Making homemade empanadas, fried pies, turnovers and hand pies can be rewarding—but forming every pastry by hand can take considerable time. For home cooks, bakers, farmers market vendors and small food businesses, having the right empanada maker machine can make the process faster and more consistent.
The Little Pie Maker from Cottage Craft Works is a hand-crank pastry machine designed to help make uniform empanadas, calzones, fried pies, fruit turnovers, meat pies and other hand-held pastries.
View the Little Pie Maker at Cottage Craft Works
What Is an Empanada Maker?
An empanada maker is a specialized pastry machine or press designed to help form, fill, crimp and seal individual pastries.
Instead of repeatedly cutting and folding each pastry by hand, a machine such as the Little Pie Maker provides a consistent shape and crimped edge. Cottage Craft Works describes its machine as a universal empanada, turnover and hand-fry-pie machine.
The machine can be used for:
- Empanadas
- Calzones
- Fried pies
- Fruit turnovers
- Meat pies
- Hand pies
- Jamaican patties
- Pierogies
- Other filled pastries
This makes it useful for more than just traditional empanadas.
Make Uniform Empanadas Faster
One of the biggest advantages of using an empanada maker machine is consistency.
When pastries are made by hand, the size, filling amount and crimping can vary from one pastry to another. The Little Pie Maker uses interchangeable dies that help create repeatable pastry sizes.
The available die sizes include:
- 3″ x 5″ — standard size, approximately 3 ounces of filling
- 2.5″ x 4.5″ — smaller size, approximately 2 ounces of filling
- 3″ x 6″ — larger size, approximately 3.25 ounces of filling
The 3″ x 6″ die can be useful for larger empanadas, chimichangas and hot-pocket-style pastries.
Having different die sizes gives bakers more flexibility when creating different products.
A Hand Pie Maker for More Than Empanadas
Although many people search for an empanada maker, the Little Pie Maker can be used for a variety of filled pastries.
Fried Pies
Fruit-filled fried pies are a classic homemade treat. The machine can help form and seal the dough before frying.
Fruit Turnovers
Apple, peach, cherry, blueberry and other fruit fillings can be enclosed in pastry for homemade turnovers.
Meat Pies
Savory meat fillings can be placed inside pastry dough to create individual meat pies.
Calzones
The machine can also be used for making smaller filled calzone-style pastries.
Hand Pies
Whether sweet or savory, hand pies are convenient for bakeries, markets, events and family gatherings.
How the Little Pie Maker Works
The Little Pie Maker uses a manual hand crank rather than electricity. The pastry is formed through the machine’s rollers and die assembly.
The process is designed to help:
- Prepare and roll the dough.
- Place the dough into the machine.
- Add the desired filling.
- Turn the hand crank.
- Fold and shape the pastry.
- Crimp and seal the edges.
- Remove the finished pastry.
The machine is designed to fold, crimp, trim and seal the pastry.
This can make producing batches of pastries considerably more convenient than forming every pastry entirely by hand.
What Dough Works Best?
The dough you use can make a significant difference when working with a pastry machine.
Cottage Craft Works recommends fresh or refrigerated flour dough rolled to approximately 1/8-inch thickness. The machine works with several types of pastry dough, including empanada dough, fried pie dough, fruit turnover dough, savory hand-pie dough and meat-filled pastry dough.
The manufacturer does not recommend frozen commercial empanada dough rounds because their texture can be too rubbery for the machine.
For best results, experiment with your dough recipe and filling until you find the combination that produces a clean seal without excessive filling escaping.
An Empanada Maker for Small Businesses
A commercial empanada maker can be particularly useful when producing pastries for customers.
The Little Pie Maker is designed for applications including:
- Small bakeries
- Cafés
- Food trucks
- Restaurants
- Farmers markets
- Catering businesses
- Cottage food operations
- Fundraising events
- Church and school events
Cottage Craft Works says the machine can help produce up to 200 pies per hour, depending on dough preparation and operating conditions.
That makes the machine worth considering for businesses that need to produce larger quantities of consistent individual pastries.
Amish-Made and Built for Everyday Use
The Little Pie Maker is built in the USA in an Amish shop. According to Cottage Craft Works, construction includes a powder-coated aluminum base, stainless-steel shafts and hardware, polished food-grade aluminum rollers and an open design intended to make cleaning easier.
The hand-crank design also means there is no electric motor required to operate the machine.
That can be useful for traditional kitchens, commercial food preparation, farmers markets and people who prefer simple mechanical kitchen equipment.
Why Use a Hand-Crank Pie Maker?
There are several reasons someone might choose a manual pie-making machine instead of making every pastry by hand.
Consistency:
The interchangeable dies help create pastries with repeatable dimensions.
Less repetitive work:
The machine handles much of the folding and crimping process.
Versatility:
One machine can be used for empanadas, turnovers, fried pies, hand pies and other filled pastries.
No electricity required:
The hand crank provides the mechanical operation.
Small-business friendly:
The machine can be used in bakeries, cafés, food trucks, markets and fundraising operations.
Choosing the Right Empanada Maker
Before purchasing an empanada maker machine, consider what types of pastries you plan to produce.
Ask yourself:
- What size pastries do I want?
- Will I make sweet or savory fillings?
- How many pastries do I need to make?
- Will I bake or fry them?
- Do I need interchangeable dies?
- Am I making them for my family or for a business?
The Little Pie Maker currently offers three interchangeable die sizes, giving users the ability to make different pastry sizes with the same basic machine.
Make Empanadas, Fried Pies and Hand Pies More Efficiently
Whether you’re making empanadas for your family, preparing fried pies for a church fundraiser or producing hand pies for a farmers market, having a dedicated pastry machine can simplify the process.
The Little Pie Maker from Cottage Craft Works combines a traditional hand-crank design with interchangeable dies to help produce consistent filled pastries.
If you’re looking for an empanada maker, hand pie maker, fried pie maker or turnover machine, learn more about the Little Pie Maker and its available die sizes.