Homemade Apple Turnovers

Flaky homemade apple turnovers: a cinnamon and nutmeg apple filling cooked on the stove, folded into rounds of homemade pie crust and baked at 375°F until golden.

VeganVegetarianDairy-free

Contains: wheat. Based on the ingredients as written; check package labels, which can change.

Recipe and video by Alyson Hurley of Baking with Aly on YouTube.

Homemade Apple Turnovers by Alyson Hurley of Baking with Aly

Watch the video

  • Prep 1 hr
  • Cook 30 min
  • Cool filling 30 min
  • Total 2 hr
  • Yield About 12 turnovers (our estimate)

Updated

In this video, Alyson Hurley of Baking with Aly makes apple turnovers completely from scratch. She mixes a traditional pie crust in the food processor, cooks a thick, glossy apple filling with brown and white sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, then cuts the rolled dough into rounds, fills them, folds and crimps them, and bakes them until flaky.

She doubled the cinnamon and nutmeg in the filling, and recommends cutting the apples small so they cook quickly. Watch the video for each step, then follow the recipe below.

Ingredients

Pie crust

  • 3 cups King Arthur unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
  • 3/4 to 1 cup shortening
  • 6 to 9 tablespoons ice water

Apple filling

  • 9 cups of apples, peeled, cored and chopped
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 3 cups white sugar
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon (Alyson doubled this)
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (also doubled)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups water

Flour for this recipeKing Arthur Baking Company makes all-purpose, bread, whole wheat and gluten-free flours.

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Instructions

  1. Make the crust. In a food processor, pulse the flour, salt and sugar with the shortening until crumbly, then add ice water a spoonful at a time just until the dough holds together. Gather it into a ball.
    Pie dough shaped into a ball
  2. Prepare the apples. In a large bowl, toss the chopped apples with the lemon juice and set aside.
  3. Start the filling. In a large Dutch oven or saucepan, stir together the white sugar, brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir in the water and bring to a low simmer.
  4. Cook the apples. Add the apples, cover and cook 6 to 10 minutes, until a fork slides in easily and the sauce has thickened. Small pieces take about 6 minutes, larger slices about 10. Take the pot off the heat and let the filling cool.
    Apple filling cooking in a Dutch oven
  5. Shape. Heat the oven to 375°F. Roll the dough out on a floured surface and cut it into rounds. Spoon cooled filling onto one half of each round, fold the dough over and crimp the edges with a fork. Set them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
    Filling the pastry rounds and folding them into turnovers
  6. Bake. Bake at 375°F for about 20 minutes, until flaky and golden.

VegetarianVeganDairy-free

Tips

  • Alyson made her crust from "A Traditional American Pie Crust" in the King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook; the amounts above are the cookbook's generous version shown in the video.
  • Let the filling cool before filling the dough, or the pastry will soften and tear.
  • The filling recipe makes plenty; extra keeps in the refrigerator and is good over ice cream.

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