Empanadas de viento — ‘wind empanadas’ — are the pride of Cuenca, where paper-thin wheat dough is stuffed with cheese and fried until it puffs up like a pillow. The result is a crackling shell with a hollow, airy center and molten cheese inside, traditionally dusted with sugar and eaten with coffee.
They puff like balloons, then disappear in minutes
The name says it all: the empanadas inflate dramatically in the hot oil, leaving a delicate, blistered crust around a pocket of melted, stretchy cheese. The sweet sugar dusting against the savory cheese is an unexpected, addictive pairing.


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