Barefoot Bloggers: Apple Turnovers

On Barefoot Bloggers we officially make two recipes per month, but the person who sends the most visitors to the site, also chooses a bonus recipe. September's bonus recipe was Apple Turnovers and was chosen by Anne of of Anne Strawberry. I did not get to make it in September due to illness and being out of town. But better late than never! I got to bake these on Friday.

This week I got six apples in our CSA veggie box. Four of them were a bit on the smallish side, so I used them all.


Everything that comes in the veggie box is organically grown, so I did not see any need to peel the apples. I did dice them a bit smaller than Ina called for in the recipe.


On several sites that have reviews, people suggested adding more filling, usually doubling the 1/3 cup to 2/3 cup in each turnover. I did that as we like more filling than crust in our turnovers. This made them a bit larger, of course, so I only used one sheet of puff pastry and made four turnovers. I also chose to use a Silpat rather than parchment.


These baked up beautifully. It was all I could do to restrain myself from eating one fresh out of the oven. (Next time I won't be so good!)


Another thing that was suggested in one of the reviews was to cook any leftover filling into a sauce to serve over the turnovers. I did that and thought it was a nice addition. However, I won't just serve the turnovers with the sauce again. IMO, they really needed a dollop of whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon or a sprinkling of orange zest. The sauce on top only was just a bit plain. Still tasty, though!


To serve to our family, I cut the turnovers in half. (We'd already had that meal of Herb Waffles with Roasted Asparagus and Eggs a la Goldenrod.) We all loved the flavour combination of apple, orange and cherry with the cinnamon & nutmeg. Yummy. Not only that, I really felt like these were easy enough so that my teenage daughter can bake them, too. I will definitely be making these again.

Re: the sauce. The filling mixture really did make a nice sauce. I could see making the sauce only and serving it over ice cream, pound cake, etc.

Apple Turnovers Ina Garten 1 teaspoon grated orange zest 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice 1 1/4 pounds tart apples, such as Empire or Granny Smith (3 apples) 3 tablespoons dried cherries 3 tablespoons sugar, plus extra to sprinkle on top 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg Pinch kosher salt 1 package (17.3 ounces, 2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash Preheat the oven to 400°F. Combine the orange zest and orange juice in a bowl. Peel, quarter, and core the apples and then cut them in 3/4-inch dice. Immediately toss the apples with the zest and juice to prevent them from turning brown. Add the cherries, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Flour a board and lightly roll each sheet of puff pastry to a 12 by 12-inch square. Cut each sheet into 4 smaller squares and keep chilled until ready to use. Brush the edges of each square with the egg wash and neatly place about 1/3 cup of the apple mixture on half of the square. Fold the pastry diagonally over the apple mixture and seal by pressing the edges with a fork. Transfer to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Brush the top with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, make 2 small slits, and bake for 20 minutes, until browned and puffed. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Click here to see what other Barefoot Bloggers think of this recipe.