In a small sauce pan over medium heat, combine all the berries, lemon juice, sugar and ¼ cup water. Stir until combined. Let it continue cooking until the berries start to open and it creates a sauce consistency.

Make a slurry by combining the ¾ cup water and the cornstarch. Make sure your berry compote is hot and bubbling, add the slurry (the heat helps activate the corn starch). Stir until it starts to thicken. When you first add the slurry, it will be a light purple. Cook it until it darkens in color. This means you are cooking out the flavor of the corn starch.

Set aside and let it come to room temperature. As it cools down, it will thicken even more. Press plastic wrap on the top to help prevent a skin from forming.

You can put it in the fridge, if you desire, to speed up the cooling process.

When the berry compote is no longer warm, in a large pot heat up the two cups of oil to 350F

Working with one disk at a time, take out the empanada dough and get a small bowl of water, place a tablespoon of the mixed berry compote in the middle of the disk. Take your pointer finger and dip it into the water. Run the wet finger along the outside rim out disk. gently fold the other half of each round of dough over the filling to make a half circle and press the edges together with your fingers to seal. If any of the filling is oozing out of the sides, remove a few berries at a time until the hand pie seals easily. Using a fork, crimp the rounded edge of each hand pie. Repeat with remaining disks.

Using a slotted spoon, add 2-3 pies and deep fry them 1-2 minutes per side. While the dough is frying, make the cinnamon sugar by combining the sugar and the cinnamon in a shallow bowl.

Once the dough is fried, let it drip for a few seconds and then roll it in the cinnamon sugar, set on a parchment-lined surface to let it slightly cool before eating. Repeat until all the disks are fried.