Baked Apple Turnovers
You might mostly know Jamie Deen as a cook, but that man can make a dessert! We love his combination of Honeycrisp and Granny Smith apples for these turnovers, which take advantage of purchased puff pastry.
The rag-tag appearance of the pastries in the image just adds to their charm for us. Let the kids get involved. Square ones, round or oblong, these are packed with spiced apple filling and just taste like autumn. Check out his Salted Caramel Pecan Pie with Pretzel Crust as well, both from his book, Jamie Deen’s Good Food
Excerpted with permission. Jamie Deen’s Good Food
I bet you wouldn’t be shocked to know that my mom used to make deep-fried apple pies back when I was Jack’s age. She would wrap apples and brown sugar in biscuit dough and drop it into a sizzling vat of oil. I loved those pies so much, but they didn’t do much for my health. In our own house, Brooke and I have never deep-fried a thing. Not one time—and we’ve lived here for eight years. Instead, we do a lot of baking. By baking instead of frying, I can pass along this slightly revised family recipe, sharing the memories and flavors with the people I love but in a healthier way. I use fresh apples for the filling and just a little bit of brown sugar, then fold it up in ready-made puff pastry, which cooks up to be much lighter and flakier than a dense biscuit dough. Jack gets to enjoy the same dessert that I had when I was a fat little boy, except he’s not a fat little boy.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 Honeycrisp apples, peeled, cored and chopped into ½-inch cubes
- 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped into ½-inch cubes
- ¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 package (17.3 ounces) puff pastry, thawed
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar for sprinkling
- Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until it’s foamy. Add the apples and cook, while stirring, for 3 minutes, or until they’re slightly softened. Stir in the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, ginger, and salt, and continue cooking, stirring, for 3 minutes more, or until the pan looks almost dry and the sugar is syrupy. Remove the apples to a bowl and cool them completely.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and adjust your oven racks to the center. Line two sheet trays with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and water and set it aside.
- One at a time, very carefully unfold your sheets of puff pastry on a lightly floured work surface. Roll out each sheet to an 11 by 11-inch square.
- Cut each sheet into four equal-size squares and place them on the prepared sheet trays. Brush the outside corners of each square with some egg wash and add a scant ⅓ cup filling across the center of each square, going from one corner to the other. Fold the top corner over the filling and press it to seal. Then fold the bottom corner over the last fold and press it to seal. (Two corners of the tart will remain open with the filling peeking out.) Repeat this step with the remaining squares of pastry. Brush the outside of each turnover with egg wash and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes, until puffy and golden. Allow the turnovers to cool a bit before serving.
Jamie Deen’s Tips:
- The filling can be made up to two days in advance—but I bet you won’t be able to wait that long to use it.
- Little cooks can help roll out the puff pastry, add the filling, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.
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