Apple Turnovers

These homemade Apple Turnovers are filled with a spiced apple filling and baked in flaky, buttery puff pastry dough. Dust with powdered sugar or drizzle with glaze, and you have a breakfast that tastes like apple pie!

These Homemade Apple Turnovers are such a fun breakfast treat, and SO delicious!  We love breakfasts that can double as a dessert, like my Old Fashioned Donuts, and Sticky Buns.   This is one of my Breakfast recipes you’ll definitely want in your collection!

APPLE TURNOVER RECIPE

If there’s a classic nostalgic breakfast/dessert for me, it’s turnovers.  Apple turnovers specifically. There’s something about that buttery and flaky pastry that surrounds a rich apple cinnamon filling.  Feels like I’m eating apple pie, for breakfast!

We didn’t even eat there all that often, but whenever we’d get Arby’s, I’d always want one of their apple turnovers. But making them at home is so much better!  You can add whatever flavors you want, make different shapes, top them with different toppings, etc.

Turnovers are generally thought of as sweet, but you could easily add a sausage and egg scramble to them and make a great savory breakfast.

HOW TO MAKE APPLE TURNOVERS

1. Make filling.  Melt butter, then add apples, spices, cornstarch and vanilla extract.  Simmer until thickened, then cool.
2. Roll out dough.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out puff pastry dough until it forms a 11-12 inch square. Slice into 8 equally sized rectangles.
3. Add filling and egg wash.  Spoon a bit of filling in the center of each rectangle, leaving a 1/2 inch border on all sides. Brush the border with egg wash.
4. Top with more dough.  Roll out second puff pastry sheet to the same 11-12 inch square and slice into 8 equally sized rectangles.  Top each apple covered rectangle with a plain rectangle of dough and press to seal. Use fork to crimp.
5. Egg wash and bake.  Transfer to baking sheets, brush with egg wash, and bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and puffed up.
6. Cool and top.  Cool on wire rack and dust with powdered sugar if desired.

ADDITIONAL COOKING TIPS

• PUFF PASTRY – make sure you pick up a package of puff pastry and not phyllo dough. They’re different and phyllo dough won’t work well with this recipe.
• THAW – thaw the puff pastry according to the package directions.  I prefer to thaw mine overnight in the refrigerator. Otherwise you won’t be able to roll out the dough and work with it to create amazing apple turnovers.
• COOL THE FILLING – as tempting as it is to make this recipe right away, you have to cool the filling to room temperature. If you don’t, the warm filling will make the puff pastry dough too soft and almost impossible to pick up and transfer to the baking sheet.
• KEEPING THE FILLING FROM LEAKING – the egg wash plus pressing the edges together well will help keep that precious filling inside. The other option to try if you’re having trouble is to chill the turnovers before baking, for about 15-20 minutes or so.

VARIATIONS OF THIS RECIPE

• TRIANGLES – instead of making smaller rectangles, you can slice each puff pastry sheet into 4 squares, add the filling, and fold one corner over onto the opposite corner, creating a triangle. Bake as directed.
• GLAZED – make an easy glaze from 1/2 cup powdered sugar and about 1-2 Tbsp of heavy cream or milk, and drizzle over the top of the baked turnovers.
• CARAMEL – it’s no secret that apple and caramel are perfect together, so once you add the apple filling to the turnovers, drizzle the filling with a little caramel sauce.  They’ll bake together and be oh so delicious!
• APPLE PIE FILLING – if you’d rather, you could use some canned apple pie filling.

MAKING APPLE TURNOVERS AHEAD OF TIME

I think these turnovers taste best when made the same day, but you can absolutely make the apple filling ahead of time!

Also, these turnovers freeze well.  Assemble, but don’t bake.  Add turnovers to baking sheet and freeze until firm, then transfer turnovers to a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 1-2 months.

Bake them from frozen, at 400°F for 23-25 minutes.

STORAGE

Leftovers should be refrigerated in an airtight container and eaten within 3 days.

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT FOR THIS RECIPE

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• Rimmed Baking Sheet – you can use any size baking sheet, but this half sheet pan is really versatile and what I used here.  As a bonus, it’s a 2 pack!
• Pastry Wheel – for those fun zig-zag edges, a pastry wheel comes in handy.
• Bench Scraper – this makes it easy to transfer the cut turnovers to the baking sheet.
• Puff Pastry – this is the brand of puff pastry I use… make sure you don’t pick up phyllo dough, it’s not the same thing and won’t work as well in this recipe.

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Apple Turnovers

5 from 11 votes

Author: The Chunky Chef

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Calories: 463

Servings: 8 servings

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Print Rate Pin

These homemade Apple Turnovers are filled with a spiced apple filling and baked in flaky, buttery puff pastry dough.

Ingredients

TURNOVERS

• ▢ 2 sheets frozen puff pastry dough thawed
• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 1 Tbsp water
• ▢ powdered sugar for dusting

APPLE CINNAMON FILLING

• ▢ 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• ▢ 3 medium granny smith apples peeled and chopped into small cubes (about 1/4 - 1/3" squares)
• ▢ 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
• ▢ 2 tsp cornstarch
• ▢ 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ▢ 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• ▢ pinch kosher salt
• ▢ 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

MAKE FILLING

• To a saucepan, add butter and heat over MED heat. Add apples, brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and vanilla extract and stir to combine.
• Bring to a low boil, then reduce heat to LOW and simmer until thickened, about 3-5 minutes.
• Set aside to cool COMPLETELY.

ROLL OUT DOUGH

• Lightly flour a work surface (I use my counter) and add thawed puff pastry sheet. Sprinkle with a bit more flour and roll out to a roughly 11-12 inch square.
• Use a pizza cutter, pastry wheel, sharp knife or bench scraper to cut dough into 8 equally sized rectangles.
  

ADD FILLING, EGG WASH, AND COVER

• Once filling has completely cooled, spoon apple filling in the center of each rectangle, making sure to leave a 1/2 inch border on all sides.
• Whisk together egg and water and brush mixture around the border of each rectangle.
• Roll out second pastry sheet to the same size as the first one (11-12 inch square), then slice into the same 8 equally sized rectangles.
• Top each apple covered dough rectangle with another dough rectangle and press together. Use the tines of a fork to crimp the edges.

BAKE

• Transfer turnovers to prepared baking sheets, leaving some room in between each one. Brush with egg wash.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and puffed.

COOL AND TOP

• Transfer turnovers to a wire rack to cool, the filling will be piping hot.
• Dust with powdered sugar, or top as desired.

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Nutrition Disclaimer

The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.

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