For many years and my entire cooking journey, I have tried to make the perfect apple pie, from the filling to the pie crust, which I have experimented with countless times. After finally accomplishing the perfect pie, I began using my apple pie filling in numerous recipes. And so I present the best apple turnover recipe with my (almost) famous pie filling.
The filling has the perfect number of apples, a rich cinnamon flavor, a hint of orange zest, and extra sauce to make every bite as enticing as the last.
For the pastry, I used a traditional puff pastry recipe brought to you by Escoffier, a well-known chef in the late 1800s early 1900s who changed how every one of us eats… more on him in another post. You will genuinely be rolling out the history on your countertop with this puff pastry recipe over 100 years old.
Many of you may be wary of puff pastry; laminating pastry, which creates little air pockets of buttery goodness, can be a challenge sometimes, but don’t worry. My detailed recipe will dissolve any fears you might have.
So I mentioned lamination, but what is this? This method is used to make puff pastry and croissants, so think back to when you ate one. There are little pockets of air and buttery goodness throughout the pastry. But what creates this? Lamination is a method of folding a pastry batter and dough over itself many times with butter in between. You start with a dough sheet, place butter in the middle, fold the dough over the butter, roll it out, and fold it over itself—each time you do this, you create layers and layers of butter.
Fast forward to when you put your pastry in the oven; your oven will melt the butter and leave behind the little pockets of air where the butter used to be. This is what makes a pastry so flaky. This may sound like a tricky process, and others may complain about how it takes so long and doesn’t work. I want you to ignore those people and listen to and try my recipe. It’ll take roughly an hour and a half to make the pastry, but very little of this time is active time.
With that being said, I DO NOT recommend using store-bought puff pastry; it will simply not turn out as good. However, I will turn a blind eye to it just this once. It’ll work; it just won’t be nearly as good as from-scratch cooking.
So let’s dive right into this fantastic recipe that’ll be sure to impress your friends and family while making your house smell like a bakery.
Cheers,
Chef Olson
“The Flying Chef”
Puff pastry can be tricky, but having the best flour can help! We recommend this pastry flour from Bobs Red Mill.
Apple Turnovers
Yield: ~6 Pastries
Prep Time: ~1 Hour 10 Minutes Inactive Time: ~55 Minutes- 1 Hour Total Time: ~2 Hours 10 Minutes
Filling Ingredients
1. 415g Peeled and Largely Diced Apples (~1 Green & 3 Honey Crisp)
2. 1/4th tsp Orange Zest
3. 3/4th Cup (185g) Caster Sugar (Ultrafine Baking Sugar)
4. 3/4th Cup (185g) Water
5. 4 tbsp (40g) Corn Starch
6 .1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
7. 1/8th tsp Salt
8. 1/8th tsp Nutmeg
9. 1/2 tsp Grated Fresh Ginger (Optional)
Puff Pastry Ingrediants
1. 3 2/3rds Cup (500g) Flour (Preferably Pastry Flour)
2. 1 1.2 tsp (10g) Salt
3. 1 1.3rd Cups (285g) Cold Water
4. 4 Sticks (453.6g) Unsalted Butter
5. 1 Whole Egg + 2 tbsp Water
Puff Pastry Guide
1. Sift the flour and salt together in a medium bowl. Make a well at the center and add your cold water. Your water should be surrounded by flour except for the top.
2. With a fork, gradually mix the water and flour. You want to add just a little flour at a time by slowly mixing from the middle of the bowl outward. Mix this until you can make a ball. The dough may be sticky, but that is ok. Wrap in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for 20 minutes.
3. While the dough rests, take your butter straight from the fridge and beat it with a rolling pin or sturdy ice cream scooper. If you use sticks of butter, you want them to be beaten together to form one sheet of butter. Beat the butter together until you form an 8-inch square with clean straight edges. This could take some time, depending on how soft your butter is. Keep the butter sheet in the fridge.
4. After your pastry has rested, roll it out on a lightly floured surface to form a 15-inch square. Place your butter sheet directly in the middle and fold the left side over the butter, followed by the right, top, and bottom. Roll out the pastry dough to ensure it covers all the butter. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out your pastry dough into a 10.5-inch by 21-inch sheet. Fold 1/3rd of the dough over the middle 1/3rd and fold the bottom 1/3rd onto the previous fold. Rotate your pastry dough 90 degrees, roll it out again until it's 10.5 inches by 21 inches, and repeat the previous folds. Refrigerate your pastry dough for 10 minutes. It is essential that the pastry dough maintains clean, straight edges throughout your folding, trimming off the edges if necessary.
6. Repeat step five two more times. That is rolling it out six times and refrigerating it between every two rollouts. When finished, reserve the pastry dough in the refrigerator.
Apple Filling Guide
7. Combine the apples, orange zest, water, sugar, sifted cornstarch, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and ginger in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes or until the sauce is thick, stirring occasionally. Keep in mind it will thicken further as it cools.
8. Let your apple filling cool completely.
Put It Together
9. Preheat your oven to 430 degrees Fahrenheit
10. Roll out your puff pastry until it's 1/8th of an inch thick, and cut out six 5-inch squares. Add two tablespoons of the apple mixture in the middle and fold one corner to the opposite corner to make a triangle. Press down on the joined edges with a fork to crimp and seal them.
11. Crack your egg in a small bowl and add two tablespoons of water. Beat with a fork.
12. Place pastries on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper 5 inches apart and brush with your egg wash.
13. Place in the oven and bake for 8 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 7-12 minutes or until golden brown.
Recipe By: Chef Olson Thewoodenspoonchefs.com
Did you make this recipe? Take a picture and tag on instagram at the_wooden_spoon_chefs
Chef Notes
- it is essential you use pastry flour. I've used all-purpose flour for this recipe, but it isn't the same. I recommend buying Bob's Red Mill pastry flour for this recipe.
- The puff pastry dough must remain cold to get flaky layers. If you aren't getting these layers, it's likely due to your butter warming within the dough or failing to keep clean straight edges while you roll out the dough.
- Puff Pastry can sometimes be tricky; if you have trouble, please visit our recipe troubleshooting group here, and we can help you.
- These apple turnovers can be frozen if you cook for yourself or a smaller group. Thaw them in your refrigerator for a few hours before baking them.
Credit
Puff Pastry Adapted from Escoffier: Le Guide Culinaire