Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Recipe: Spiced apple and apricot turnovers

Though I have been cooking a lot this month, I realise that I have not been baking much and since it is the school holidays in Malaysia this week, I decided to make something nice for the kids as a treat. My friends hosting the "Bake-Along" this month has chosen turnovers as their theme, something new to me but I am very keen to try it. 

Turnovers are pastries filled with savoury or sweet fillings, and then folded over and sealed. I chose to use frozen puff pastry and the filling of choice is spiced apples with dried apricots. The filling is first cooked over a medium heat so that the apples are soft but still has a bite to them. I like cinnamon, so I used this spice in my filling, however you can also use nutmeg, or cloves or mixed spice. My kids love dried apricots too, so I sliced and threw a few of those in to the mix. I only used 1 teaspoon of sugar in the filling, so it is pretty healthy in that aspect (if you don't count the butter in the pastry :P). 

Spiced apple and apricot turnovers


Since I used frozen puff pastry, this is relatively easy to make, I took about 30 minutes in total to make these turnovers for our evening snack. The puff pastry I used is Kawan brand which is quite good - flaky and buttery enough. I like the spiced apple and apricot filling, though I wish I could stuff more of the filling inside the pastry! In future, I would like to try adding some homemade pineapple jam to the filling for a moister filling.


The pastry puffed up rather nicely

Kids enjoyed this very much



Spiced apple and apricot turnovers
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes
Makes 8

Ingredients
For the filling
3 apples, peeled, cored and cut into small cubes (approx 400g)
4 dried apricots, sliced
1 tsp soft brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp water

8. no frozen 10x10cm square puff pastry, defrosted

For the egg wash
1 egg
1 tbsp milk

1. Start by making the filling. Place the apples, apricots, soft brown sugar, ground cinnamon and water into a small medium-sized saucepan and cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes until the apples are soft and fluffy. (There should still be a bite to the apples). Allow to cool slightly.




2. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F, fan assisted).

3. Place the defrosted puff pastry on a plate, then spoon the apple filling onto the pastry, leaving about 2cm space around the edge.

4. To make the egg wash, lightly beat the egg with milk. Using a brush, brush the edges with egg wash then fold to form a triangle. Gently press the edges with a fork to seal. Brush the top with more egg wash.


Brush edges with egg wash


Use a fork to seal edges


5. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, for about 10 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.





I am submitting this to the Bake Along hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids. Here are the other "Turnover" recipes:



44 comments:

  1. Love the flaky crust so as the spiced filling , a more saucy/gooey filling much better though ;D The golden brown color of the pastry looks great ! Yeah , homemade pineapple jam sounds really good ...

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    Replies
    1. Yes I wanna try making a gooey filling next time too (kinda like the McD apple pies).

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  2. Hi Yen,
    Adding dried apricots to the apple filling is a delicious idea. I love dried apricots, my most favourite dried fruit!
    Thank you for baking along with us!

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    Replies
    1. Yeah we often have dried apricots as our evening snack too. Thanks for picking turnovers for the bake-along, glad to have tried making this.

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  3. Seems not that difficult to make hor? Should we try? hmmm

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    Replies
    1. Haha! If you try I wanna see your end result. :)

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  4. Served hot with vanilla ice cream for me please :-)

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  5. Hi Yen! Enjoy the school holidays with the kids!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks we will. Busy busy busy but fun fun fun.

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  6. Mmmmm love to have more turnovers!

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    Replies
    1. It's so good, I wouldn't mind some more too ;)

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  7. Hi Baby Sumo, great to go with hot coffee. The filling look delicious, great combination.

    Have a nice week ahead.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Amelia, I will have to make turnovers again with some other filling since it was so popular with my family. :)

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  8. These apple turnovers look absolutely delicious. Love it.

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  9. Do you make your own puff pastry? Any post on it? Recipe?

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    Replies
    1. I used frozen puff pastry, weather is too hot to attempt making puff pastry here. And I don't have much time either, cos school holidays now.

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  10. wow....looks good! Ideal for breakfast and tea break.

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  11. The apricot and apple filling looks good.

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  12. Hi Yen,

    Nice to have you baking along with us. We seems to be cooking and baking a lot lately. I got to say that I really enjoy our companionship :D

    The addition of dried apricots into your apple filling is a great idea. I saw some recipes use dried cranberries and reckon my boy will like this addition too :D

    Zoe

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Zoe, likewise, the feeling is mutual. Have really enjoyed cooking and baking loads, and I think the bloghops help a lot in keeping the interest alive.

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  13. Yen, that looks delicious! I've read that some of our friends had trouble when making their own puff pastry because of the hot weather. I reckon it will be more convenient using ready made. I must look out for this brand.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah my kitchen gets very hot in the afternoons/evenings so I just used frozen puff pastry instead of trying to make some.

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  14. Hi Yen...I used the Kawan puff pastry to make mine too but I had some difficulty in getting all the juicy filings in! Yours are cooked so dry and you managed to put quite a lot! Must give this a try again soon! Yours are so nicely baked and golden!

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    Replies
    1. Yeah I wished I could get more filling in too, cos the puff pastry is quite small huh. Just have to go for 2 portions :)

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  15. quite a kid-pleasing recipe! i actually am not a big fan of apples or apricots, so i'm imagining what other fruits could go well in turnovers. hmmm, maybe i'd go for a blueberry one! :D

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    Replies
    1. Blueberries would be nice, in fact I think most fruits would work - strawberries, bananas etc.

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  16. Haiyo I'd die for one of those with tuna mushroom inside! :D

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    Replies
    1. Hehe u can try making also, use frozen puff pastry, easy easy!

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  17. These look golden delicious! I like how you filled it with mixed fruit too! :D

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    Replies
    1. Would love to experiment more with the fillings.

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  18. I imagine these would taste great piping hot from the oven :D

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    Replies
    1. Haha yea, they go a bit soggy if u let them cool down too much. So best to eat warm :D

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  19. Love the inviting colour on that turnover...and what an amazing filling. You definitely must bake more often!!

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    Replies
    1. Just made Easter bunny biscuits today.. fun fun fun!

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  20. wow, next time can put potatoes with curry powder!!

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  21. hi yen, so nice seeing you baking along with us! i see few of you hv made apple turnovers, i'm sure that taste pretty good and with your addition of apricots, i think it certainly a good idea! have a nice day!

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  22. Yen,
    Love these. simple yet delicious turnovers.
    Yours with added apricots will be even more delish! :D
    mui

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  23. seem like quite easy... for you lah, for me maybe will come out like a mess :P

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  24. Yours looks so much better than me. I wonder it's the brand of pastry or is it cos I nvr use egg wash to seal the opening... I must use up tips and try again...
    Nice knowing you from Bake Along, will follow your blog... =)

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