Apple Turnovers

Apple turnovers are one of my favorite pastries, but it seems like it's tough to find a great one. (Although I still more than willingly eat the not-so-great ones.) So many of them have canned pie filling, which I don't particularly care for, or they leave kind of a funny feeling on the roof of your mouth, which probably means they've been sitting on the shelf for too long.

Or maybe I need to find a better bakery.

The good news is that apple turnovers are quite simple to make at home using store-bought puff pastry. And you can customize the filling to your tastes, just like I did mine. (And the little man did his, although more about that later.)

I think the best apples to use for this filling are apples that aren't terrible sweet, or too tart. (Or at least use a few of each to balance the other out.) Use the same type of apples that you'd use for an apple pie, because that's essentially what these are -- mini pies. I highly recommend the apples that grow on my parents' tree, if you can manage to get ahold of them. (I have connections.)

Apple Turnovers
Makes 9 turnovers

1 1/2 pounds apples (about 4 large apples)
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Dash of freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 tablespoon butter
1 package puff pastry (16-18 ounces)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup powdered sugar
A few teaspoons milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Peel, core, and cut apples into 1" pieces.

3. Place apples in a saucepan with water, lemon juice, sugars, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves. Cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until apples are very tender, about 15 minutes.

4. Remove apples from heat and stir in butter. Slightly mash apples into smaller pieces. Cool completely.

5. Stack puff pastry sheets together and roll into a 15" square. Cut into 9 even squares.

Correction: Cut into 9 uneven trapezoids.

6. Divide filling amongst the squares.

Wait a minute. Which of these things is not like the others ... what happened? Let's check the instant replay.

Jack decided to go the route of a makeshift pain au chocolate. Which worked pretty well, by the way.

7. Lightly brush edges of squares with beaten egg. Fold half of pastry square over to form a triangle. Use a fork to crimp the folded edges to seal them shut. Brush triangles with beaten egg.

Sealing them is important, but I sort of overfilled mine and had trouble keeping the filling contained. But my turnovers were fine. They didn't explode like, say, pizza rolls.

8. Using a sharp knife, cut three small slits in the top of each turnover, in case the turnovers just need to let out some steam.

9. Bake 15 minutes on two separate racks, and then switch each pan to the opposite rack. Bake an additional 15 minutes, or until turnovers are golden.

10. Let turnovers cool slightly. Combine powdered sugar and milk to desired consistency, and then drizzle icing over turnovers.