Honeycrisp apples, diced green chiles, and crushed pineapple combined are a wonderful balance of sweet, acid and a little bit of spice. All those flavors are wrapped inside buttery, flaky puff pastry coated in cinnamon sugar for the perfect wrapping to a gift of fall produce with a twist.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time 30 minutesminutes
Puff Pastry De-Thaw Time 30 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour
Servings 16
Ingredients
Turnovers
2 17.3ozpackages frozen puff pastrydethawed
¼Ccrushed pineapplecanned
4ozcan diced green chilesdrained
2Cor ~4 small honeycrisp apples *
pinchof salt
pinchof cloves
pinchof fresh ground nutmeg **
1tspground cinnamon
¼Cbuttersoftened
pinchof cayenneoptional
1egg
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
1Csugar
1.5Tbground cinnamon
heavy pinch of salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick foil for easy cleanup.
Drain the can of green chiles well. Peel the apples first, and then finely dice into roughly ¼-inch pieces. In a large mixing bowl, combine with crushed pineapple, green chiles and all the spices. The cayenne pepper is totally optional. If you're making this for kids, I would definitely remove the cayenne as the green chiles off a bit of kick, but they're mild enough to no get that "It's SPICY." complaint from the little ones. We like our food a little hot at my house so I added a small pinch of cayenne, but this is totally up to you.
Mix thoroughly to combine. Last, add the 2 Tb of butter and mix to ensure even distribution of the butter.
Check to see if your puff pastry is dethawed by trying to unfold it. You'll know it is dethawed if it's easy to unfold. If you cannot unfold without risk of tearing, wait another 15 minutes and try again.
Once the puff pastry is dethawed, unfold onto a lightly flour surface, and using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut each sheet into 4.5-inch by 4.5-inch square pieces, or four equal squares if you're not measuring. Place 2-3 Tb of filling onto each square.
Whisk together 1 egg with 1 tsp of water to create an egg wash. Brush the egg wash lightly around all four edges of each square. Fold over the dough to make a triangle with filling evenly distributed inside the center.
First, pinch the edges closed with your hand, and then either use a fork to completely seal the edges or crimp the edges as you would with a pie crust if you've got those skills. Both ways turn out pretty, and frankly, I usually start with crimping and get lazy and switch to the fork method. Whichever method you choose, you want to make sure you seal the edges well since puff pastry rises dramatically and can easily break open around the edges. It's not a disaster if that happens, but try to prevent it as much as possible.
Once sealed, place each turnover about 1-inch apart from each other on a prepared baking sheet. Do not egg wash the top of puff pastry as you risk deflating it's puffiness while baking. There is plenty of butter in puff pastry to ensure a golden brown finish. Bake for 30 minutes or until perfectly puffed and golden brown.
While the turnovers are baking, prepare the cinnamon sugar coating by thoroughly combining all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl with enough room to easily flip the turnover around.
Once you remove from the oven, it's important to roll in your cinnamon sugar as quickly as possible without wrecking your fingers. This is sort of a personal preference, but with the assistant of a fork to stabilize the turnover and a spoon to ladle the sugar over the top, you shouldn't have to wait more than a couple of minutes out of the oven to handle. Just keep in mind, the more quickly you coat from the oven, the more cinnamon-sugar that will stick to the outside.
Once, you've rolled in the cinnamon sugar, let the turnovers cool for a minimum of 15 minutes to ensure the filling inside won't burn your tongue. These are best enjoyed warm so I wouldn't wait too long! Besides the aromas in the air will have you dying to try them!
If you’d like to make ahead, these also reheat nicely in the oven on 250 degrees for about 5-10 minutes. You can keep at room temperature for up to 3 days in an airtight Tupperware and reheat when you're ready to enjoy. Don't microwave them. They=ll just get soggy.
Notes
* You can substitute with any apple you like. Other good options would be fuji or pink lady apples. Honeycrisp apples are my personal favorite. You can also use granny smith if you prefer a more tart and acidic taste profile, but there isn't any added sugar in the filling so keep that in mind.** I strongly prefer the flavor of freshly ground nutmeg compared to the kind you buy already ground. You can find whole nutmeg at most grocery stores or on Amazon. You can use a Microplane to grate, or they sell these awesome grinders specifically for nutmeg that holds the whole nutmeg in a convenient little compartment. I have linked to one above if you're interested in purchasing.