Apple turnovers are a fantastic fall and winter dessert. Honestly, they’re good any time, but I tend to make them more during the fall and winter months. Of course the weather is still a bit whack in St. Louis at the moment, but a girl can dream, eh? 
I have made these turnovers a number of times, and I’ve been neglecting to share them with you [such a shame, honestly]. Butttt I figure it’s always better late than never when it comes to sharing foodstuffs on the blog. These turnovers are pretty similar to the pumpkin turnovers I made a while back. They use a small-batch puff pastry dough, and a simple apple filling. The glaze is also really easy; I usually add vanilla bean paste to it because I love the little brown specks that the vanilla bean seeds lend the glaze.
The best part about these turnovers is that they can easily be a make-ahead project. In fact, that’s exactly what I often do for these: I make the puff pastry and cook the apples one evening. The following morning, I assemble and bake them for my family. It’s pretty much perfection, and it’s really much easier than you might think.
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Yield: Four large triangular pies.
Ingredients:
For the quick puff pastry:
- 1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp. fine salt
- 10 TBSP. high-quality butter (5 ounces), cold {I use unsalted Kerrygold.}
- ⅓ cup ice cold water
For the apple filling:
- 2 cups diced apples (from about 3 small apples, or 2 medium)
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- dash of ground nutmeg {Just something I like to add here.}
- 1 TBSP. freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 1 TBSP. unsalted butter
- pinch of salt
- 1 large egg yolk, beaten
- coarse sugar (turbinado sugar) for sprinkling
- Make the puff pastry: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.
- Next, cube the butter and then add it to the flour bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dough. It will be very crumbly, and you’re done when the butter is in uniform pieces all about the size of peas.
- Next, make a hole in the center of the dough and pour in all of the water. Using a fork, stir to combine the dough. It’ll be a shaggy dough, similar to pie crust. This is okay.
- Flour a cutting board and rolling pin, and place the dough on the board. Pat it into a rough square. You will still see chunks of butter and it will seem too dry, but do not add extra water. The dough will come together with each roll.
- Roll the dough out in front of you into a rectangle about 10″ long; you don’t need to be especially precise at this point.
- Fold the bottom third of the dough over the middle of the dough. Fold the upper third of the dough on top of the middle too, like an envelope. Rotate the dough one-quarter turn, and repeat. Use additional flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking.
- Roll out, fold, and turn the dough at least 6 or 7 times. If the dough is starting to seem elastic-y and difficult to roll out, that means it’s time to leave it alone for awhile [see step 3 in my collage above].
- When done, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour, or overnight.
- When you’re ready to make the turnovers: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- To make the apple filling: First, peel, core, and dice the apples. You should have about two cups of diced apples; a bit less is fine.
- Add the apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, sugar, butter and salt to a sauté pan, and cook over medium heat until the apples soften and caramelize, about 7 minutes. Stir frequently.
- Remove the apples from the heat and let cool.
- Meanwhile, roll out the pre-made pastry dough into a 12-inch square. Use flour as you go to prevent sticking.
- Divide the apple mixture into four piles in the corners of the dough, but leave about ¾” of border. Cut the dough into four equal squares. Fold the edges of the dough over each of the apple piles. You will have four triangular pies.
- Crimp the edges closed with your fingers and the tines of a fork.
- Carefully move the pies to the baking sheet.
- Brush each pie generously with the beaten egg yolk. Sprinkle with coarse sugar, if using.
- Bake the pies for 20 minutes, or until golden brown and puffy. Serve immediately. {Note: You can add a quick vanilla glaze by mixing some powdered sugar with milk and a little vanilla extract/paste. Stir to get the desired consistency, then spoon over the cooled turnovers. Or you can add it to a little Ziplock bag and pipe stripes over them.}
