Apple Turnovers

Let's have an update to my life shall we? This past week, I've been on a diet. By diet, I mean that this week I've simply been watching what I am eating. I've only been eating about 1200-1500 calories a day. Is that bad?! D: I'm just trying to lose weight!! After my freshman year of college, I definitely had the freshmen fifteen!! The sad part is....I didn't even dorm!! I ate the normal home cooked meals I ate during high school so how is that even possible for me to gain the freshmen fifteen?! The one thing that changed during college was that I began to eat breakfast before school. In high school, I didn't eat breakfast. I would just get ready for school and leave without eating. I'm beginning to point the "weight gaining" on breakfast!! They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day but I don't know what has happened to me. haha. I mean, I'm not huge but I definitely feel overweight.

I have to say, diets and working out are the hardest thing for me to do. I just want to sit and eat my ice cream. haha. But, I gotta do what I gotta do. In addition to my diet, I started working out. I don't know how long it will last but I hope I can keep it up throughout the summer. Every time I begin to workout, I would go, maybe 3 days, then stop. The longest amount of working out has been 2 weeks. Let's see if I can beat my record!!

Enough about diets and working out. Who wants to read about that? haha. Let's talk about something "fattening" and that is Apple Turnovers!! I mean, they have fruit in them so they have to be healthy.... Right?... Ok, maybe not, but they do have fruits in them so I think the fattening and healthy aspects cancel giving you a semi-healthy dessert :D You like my chain of thought, huh? This recipe comes from none other than Ina Garten once again. This is basically the 72389147192834 recipe from her on my blog. haha. These Apple Turnovers kind of ruined my diet. Oh well. We all deserve something delicious every now and then. These Apple Turnovers were simple to make and use puff pastry! No need to make pie dough or anything like that. Overall, these were pretty good. However, I do think that they need extra sugar. They were a little tart for my taste. In addition, I used lemon juice as well. Would I make these again? Yes, but I would need to tweak the recipe a bit. Here's my tips and the recipe!! One more thing. I've started putting a "Tips" section in the last two blog posts and this one. Do you find that helpful? :)

**Tips
-Prepare the puff pastry first and place it in the refrigerator so that it's just waiting for the apple mixture. It makes things go by a lot quicker and keeping the puff pastry cold is key!

-It's possible to cook the apples in a pot for a bit to have the "sauce" thicken but it's not necessary. I've read a lot of recipes for apple turnovers that say to cook the apple mixture but in this case, the sauce thickened when baking.

-The real goal of this recipe is to brown the puff pastry. I baked the Apple Turnovers in different batches, at different temperatures because I was skeptical of the 400 degrees F directions. The first at 350 degrees came out to be a nice golden brown but the apples were definitely overcooked when the puff pastry browned. The second batch I baked at 400 degrees and the apples still had a "bite" to them so definitely stick to baking them at 400 degrees.

Apple Turnovers
Ingredients
1 teaspoon grated orange zest (I used the zest of half a lemon)
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice (I used 2 tbsp orange juice and 1 tbsp lemon juice)
1 1/4 pounds tart apples, such as Empire or Granny Smith (3 apples)
3 tablespoons dried cherries
3 tablespoons sugar, plus extra to sprinkle on top (I used 1/4 cup sugar. It still needed more in my opinion)
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch kosher salt
1 package (17.3 ounces, 2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine the orange zest and orange juice in a bowl. Peel, quarter, and core the apples and then cut them in 3/4-inch dice. Immediately toss the apples with the zest and juice to prevent them from turning brown. Add the cherries, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

Flour a board and lightly roll each sheet of puff pastry to a 12 by 12-inch square. Cut each sheet into 4 smaller squares and keep chilled until ready to use.

Brush the edges of each square with the egg wash and neatly place about 1/3 cup of the apple mixture on half of the square. Fold the pastry diagonally over the apple mixture and seal by pressing the edges with a fork. Transfer to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Brush the top with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, make 2 small slits, and bake for 20 minutes, until browned and puffed. Serve warm or at room temperature.


-Aaron John
My Food Outings: AJ's Food Adventure
Facebook Fan Page