Description
Easy puff pastry apple turnovers recipe featuring tender spiced apples wrapped in golden, flaky pastry. Ready in just 30 minutes using store-bought puff pastry and simple ingredients.
Ingredients
For the Apple Filling:
- 4 medium apples (Granny Smith, Jonagold, Honeycrisp, Braeburn, or Pink Lady), peeled and diced
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
For the Turnovers:
- 2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed to room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons coarse sugar (optional, for sprinkling)
Instructions
Chop up those apples tiny – about the size of your pinky nail. Big pieces will tear holes right through your pastry, and that’s just embarrassing. Throw everything in a pan over medium heat and stir it around for maybe 5-7 minutes until the apples start getting soft.
Mix that cornstarch with water first – saves you from getting weird clumps later. Stir it in and watch everything thicken up real quick. Turn off the heat and ignore it completely while it cools. Hot filling equals melted pastry equals sad turnovers.
Heat up the oven to 400°F and stick parchment paper on a baking sheet. Trust me on the parchment – cleaning burnt pastry off metal is nobody’s idea of fun.
Roll out each sheet until it’s roughly 15×10 inches. Don’t stress about perfect measurements here – close enough works. Cut each sheet into 6 squares. You should end up with a dozen squares total. Keep them chilly or they’ll turn into a gooey mess.
Dump 2-3 tablespoons of cooled filling smack dab in the middle of each square. Don’t get greedy – my first batch looked like apple bombs went off in my oven because I stuffed them too full.
Fold each square corner to corner into triangles. Smoosh those edges down hard, then grab a fork and go nuts crimping them shut. Really mash them down – loose edges mean apple goop leaking everywhere during baking.
Line these up on your baking sheet with some space between each one – they need room to puff up and show off.
Beat up that egg with water and brush it all over the tops. This is what makes them look store-bought fancy instead of homemade wonky. Take a knife and poke two little holes in each one so steam can get out. Skip this and they’ll explode like little pastry grenades.
Stick them in the oven for 15-20 minutes until they puff up and turn golden brown. They should sound hollow when you tap the tops – kind of like knocking on wood.
Notes
Move fast once you start rolling – every minute that pastry sits out gets it closer to disaster. I prep everything first, then do an assembly line like I’m working at McDonald’s.
Less filling is always better than more. I stuffed my first batch like Christmas stockings and ended up with apple soup all over my oven floor. Those little steam holes aren’t suggestions – they’re requirements unless you like cleaning apple off your oven walls.
Never skip brushing them with egg. It’s what makes people think you bought them from some fancy bakery instead of throwing them together in your pajamas.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American