These easy apple turnovers are delicious apple-filled pastries that are perfect for breakfast or dessert. They are the perfect fall treat as they taste just like apple pie but with a fraction of the work. The best part is these turnovers come together quickly with store-bought puff pastry, and the sweet, warm apples spiced with cinnamon will make your kitchen smell heavenly as you bake them.
I love how these make for an easy hand-held treat so you can eat them on the go. These turnovers are also a great way to use up leftover apples, especially if you’ve gone apple picking. For more apple recipes, try my applesauce recipe, apple bread recipe, and apple strudel recipe.
What You Need to Make This Recipe
Butter — you can use salted or unsalted butter, but I recommend unsalted butter.
Apples — I recommend using firm apples, so they hold up as you cook and bake them. I use Granny Smith apples for this homemade apple turnovers recipe, but you can also use Fuji, Gala, or Honeycrisp apples.
Brown sugar — You can use light or dark brown sugar. Dark brown sugar has richer and deeper caramel notes, leading to a sweeter turnover. If you prefer a less sweet turnover, use light brown sugar.
Lemon juice — I recommend freshly squeezed lemon juice over bottled juice for the best flavor.
Cinnamon — make sure the cinnamon you have on hand is fresh for the best flavor.
Puff pastry — I have a delicious homemade puff pastry recipe if you want to use a homemade version. However, for convenience, you can use frozen puff pastry from the store.
Powdered sugar — forgot to buy powdered sugar? Not to worry! You can make your own by following my homemade powdered sugar recipe.
How to Make Apple Turnovers
1. Peel and dice the apples.
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the apples, and cook for a few minutes while stirring frequently. Add the brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and salt to the diced apples.
3. Stir to coat apple pieces. Cook until the apples are softened and become syrupy. Reduce the heat to low. Sprinkle in the cornstarch and stir until the juice boils and thickens before transferring the mixture to a bowl. Chill in the fridge once it’s reached room temperature.
4. Roll each of the thawed sheets of puff pastry sheet out on a lightly floured work surface into a 12-inch square. Cut each sheet into 4 equal squares and place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
5. Place a few tablespoons of filling in each square. Brush the edges with egg wash.
6. Fold one point of the puff pastry over the filling to the opposite point, creating a triangle. Crimp and seal in the filling by pressing the lines of a fork along both straight edges. Brush the top with more egg wash and cut a few small slits in the top. Sprinkle with sugar, if desired. Bake until the pastry is golden brown and puffed.
7. In a small mixing bowl, combine the powdered sugar and water and whisk until smooth.
8. Drizzle the glaze over the top of each turnover and enjoy!
Pro Tips for Making This Recipe
- Try to dice the fresh apples as uniformly as possible to ensure they cook evenly. Avoid chopping the apples larger than a ½ inch as they’ll be too large to keep the pastry from popping open in the oven.
- Make sure to seal the turnovers tightly, so the apple filling does not spill out.
- Don’t skip cutting a small slit on the puff pastry with a sharp knife for ventilation so the steam can come out, and you can avoid the turnovers bursting in the oven.
- If your thawed puff pastry is too difficult to work with, you can place it back into the fridge to help it firm up a bit.
- Avoid overworking the puff pastry, to help ensure a flaky pastry.
- It might seem like a lot of apples at first in your skillet, but they will shrink as you continue to cook them.
- Make sure you give the apple turnovers enough time to cool before adding the glaze. The glaze will melt off if the turnovers are piping hot.
- You can add the glaze to a piping bag or ziptop bag with the corner cut to easily drizzle the glaze over the turnovers.
- If you do not plan on baking the turnovers immediately, freeze them. If you assemble them ahead of time and leave them sitting, the turnovers will come out soggy.
- Serve them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream
Frequently Asked Questions
While you can keep these apple turnovers at room temperature for a couple of days, I recommend storing them in the fridge so they last longer. In the refrigerator in an airtight container, they’ll last for up to 5 days.
You can reheat leftovers in an oven or toaster oven. I recommend holding off on the glaze if you are not serving all the turnovers immediately, as the glaze can melt off as the turnovers reheat.
You can freeze turnovers before or after baking them. If you want to freeze the turnovers before baking, flash freeze them on a lined baking sheet until solid before transferring them to a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months. There’s no need to thaw them to bake. Add a couple of minutes to the baking time as they’re frozen. If freezing them after baking, simply allow them to cool to room temperature before freezing in a freezer-safe bag. You lose a bit of crispiness when freezing and reheating baked apple turnovers, so I recommend freezing them before baking for the best texture.
If you love this recipe try these out!
If you’ve tried this Apple Turnovers recipe, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Apple Turnovers
Equipment
- Large baking sheets
- Parchment paper
- Large skillet
- mixing bowl
Ingredients
For the Turnovers:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 cups cored, peeled, and diced apples (about 4 medium Granny Smith apples)
- ¼ cup brown sugar (55g)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 sheets frozen puff pastry thawed (1 17.3oz/490g package)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon water
For the Glaze:
- ¾ cup powdered sugar (180g)
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
For the Turnovers:
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the apples, and cook for a few minutes while stirring frequently. Add the brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and salt and stir to coat apple pieces. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the apples are softened and become syrupy. Reduce the heat to low.
- Sprinkle in the cornstarch and stir until the juice boils and thickens, about 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl. Let cool for 15 minutes then refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.
- When the apples are chilled, roll each thawed puff pastry sheet out on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch square. Cut each sheet into 4 equal squares.
- In a small bowl, beat the egg and water together, then brush the edges of each square with the egg wash.
- Place a few tablespoons of filling in each square. Fold one point of the puff pastry over the filling to the opposite point, creating a triangle. Crimp and seal in the filling by pressing the lines of a fork along both straight edges. Brush the top with more egg wash and cut a few small slits in the top. Sprinkle with sugar, if desired.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden and puffed. Let cool for at least 15 minutes.
For the Glaze:
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the powdered sugar and water and whisk until smooth. You can add a bit more water if the consistency needs to be thinned out. Drizzle over the warm turnovers and enjoy!
Notes
- Try to dice the apples as uniformly as possible to ensure they cook evenly. Avoid chopping the apples larger than a ½ inch as they’ll be too large to keep the pastry from popping open in the oven.
- Make sure to seal the turnovers tightly, so the apple filling does not spill out.
- Don’t skip cutting a few slits on the puff pastry for ventilation so the steam can come out, and you can avoid the turnovers bursting in the oven.
- If your thawed puff pastry is too difficult to work with, you can place it back into the fridge to help it firm up a bit.
- Avoid overworking the puff pastry, as you’ll lose some flakiness when baked.
- It might seem like a lot of apples at first in your skillet, but they will shrink as you continue to cook them.
- Make sure you give the apple turnovers enough time to cool before adding the glaze. The glaze will melt off if the turnovers are piping hot.
- You can add the glaze to a piping bag or ziptop bag with the corner cut to easily drizzle the glaze over the turnovers.
- If you do not plan on baking the turnovers immediately, freeze them. If you assemble them ahead of time and leave them sitting, the turnovers will come out soggy.
