Easy Apple Turnovers

As we were leaving Bill’s cousin Bob’s house in Ft Collins, we picked some apples right from their trees. These apples were perfect pie making apples. However, when determining what to keep and get rid of when we moved into the RV, I did not see the need for a pie plate. I mean I only had a convection oven, how will I bake a pie? Little did I know.

I decided to make some turnovers with the tart and delicious apples. I’ve made turnovers before with made from scratch dough and it is quite the process. Roll the dough, apply dots of butter, fold, roll, repeat. I passed this recipe on to my dad and he saw all the work involved. To make things a little easier, he came up with the brilliant idea of using puff pastry instead. Way to go, Dad!

I took his idea and made these tasty apple turnovers. Note, they aren’t as good as if you make the dough from scratch but they are a very close second and will not take half a day to make. I will include the scratch recipe at the bottom just in case you want to give it a go.

I am still getting acquainted with my convection oven in the RV and this experiment was a success! Enjoy! Your rig (or kitchen) will smell so good and hopefully your mouth will be watering.

Ingredients:

1 package of puff pastry sheets, thawed and at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoon all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1-2 teaspoons lemon juice
6-7 cups pie apples, jonagold, McIntosh, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
milk

Directions

Preheat your convection oven to 425°.

Peel, core and thinly slice the apples into a large bowl. Add the flour, sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest and juice. Stir gently but good to combine, making sure all the apples are coated. You will start to see a syrup forming.

Flour your rolling surface and begin to roll out one sheet of the puff pastry. I rolled it out to roughly a 14″x14″ square. Cut into 4 equal squares. Add enough apples to one half of the square allowing enough room to fold the pastry over. Apply a little water to the edge of the dough with either your finger or a small pastry brush. Then fold the pastry and seal with a fork. Brush each turnover with a little milk and cut slits on the top to allow the steam to escape.

Place the turnovers, one sheet at a time (that’s all that will fit in a Microwave/Convection oven) and bake for 30 minutes. At the 15 minute mark, rotate your baking sheet so the turnovers will cook evenly. Turnovers should be evenly browned. Cool and enjoy!

Should you have any leftover apple filling, heat it in a saucepan until the apples are cooked. These can be enjoyed just as they are, mixed in with oatmeal or even over a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

If you want to try making the dough from scratch, here are the ingredients and instructions:

2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter at room temperature
½ cup iced water

1. In a medium bowl with pastry blender, combine flour and salt. Cut in ½ cup butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle with iced water. With fork, mix well. Shape dough into a ball. With lightly floured rolling pin on lightly floured surface, roll into an 18”x 8” rectangle. Cut ¼ cup butter into thin slices. Starting at one of the 8” sides, place butter slices over 2/3 of the rectangle to within 1/2” of edges.

2. Fold unbuttered 1/3 of pastry over the middle 1/3. Fold opposite end over to the middle to make an 8”x6” rectangle. Roll dough out again into an 18”x8” rectangle.

3. Slice remaining ¼ cup butter. Place slices on dough and fold as in steps 1 and 2. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill 15 minutes. Roll folded dough into an 18”x 8” rectangle again. Fold lengthwise then crosswise. Wrap and chill dough for 1 hour.

4. Cut dough crosswise in half; roll one half into a 12” square (keep other half chilled). Cut into 4 equal squares and fill as directed above. Repeat with the other half. You will end up with (8) 6″ squares.