In-betweens and Apple Turnovers
So here we are, coming to the end of the summer holidays and today we turn into September. I was reading my blog from this time last year and it made me smile as I talked about trying to enjoy the ‘in-betweeness’ of the seasons, with summer starting to fade and autumn coming up on the horizon. I am feeling it again this year - the pull of autumn, this might be because autumn is my favourite season of all and I just want to dive into the flavours of cinnamon and hot chocolate and get excited about jumper wearing.
To embrace the ‘in-betweeness’ I have made this week's post a little bit of summer and a little bit of autumn.
If, like me, you have a lot of apples that are about to go passed their best this is a great recipe to use them up in - also get the kids involved, as it’s an easy one to do with them.
Apple Turnovers
3 medium apples, peeled and cored
zest of 1 lemon
30g unsalted butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
375g puff pastry
1 large free ranged egg yolk
1 tbsp milk
6 tbsp golden caster sugar
To decorate
80g icing sugar
1 tsp water
Preheat oven to 180ºC and line a baking tray with baking parchment
Chop the prepared apples into roughly 1cm cubes. Put into a medium saucepan, along with the butter, lemon zest and cinnamon. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the apples are soft and juicy, but still hold their shape. Leave to one side to cool.
Roll the pastry out to about 1/2cm thickness, trim the edges to make them straight - if doing this with children, they could use a pizza wheel to do this job. Cut the pastry into 6 squares and place the cooled apple filling into the middle of each square in even amounts.
Using a little water, dab a little along the top and right sides of the pastry squares, then fold the opposite corner of pastry over to make a neat triangle. The water will help seal the parcels, but also give them a gentle press to help seal them closed. Repeat until all the pastries are folded.
Carefully transfer the pastry parcels onto the prepared baking tray and space them out so none are touching. Using a skewer or chopstick, wiggle a small hole into the tops of each of the parcels, this will allow the steam to escape and the pastry to get crispy.
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and milk, then brush over the tops of each of the parcels, then scatter one tablespoon of sugar over the top of each one.
Pop into the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and has puffed up. Remove and allow to cool on a wire rack.
To finish them off with a little decoration, mix the icing sugar and water together until you have white icing. It should be the constancy of double cream - add more water if needed. Using a spoon, drizzle icing over the tops of the cooled pastries and enjoy!
I hope you have enjoyed the recipes I have shared over the last 4 weeks and have also got the to kids involved too! I loved cooking and baking with my family as I was growing up and it’s such a lovely way to spend time together.
