Good morning keen cooks!
There are a surprising amount of baked goods I absolutely love that when brought pre-made from a shop, I don’t like or even actively hate!
Before I made my own chocolate eclairs I wasn’t a fan at all, they were soggy, had this strange plastic-y chocolate on them and just weren’t nice at all.
Believe it or not but I wasn’t a fan of cake for many years for the same reason, I’d only experienced dry, horrible pre-made ones!
The same goes for apple turnovers.
I’d never really had one that wasn’t pretty dry and tasteless so I just couldn’t really see the appeal. That is, until I made some for myself!
For those of you who haven’t heard of them, apple turnovers are a mix of apples and sugar inside a puff pastry case.
I guess a little like those Mcdonald’s rectangular “apple pies” that used to be sold, except edible.
As with many baked goods these do take a while to make but are worth it in the end, they are better than ones you buy in the supermarket, and I think it goes without saying, better than the mutants from Mcdonald’s!
To make the most of your time you could make a couple of batches to keep a steady supply of deliciousness coming, freezing some before they are cooked!
I steered away from the tradition of apple turnovers slightly by adding pear to mine.
After all, if you’re going to go all out, you might as well make them that little bit extra special!
You could do many variations on the filling but apple is quite important and I wouldn’t take it out until you’ve done a lot of experimenting!
Apples, and indeed pears too, contain a lot of pectin that will semi set the mixture naturally so it’s thick rather than runny and soggy which will result in ikky pastry and a big mess!
Saying that, you can actually make savoury versions of these too, just make sure the filling is thick and cold before you add it to the pastry, and for your own sake, don’t add any sugar!
Pepper’s Apple & Pear Turnovers
Makes 8
Ingredients
500g puff pastry
3 large Bramley apples peeled, chopped and cored
3 firm unripe pears peeled, chopped and cored
85g caster sugar
Juice of half a lemon
Brown sugar for dusting
1 tablespoon of milk for glazing
Method
Preheat the oven to 190oc & grease a large baking tray.
In a large saucepan on a medium heat combine the apples, pears the lemon juice and half of the sugar.
Cook until softened, stirring all of the time to prevent burning, about 10 to 12 minutes.
Add the remainder of the sugar and cook until the mix becomes thick, leave to completely cool.
Once the apple and pear mix has cooled roll out the pastry to 5mm thick on a large floured surface.
Cut it into 8 15cm squares.
Place about 1 and a half heaped tablespoons of the mixture on to the middle of each square then fold each square over from corner to corner to create filled triangles, pressing the edges to seal.
With a pastry brush, brush the milk over the tops and bottoms of the turnovers and place each on the baking tray.
Sprinkle brown sugar over each to create a crispy topping then take a sharp knife and make a slit on each to let steam escape.
Place in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown.
Lovely served both hot or cold, amazing with a dollop of whipped cream!
