These spiced apple turnovers are made with homemade puff pastry, but storebought will work just as well. Lightly sweetened and deeply spiced with a "baking spice" mix, these guys bake up flaky and crispy on the outside and full of soft, sweet apple-y goodness on the inside. NOTE: Cook time is for the apple mixture and the turnovers combined.
560-680grams1 1/4-1 1/2 pounds mixed peeled and finely diced apples (about 4 apples)* (See Notes)
85grams3 oz or a scant 1/2 cup brown sugar
1TablespoonBaking Spice**See Notes
½teaspoonkosher salt or to taste
1Tablespooncornstarch
1Tablespoonapple cider vinegar
1Tablespooncold water
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
To Assemble and Bake
½my recipe for puff pastry or 2 sheets of frozen puffthawed in the refrigerator overnight
1egg + 1 teaspoon water + 1 pinch of salt for egg wash
coarse sugarfor sprinkling (omit if making glaze)
Optional Glaze
14grams1/2 oz or 1 Tablespoon butter
¼teaspoonbaking spice
pinchof salt
½teaspoonvanilla
85grams3 oz or about 3/4 cup confectioners sugar
milk to thin to glaze consistency
Instructions
Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat.
In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch, apple cider vinegar, water, and vanilla.
Add the sugar, salt, and baking spice (or your preferred spicing) to the apples and then tip everyone into the melted butter.
Bring to a high simmer or low boil and cook for about 8 minutes, until the apples are soft.
Add the cornstarch mixture and boil for 2 additional minutes, stirring frequently.
Allow to cool to room temperature or chill before filling your turnovers.
On a lightly-floured surface, roll the sheet/s of puff pastry to about 1/8" thick.
Trim off the folded edges (if using homemade) and then cut into desired-sized squares. Mine were about 6" square, so the turnovers are pretty big.
Pile an equal amount of apple filling onto each square, slightly off-center.
Egg wash the 2 edges of each square nearest the apples.
Carefully fold over the other two edges to align with the egg-washed edges, pressing down firmly and then going back over the seam with a fork dipped in flour just to be sure.
Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets and freeze for about 45 minutes.
Set two oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375F with convection or 400F for a conventional oven.
Once your turnovers are nice and cold, brush each with a thin glaze of eggwash, and sprinkle with some coarse sugar (unless you're making the optional glaze)
Bake until deeply golden brown and bubbly, between 20-30 minutes. Rotate and switch the pans halfway through baking.
Allow to cool on the pans for a couple of minutes and then transfer to cooling racks to cool to warm.
Glaze or don't. They're good either way.
For the Glaze
Melt the butter in a small bowl.
Add spice, salt, vanilla, and confectioners sugar.
Whisk together as well as you can just to start incorporating the butter.
Whisk in about 1 Tablespoon of milk and check for a good drizzling consistency. If it's not quite there, add more, a teaspoon at a time, until you like the consistency.
Drizzle over your apple turnovers. Use more or less, depending on how sweet you like things.
Enjoy!
Notes
VARIATIONS
Switch up your spicing. For example, add minced crystallized ginger and add extra ginger to the mix.
Add finely chopped and toasted nuts to the filling.
Jenni Says: Add toasted nuts right before filling your turnovers so they don’t get super soggy. Unless you like soggy nuts.
Add some dried fruits along with the apples. Consider golden raising, snipped dried apricots, dried peaches, or even add some dried apple for even more apple flavor along with a more interesting texture.
SPICED APPLE TURNOVER Q & A
Can you freeze these? Yes, you can freeze turnovers either before or after baking. Once they’re frozen, put them in a zip-top freezer bag and store for a month or up to two. The longer you store them, the less fresh they will taste, so use good judgment here. If freezing before baking, when you’re ready to bake, allow them to sit out at room temperature while the oven heats, brush with eggwash, cut in some vents, and bake straight from frozen. It may take 2-3 minutes longer to bake them than when baking fresh.
How long do these keep? Puff pastry turnovers are at their crispy, flaky best the day you bake them. You can refresh them in your oven or toaster oven, but if you need to keep them longer than a couple of days, freeze them.
Can I heat them in the microwave? I don’t recommend it because it will make the pastry unpleasantly soft and sad. Reheat in a convention oven or toaster oven. Or in your air fryer, if you have one.