Homemade applesauce and frozen puff pastry come together for Easy Apple Turnovers that will wow your friends and family.
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Years ago we lived in Paso Robles on California’s Central Coast. It’s where we had our first few babies, bought our first home, and experienced the first hard things of our life.
It’s also where we fell in love with apples.
Growing up, neither my husband nor I had ever enjoyed a fresh from the tree apple. Most of what we’d experienced were the mushy Golden Delicious so prevalent in grocery stores of the 70’s. Upon moving to San Luis Obispo County, we discovered the beauty and amazing taste of fresh apples. Wow!
We bought pounds and pounds of them down nearby See Canyon, and we enjoyed Apple Crowns and Apple Flips at the local Cider Creek bakery.
These Easy Apple Turnovers pay homage to that sweet season of our lives. Believe me, there was some hard stuff that went down in those five years, but that’s mellowed in our minds. Now, we mostly remember all the good food experiences.
And that is how it should be, don’t you think?
Frozen puff pastry is one of my friends. It doesn’t visit my kitchen very often, but when it does, we have a party. It’s so easy to work with and results in such fun and tasty baked goods, what’s not to love?
Other fun recipes with puff pastry:
- Cinnamon Puffs
- Big Puffy Heart Tarts
- Ham and Cheese Foldovers
You can very easily prepare these delicious Apple Turnovers in a matter of minutes. You’ll wow your kids, your hubby, your mom, the family down the street. The only downside is that you’ll wish you had made more.
This recipe makes 8 apple turnovers. Last time I checked, these were about $2 each at the local bakery. Homemade is a little bit cheaper and so much better!
In my neck of the woods, frozen puff pastry is not an “inexpensive” item, about $4-5 per package, though cheaper if you can catch it on sale. With about 1 cup of homemade organic applesauce (about $0.50 to make) and some cinnamon sugar (practically free for the amount I used), these turnovers come out to be a little less than $1 each. While I would not call that a bargain, it’s better than store bought — for flavor and price.
Basic method for preparing Easy Apple Turnovers
Frozen puff pastry is super easy to work with. Allow it to thaw in the refrigerator. Then unfold a sheet on a piece of parchment. You might see some fold marks. You can smooth those out with a wet fingertip. Or not. I didn’t.
Cut each sheet into four sections.
Spoon applesauce onto one triangular half of each square. That sounds tricky, but it’s not. You just want to have enough space to fold and seal. So, a thin layer is good. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar.
Fold the square into a triangle, over the filling. Use a wet fingertip to moisten the edges before pressing to seal. With a fork, crimp the edges of the pastry. Brush the tops with an egg wash to give them a nice sheen.
Bake in a 400° oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Needless to say, these turnovers disappeared in a matter of minutes. My kids just loved them.
Someday, I might go out on a limb and learn to make the pastry myself. This recipe for homemade puff pastry looks doable and would bring down the price point as well as increase the flavor — if I could do it right! I’ll keep you posted.
Easy Apple Turnovers
Ingredients
- 17.25 ounces frozen puff pastry thawed according to package directions
- 1 cup applesauce like this homemade version
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 °. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Unfold each sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured surface or on a piece of parchment. You might see some fold marks. You can smooth those out with a wet fingertip. Or not.
- Cut each pastry sheet into four squares.
- Spoon applesauce onto one triangular half of each square. That sounds tricky, but it’s not. You just want to have enough space to fold and seal.
- In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the pastries generously with cinnamon sugar.
- Fold the square of pastry into a triangle, over the filling. Use a wet fingertip to moisten the edges before pressing to seal. With a fork, crimp the edges of the pastry.
- In a small bowl, combine the egg and water. Brush the tops of the pastries with the egg wash.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
Updated September 24, 2016.
Jaime
I make a Spiced Sweet and Chunky Apple Butter that would probably be outstanding in these! Oh the gears are turning! I bet these would be better frozen unbaked, but you never know.
I have a cookbook devoted to making puff pastry from scratch – the classic (read hard) way and the rough way. I’ve been wanting to try out the “rough” version and I think this is just the little recipe to push me into action! Now I need a sale on butter!
Jessica Fisher
Let me know how it works out! (I get butter at Costco for pretty cheap.)
KAS
To make this for the freezer, should I bake them to completion and THEN freeze them, or assemble them to the point of baking, then freeze? Thanks for your help, these look delicious!
Jessica Fisher
I’ve never frozen them, so I’m not sure. I always make them fresh. Sorry.
Lizzy
I have a recipe for Faux Puff Pastry that I love. It’s from King Arthur Flour. You can find it here: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/cheese-twists-recipe. It’s included in the cheese twist recipe; I couldn’t find it any other way on the web. I haven’t done any of the math to find out how much it actually costs to make it, especially since it falls into the category of “Extremely Rare Treat.” 🙂 I may have to try it with your super simple apple turnover recipe.
Jenny
Have these in the oven now. They smell incredible!
AJ's Mommy
Looks yummy..
What is cinnamon sugar? cinnamon mixed in sugar? if that is what is the ratio?
TIA 🙂
Jessica
Yes. Cinnamon sugar is just that. A good ratio to start is 1 cup sugar mixed with 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon. You can adjust it depending on how spicy you like it.