Flaky Apple Turnovers from Dorie Greenspan

Something short and sweet to end the week with - flaky apple turnovers from my favourite cookbook author, Dorie Greenspan.



I actualy made these long ago and ended up with loads of leftovers. Best part is it keeps in the freezer. Whenever you need to get your fix, just plonk them in the oven frozen and they bake to golden brown perfection.

Give the recipe a try! Definitely worth it as the pastry is flaky and so delicious. The key is sour cream which is added to the pastry. I find making them bigger mean tastier turnovers even though these are a nice bite size version.

Flaky Apple Turnovers (Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)

For the turnover dough:

1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into tiny pieces

In a bowl, combine the sour cream and sugar and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the all-purpose flour and salt. Add the butter pieces and with a pastry cutter or your finger tips, mix in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse oatmeal and has a crumbly texture. Add the sour cream/sugar mixture and gently mix together with a fork or your hands.

You want the dough to come together into a ball. If the mixture is still a bit too dry, add a bit of cold water to help bring it together. Be careful not to overmix or overwork the dough.
Once you can gather it into a ball, divide the ball in half, flatten each half into a disk and refrigerate (wrapped in plastic) for about an hour.

When you're ready to make the turnovers, remove one-half of the dough and roll it into a rectangle shape that is roughly 9 inches by 18 inches. You'll need to flour your work surface well as you roll out the dough. Once you've rolled it to 9 by 19, fold the dough in thirds (like a letter) and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours. Follow the same procedure for the other half of dough.

For the filling:

1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
a pinch of nutmeg
4 medium-sized apples of your choice, peeled, cored and cut into small pieces
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into tiny pieces
1 egg, beaten with a bit of water for the egg wash
granulated sugar for dusting

Combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Add the apples and mix well to ensure the apples are completely coated.

To assemble the turnovers:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and be sure to have a rack in the top third of the oven and a rack in the lower third of the oven. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll out one piece of dough to a thickness of about 1/8 of an inch. With a cutter that is about 4 to 4-1/2 inches in width, cut out circles. You will probably get between 6 and 8 circles from the dough you have rolled out. You can reroll the scraps to cut out more circles. In total, from both pieces of dough, you shouldn't have more than 16 circles or you may not have enough filling.

Once you've rolled out both pieces of dough and cut out your circles, take one circle and put a tablespoon or two of apple filling in the centre. Dot with a few pieces of butter. Wet the edges of the dough with a bit of water and then fold one half over to meet the other half. Seal with your fingers and then use the tines of a fork along the edges of the dough to further seal the turnovers. Poke a few holes in the turnover to allow the steam to release. Lay the turnover on the cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough and apple filling.

Once your turnovers are complete, brush each one with egg wash and sprinkle with a pinch of granulated sugar. Bake the turnovers for 20 minutes, rotating the trays from front to back and top to bottom halway through. If you can resist, let the turnovers cool slightly on a wire rack (for about 5 or 10 minutes) before eating them.