Homemade puff pastry dough in an hour? It can be done! These quick apple turnovers with homemade puff pastry are flaky and delicious. Use canned apple pie filling or make your own! Makes 8 apple turnovers. This post contains an affiliate link.
You might also like our old fashioned cherry turnovers (authentic puff pastry), our quick peach turnovers or our lemon curd hand pie recipe (made with my favorite pie crust!).
Watch our step by step video!
If you’ve been here for more than a minute you know how much I love pastry. Pies, croissants, turnovers—-they are my favorite dessert, bar none. That being said, I was thrilled to stumble across a puff pastry recipe from the Food Network a few years ago that only takes an hour to make. 1 HOUR.
The puff pastry dough that my friend from Sweeden taught me how to make twelve years ago takes about 4 hours to make. Honestly, I like this recipe just as much! There aren’t AS many layers, but the layers are ridiculously flaky and buttery. You can always make quick turnovers with pre-made puff pastry sheets from the freezer section at the grocery store, but there’s just something about making your own, and when you can make your own dough in an hour (and still get that flaky crust), it’s definitely worth doing!
You can make your own apple pie filling or use store-bought. Both are delicious!
Quick Apple Turnovers Ingredients
- COLD butter: DO NOT use margarine. You’ll want butter, and I always use salted butter.
- flour: all purpose flour works great.
- COLD water
- salt
- apple pie filling: you can make your own homemade apple mixture or use store-bought pie filling. You’ll only use 1/2 of the can.
- egg + water (egg wash): brushing pastries with an egg wash gives it a shiny finish and a golden color.
- coarse sugar (or clear sugar sprinkles): this makes for a pretty finish, a sweetness, and a bit of a crunch. You can also use granulated sugar and mix in a pinch of cinnamon.
HOW TO MAKE QUICK PUFF PASTRY
There are 3 things to remember when making puff pastry:
1: Use COLD BUTTER
2: Don’t over-work the dough
3: Refrigerate Dough
If you have a food processor, follow the instructions in this post. If not, scroll to see how I make mine by hand.
We’re going to start out with 2 sticks of COLD BUTTER. Chop it into tiny pieces and place it back into the refrigerator.
Grab a half stick of COLD butter (4 Tbsp.) and chop it into tiny pieces. Add it to 2 cups of flour in a medium mixing bowl, and use a pastry cutter to blend until it resembles coarse sand.
Remember the 2 sticks of butter that you chopped and refrigerated? Pull that out and toss with the flour mixture. Don’t cut it in with the pastry cutter. Just coat with flour.
Mix 1/2 c. cold water and 1 teaspoon of salt together and pour into bowl. Blend until all water has been absorbed and a rough dough has formed. I use my pastry cutter or Danish dough whisk to do this. Gently mix and press. It’s ok if it looks rough, just make sure there isn’t a lot of dry flour on the bottom of the bowl. You may add an extra tablespoon of water (if needed) to help the dough come together. It will be crumbly, but you shouldn’t a lot of flour leftover in the bowl.
Roll dough out between two pieces of plastic wrap. It doesn’t need to be perfect, you are just pressing all of those butter cubes into the dough. It might still be a little crumbly along the edges. That’s fine.
Remove the plastic wrap and use your hands to shape dough into a ball on a floured surface. Flour your hands to avoid the butter sticking to it.
Roll out dough to a 6″x18″ rectangle (see image above). Cover the rolling pin in flour to prevent any butter from sticking to it. Fold dough into thirds like you would a business letter.
Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
When the dough has had time to chill, place on a floured surface and pound with a rolling pin to make it a bit softer. Watch my video to see how I do this. Then roll out to a long rectangle, 1/4″ thick. My rectangle was about 11″x22″ and I trimmed it down with a pizze slicer to 10″x20″.
Slice the dough into 5″ squares. Spoon a small amount of apple pie filling onto each square.
Fold the turnover on a diagonal and press down with your fingers to seal. Then press down along the edges with a fork.
Use a sharp knife to cut an “x” or small slits on the top for venting. Place turnovers on an ungreased baking sheet or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Brush the tops of each turnover with an egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar. I use clear sugar sprinkles.
When baked for 22-24 minutes they puff up and turn golden. The filling stays HOT for quite awhile. Let them rest a bit before serving. So yummy! This recipe makes 8 (5″) turnovers.
Note: you can drizzle the turnovers in icing if you’d like, but I like mine plain. Here’s a simple glaze recipe:
- 2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup butter or margarine melted
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2-4 Tbsp. hot water
Quick Apple Turnover Recipe
Quick Apple Turnovers Recipe
Ingredients
Puff Pastry
- 1 1/4 cups cold butter (2 1/2 sticks divided)
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup cold water (plus an extra Tablespoon if needed)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 can apple pie filling (you will use 1/2 of a can)
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp. water
- coarse sugar
Instructions
- Cut 2 sticks of butter into small pieces. Place on plate and refrigerate.
- Cut the other 1/2 stick of butter into small pieces. Add to mixing bowl with 2 cups of flour and use a pastry cutter or two butter knives to blend. Should resemble coarse crumbs/sand.
- Add refrigerated butter cubes to flour mixture. Toss to coat with flour. DO NOT cut in with pastry cutter.
- Mix cold water and salt together. Add to bowl. Mix until water has been absorbed and a rough dough forms. Use hands or Danish dough whisk to mix dough. Dough won't look completely formed and there will be butter chunks, and that's okay.You may add an extra tablespoon of water (if needed) to help the dough come together. It will be crumbly, but you shouldn't a lot of flour leftover in the bowl.
- Dump dough onto a piece of plastic wrap. Place a second piece of plastic wrap on top and press with hands to flatten. Roll with a rolling pin until butter has flattened and dough is flat across the top.This step will help press the butter into the flour.
- Remove plastic wrap and place dough onto floured surface. Flour hands to prevent dough from sticking and form dough into a ball. Flatten slightly with hands into a disc shape.
- Cover rolling pin with flour to prevent butter from sticking and roll dough into a 6" x 18" rectangle. Fold dough into thirds, like a business letter.
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- When dough has refrigerated for 1 hour, preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Flatten dough on floured surface by pounding with rolling pin a few times. Roll out until dough is 1/4" thick. Trim edges of dough to a 10" x 20" rectangle. Cut into 8 (5 inch) squares.
- Add a small amount of apple pie filling to the center of each pastry square.
- Fold pastry in half (diagonally). Press down with fingers. Press fork around the edge of each pastry to seal. Place turnovers onto ungreased baking sheet or baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Mix egg with 1 Tbsp. water to create an egg wash. Brush over turnovers and sprinkle with sugar (I use coarse sugar sprinkles).
- Bake for 22-24 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. These are delicious served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Notes
Nutrition
Welcome! I'm Brandy, mother to 5 darling kiddos and a cute black lab named Toby. My husband is in the Coast Guard so we've lived all over the place, turning each house into a home. I love baking, sewing, making cute things with my kids, and sharing what I've learned with all of you!
what temp do you bake them at?
400 degrees F