can adopt and adapt to their family recipes, during the holidays -- and all through the year.EMPANADA DOUGH11 cups flour1/4 cup baking powder1 tablespoon salt1/2 cup cinnamon4 cups sugar1 1/2 cups shortening3 cups hot water (while water is boiling add 1 tablespoon anise extract)Pumpkin filling (recipe below is enough for 18 empanadas)Cook's note: This recipe may be halved.Combine dry ingredients. Add shortening and cut with a pastry blender or two knives. Add hot water and mix until dough is smooth and almost shiny. Break off little flat balls about the size of a small to medium biscuit. Roll each lump of dough into a circle with a rolling pin. Place 2 tablespoons pumpkin filling on half of each rolled circle of dough. Fold other half of dough over and seal with tines of a fork. Place 6 to 8 on baking sheet. Bake in 400-degree oven for 20 minutes. Then turn each empanada over and return to oven to bake 5 minutes until top is golden brown. Remove from oven and cool to taste or cool completely to freeze in sealed plastic bags.Yield: 5 to 6 dozenSource: Gloria Martinez of Bowling Green, OhioPUMPKIN FILLING1 6-ounce pie pumpkin; makes 2 cups cooked and pureed pumpkin1 cup sugarCinnamon to taste1/2 teaspoon anise to taste2 tablespoons butter or to tasteCook's note: This recipe may be doubled or tripled, depending on the amount of empanada dough you make. Cut up pumpkin, remove seeds, and boil until tender. Remove from water and remove skin and mash pulp.Mix ingredients together and use for empanada filling.Yield: Enough filling for 18 empanadasSource: Adapted from Gloria Martinez(Contact Kathie Smith at food(at)theblade.com)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)