Apple Turnovers

I hope you are enjoying the first official weekend of fall! I love the changing leaves, sweaters, scarves, and the pumpkin spice latte (though not as much as it’s more delicious cousin the gingerbread latte).

I spent Saturday morning babysitting my nephew, which involved lots of hockey, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, inspecting every mailbox in the neighborhood, running up hills, and playing golf in the front yard. Then I watched at least three episodes of Parenthood on Netflix. I’m hooked.

I also made some yummy apple turnovers. 

The crust is flaky and buttery and filled with pure sweet apple goodness. My nephew usually gets super excited at the word “treat” but decided he wanted watermelon and apples for breakfast instead. The good news is that he’s a super healthy kid and there are more turnovers for the rest of us!

I made these without cinnamon since my nephew is allergic, but you could certainly add ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon to the filling if you like.

Apple Turnovers

Makes 8 turnovers

For the crust:

2 cups all purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces

½ cup ice water

For the filling:

4 apples, peeled, cored and cut into ½ inch pieces (I used Gala)

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

Pinch of salt

¼ teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

1 egg (for egg wash)

To make the dough: Whisk together the flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingers, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle the ice water into the flour and butter and stir with a fork until the dough comes together. It will be rather crumbly. Transfer the dough to a board or countertop and knead gently to incorporate all the crumbs and form into a disc. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour or overnight.

Take the dough out of the fridge about 15 minutes before rolling it out. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone mat or a sheet of parchment paper.

While the dough rests, make the filling: Combine the peeled, cored, and cut apples with the sugar, flour, salt, and cinnamon (if using). Stir until evenly coated.

Divide the dough in half and keep one half in the fridge while rolling out the other. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thickness with a lightly floured rolling pin. Cut the dough into approximately 5 inch circles, using the edge of a small bowl or saucer as a guide. You will probably need to re-roll the scraps together to get the last piece cut out. Each half of the dough should make four turnovers.

Place 2 tablespoons of filling in the middle of each piece of dough. Moisten the edges of the dough with a bit of water and fold the dough over the filling, pinching the edges together. Place each turnover on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. You will have a total of eight turnovers.

Whisk together the egg with a tablespoon of water and brush the top of each turnover lightly with the egg wash. Sprinkle each turnover with a pinch of sugar (course sugar would be great if you have it – I did not). Bake the turnovers in the preheated oven for 25 minutes until lightly golden. Allow the turnovers to cool for ten minutes on the baking sheet. Serve warm or at room temperature.

(Dough recipe from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters)

(If you have extra filling, which you may, make a couple mini apple crumbles!)