Friday, July 16, 2010

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.

Apple Turnovers on Foodista
-Aaron John
My Food Outings: AJ's Food Adventure
Facebook Fan Page

15 comments:

  1. YUMM! I love apple turnovers! Have yet to try making them myself, though.
    Good luck with your exercising. I work out everyday, it's so fun! You just gotta love it, and not think of it as work. Have fun with it! :)

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  2. I love apple turnovers and I like that you added cherries. I have some apples and cherries so I think i am making apple turnovers 2night!!!! Thanks for the idea :)

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  3. Hi AJ thanks for stopping by my blog! Your recipes look so yummy! I also liked your FB page you can stop by and visit my page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Flour-On-My-Face/126421174044052

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  4. These apple turnovers look delicious! Ina Garten has the best recipes!

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  5. Yummmmmmm! i love cooked apples, and turnovers are just as great as pies!

    This looks awesome!

    btw i gave you some awards on my page, check it out

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  6. Mmmm these look delicious!
    Talk about freshman 15! I probably had freshman 30 in my first year of college haha! Food is too hard to resist. Great post and great tips :) I might just give these a try.

    http://madewithlove-t.blogspot.com/

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  7. Jess: That's such good advice about working out. I have to use that now! :)

    Butterfly: Oh YUM!! These definitely didn't disappoint. Except for the fact they needed more sugar.

    Flour on my Face: Thanks for visiting!! I started following your blog :D

    Susi: Thank you!! Ina Garten definitely is my fav.

    Le: YUP!! The portable pie!! Oh, you gave me awards?! I need to check that out!! :DD

    Tiffany: Food definitely is hard to resist when there's so much good food out there!!

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  8. I remember dieting when I was in high school. I watch the calories of everything I eat, I limit my carb intake, not to eat after 7 pm, and most importantly exercise a lot. I did it for a year and a half and lost many pounds.

    everything is good in moderation. and these apple turnovers will be hard to resist.

    Good luck!

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  9. The apple turnovers look delicious! I've never made them before, but I'm definitely a fan of Ina Garten. And you should definitely keep eating breakfast!

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  10. I love apple turnovers, pies anything with apples are good. Thanks for the kudos on my Madeleines! Love your stuff (=

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  11. Michael: I know right?! I think moderation is the only thing that'll work for me. I can't give up good food!! haha

    Megan: Thanks!!! I will definitely be sticking to breakfast!

    Lisa: Thanks for visiting!! I started following your blog :)

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  12. Those look incredibly delicious! I would love to have one all warm and toasty with some vanilla ice cream on top.

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  13. These are definitely diet ruiners. Luckily, I'm a big fan of everything in moderation :)

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  14. Thanks for the comment. These turnovers look fantastic! I will have to try them next time I need breakfast food :)

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  15. Morgan: That's exactly how I ate them!! Sooooo good!! :D

    Baking.Serendipity: Haha. They def. are. Moderation is now my new best friend.

    Brenna: Your welcome and thanks!! :)

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Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! :)

-Aaron John

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