Empanadas are hand-held pies stuffed with a variety of delicious fillings that are extremely common in Latin America. Rich and poor alike serve them for impromptu dinners, stick them in lunch boxes, and enjoy them at public gatherings. Home cooks teach their children to make empanadas using special family recipes, but they also buy them from a multitude of shops, where you can often find a dizzying array of filling options (both sweet and savory). Sometimes they are fried and sometimes they are baked.