One of the items we will be offering at the markets are our turnovers. Since we use seasonally ingredients, we will be offering a variety of turnovers and throughout the summer, these options will change. One of the turnovers we will almost always have will be our Apple Turnovers. These remind me of the old Hostess fruit pies but without the Comstock fruit fillings.
We use our traditional buttery pie crust recipe for all turnovers. My granddad Nestor would also use this recipe for his pies. I have fond memories of him making pies for the holidays or when we visited. We don't use lard like he use to but the taste is still amazing. I usually use this crust for all my items that require a crust: quiche, chicken pot pies, jelly rolls, etc. The filling uses granny smith apples. I love tart apples and use them in a lot of my apple recipes. I add spices to them for that perfect filling and honestly, can eat just the filling by itself.
Since I can't give you my granddad's crust recipe, I figured I would grab a recipe for turnovers that is fast and easy to make and is also delicious. This recipe is from Food Network.com and is by Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, copyrighted 2006. Enjoy.
Ingredients: 1 tsp grated orange zest, 3 TBSPs fresh orange juice, 1.25 lb tart apples, 3 TBSPs dried cherries, 3 TBSPs sugar, 1 TBSP flour, .25 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg, sea salt, 1 package of puff pastry, egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 TBSP water)
Instructions: (1) Preheat oven to 400 F and line baking sheet with parchment paper. (2) Combine zest and juice in a large mixing bowl. Peel and core apples and cut into 3/4" dice pieces. Add to juice then combine cherries, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a pinch of sea salt. (3) Flour a surface and roll out defrosted puff pastry sheet into a 12x12" square. Cut into 4 smaller squares and chill until ready to use. (4) Brush egg wash over a pastry square and add 1/3 of the apple mixture on 1/2 of the square. Fold over diagonally and press edges closed with a fork. Add turnovers to prepared sheet,. Bush egg wash over the top of the pastries and sprinkle with sugar. Cut two slices into the tops of each pastry to vent and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown and puffy. Serve warm or at room temperature.
* Instead of traditional diagonal turnovers you can make a circles and fold over the circles for a semi-circle shape.
* You can omit the cherries and add other dried fruit like cranberries, raisins, figs, etc. or just have the apples.
