Puff Pastry Apple Turnovers — 🍎😍🎉 These turnovers take just 15 minutes to prep and are filled with the most incredible cinnamon apple filling. These are the ultimate fall dessert!
Table of Contents
Easy Apple Turnover Recipe with Puff Pastry
It’s apple season, but lately, I’ve noticed apple recipes being glossed over. One minute it’s watermelon and zucchini and seemingly overnight pumpkin recipes take over.
And I’m guilty of doing it. Whoops. These easy turnovers give apples their proper place back in the fall spotlight.
These puff pastry apple turnovers are tender, flaky, and buttery with a caramel apple filling. They taste like they’re from a bakery but use one of my favorite kitchen shortcuts, puff pastry.
Simply boil apples, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon together and that becomes the turnover filling. Add the apple turnover filling to squares of thawed puff pastry, seal, and crimp, and you’re nearly ready to bake off the turnovers.
Ingredients in Puff Pastry Apple Turnovers
For these puff pastry apple turnovers, you’ll need:
- Sugar (for sprinkling)
- Apples
- Unsalted butter
- Light brown sugar
- Cinnamon – Feel free to adjust the amount of cinnamon to your liking. You can even add in other warming spices like nutmeg and ginger
- Cornstarch
- Puff pastry – I use store-bought puff pastry sheets, but you can use homemade puff pastry if you’re feeling ambitious
- Egg
- Water
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Apple Turnovers with Puff Pastry
This recipe for puff pastry apple turnovers is super easy to prepare! Here’s how the turnovers are made:
- Make the apple filling for the turnovers: Add the diced apples, cinnamon, cornstarch, butter, and brown sugar to a saucepan and bring to a boil. It’ll seem like a really dry filling at first, but as the apples cook down and release their juices it’ll become more jammy and loose creating an apple pie filling consistency.
- Assemble the turnovers: Use a sharp knife to cut each large sheet of puff pastry dough into four squares, so you have eight squares in total.
- Divide the apple mixture among the eight squares. Then, fold diagonally, crimp the edges with a fork, and place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Brush the top of each apple turnover with an egg wash, then sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake the apple turnovers until they’re golden brown on top. Then, cool completely before serving topped with whipped cream, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, salted caramel sauce, a sprinkle of cinnamon, or powdered sugar glaze.
Use Leftover Filling
Note that you’ll likely have some really caramely, syrupy filling (and maybe a few apples) at the bottom of your saucepan. Some of that caramely syrup is fine inside the turnovers, but don’t use too much because it has a tendency to leak out. It’s better saved and then drizzled over the baked, warm turnovers. So, so good!
What to Serve with apple turnovers
Recipe FAQs
Apple turnovers made with puff pastry are delicious hot or cold! I eat them hot straight from the oven, but I enjoy leftovers cold. I don’t like microwaving them to reheat the apple filling because then the puff pastry loses its crispness.
You can use any apples you have on hand! I used Gala apples for this recipe, but other good cooking apples include Fuji, Pink Lady, Jonagold, and Crispin. Or, use Granny Smith apples if you prefer a more tart flavor.
You probably could, but your apple turnovers won’t be as flaky and crisp on the outside.
I have an all-butter pie crust recipe you can use for making the apple turnovers. Or, buy pie crust from your local grocery store. If you use regular pie crust for this recipe, please leave me a comment letting my know how it turned out!
Turnovers are best right away but will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to four days or in the refrigerator for up to one week.
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Puff Pastry Apple Turnovers
Equipment
- 1 Medium Saucepan
- 1 Small Bowl
- 1 Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- 3 large apples, I used unpeeled galas; use your favorite apples and peel if desired, diced into small pieces
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon, or to taste
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- one 17.3-ounce box puff pastry, 2 large sheets, thawed according to package directions
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons water
- granulated sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
Make the Apple Turnover Filling:
- To a medium saucepan, add the apples, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, cornstarch, stir to combine, and heat over medium-high heat until the mixture reaches a boil. It will seem very dry and crumbly until the apples soften and release their juices, but just keep stirring and tossing.
- After mixture reaches a boil, turn the heat to low and allow mixture to simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Set aside to cool momentarily while you prepare the puff pastry.
Assemble the turnovers:
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Cut each large sheet of puff pastry into 4 squares so that you have a total of 8 small squares. If necessary, add flour to your work surface so puff pastry doesn’t stick.
- Add about 1/4 cup filling to the center of each square, fold on the diagonal, crimp edges very well with a fork to prevent leakage, and transfer to a half-sheet pan lined with a Silpat, or sprayed well with cooking spray.*
- Arrange the 8 turnovers on pan so edges aren’t touching. It’s okay if they don’t have much space in between them because they rise rather than spreading much; set aside.
- To a small bowl, add the egg, water, beat with a fork, and lightly brush each turnover with eggwash; discard remainder.
- Generously sprinkle each turnover with granulated sugar. I use about 1 teaspoon per turnover.
- Bake for about 30 to 34 minutes, or until turnovers are lightly golden brown on top. Watch the undersides because they will brown much faster than the top and be more prone to burning and any filling that leaks will also be very prone to burning.
- Serve immediately with any reserved filling mixture if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Apple Desserts:
Favorite APPLE RECIPES
Apple Zucchini Bread with Brown Sugar Frosting — Super soft, moist, and topped with the BEST frosting ever!! One bowl, no mixer, EASY recipe for the best apple zucchini bread that everyone LOVES!!
Glazed Apple Cinnamon Scones — Finally, scones that aren’t dry! The perfect fall comfort food packed with apples, cinnamon and that glaze!
Apple Fritter Bread – Soft, fluffy bread that’s stuffed AND topped with apples, cinnamon, and sugar! Like apple fritters in bread form!
Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars – Move over apple pie! These are an apple pie, apple crumble and cheesecake all in one! YUM!
5-Minute Microwave Apple Cinnamon Crumble For One – 5-minute easy recipe that’s perfect for breakfast or snacks!
Apple Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting — Loaded with juicy apples in every bite, perfectly spiced, and topped with tangy cream cheese frosting! So DELISH!
Carrot Apple Bread — This is carrot cake that’s been infused with apples and baked as a loaf.
Caramel Apple Crumble Foil Packs – EASY, zero cleanup, made on the grill (or oven) in record time, and tastes amazing!
Would I be able to freeze some of the unbaked turnovers, for later baking? if yes than would I bake them frozen straight from the freezer or would I have to defrost them overnight before baking? how long would i need to bake if frozen?
I just made these along with your chocolate chip pumpkin bread and they are both sooo delicious!! It is my first time trying your recipes and I am happy to say I am hooked!
Thanks for trying the recipes and I’m glad they came out great for you and that you’re hooked! Keep me posted what else you try!
Thanks Averie, freezing the filling is definitely an interesting idea and well worth trying…… or it would be if I had any filling left. It was so good, I ate what was left over with a spoon!
I have lots of apples though, so I will make another batch and give it a try. Thanks again.
My daughter made quick work of the leftover filling with a spoon too :)
I am currently harvesting cooking apples from our tree, so I used those. I didn’t change a thing in the recipe and it was absolutely delicious. They were easy to make and delicious, what more can one ask!
I am going to try freezing a couple. Not sure how they will turn out, but I have so many apples I have to try something.
Thanks for sharing,
Lincoln (LincsFlavours)
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! I love that you have your own apple tree! Good luck freezing them! And I was just thinking…you could probably make the apple filling, freeze that, then when you’re ready to make the turnovers you can turn to your frozen stash of filling that you’ll just need to thaw out.
I am so excited for apple season! These look amazing!
Thanks Maria :)
I’m going to try your filling in flour tortillas! I love puff pastry but it always seems expensive to cheapie me.
I worry about the taste, and the leaking factor. The puff pastry I used was maybe $3.99 from my regular grocery store and I made all 8 with it.
A homemade pie crust would be even cheaper to produce than tortillas and you’d get a super homemade taste/texture with it.
I finally got around to making those apple taquitos I’ve seen on Pinterest but used your apple filling. They were delicious. I’m pretty much the only person in my household who likes apple desserts so the puff pastry or pie crust is a waste of money/ingredients. Flour tortillas, on the other hand, are a wonderful alternative especially when I have a few left to use up. After filling the tortilla and rolling up as tightly as possible, I brushed with butter and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar (similar to the cinnamon crisps, sometimes referred to as bunuelos). They can get sort of leaky but closing up the ends like a burrito might help. I didn’t do that but just drizzled the leaked sauce over them. They really were a nice fall treat, and I don’t feel as guilty as I do when I eat pie. ;)
Glad you were able to use my filling for a taquito-like treat and that you could use up your tortillas!
Oh wow… these look dangerous. As in, “I could definitely make these one afternoon and eat them all before anyone noticed” kind of dangerous. HA! But still, I’m in love! These look too good!
I had to rehome these as fast as possible because otherwise that would have happened here :)
hey girl these look so delish! Yummy!
Yeh!! This is apple season here and this looks wonderful. I am not ready for pumpkin recipes until late October. This year I am going to be making more cushaw recipes instead of pumpkin. My husband grew quite a few more than he thought. Love the taste more than the regular pumpkin too.
These look so good I am overwhelmed. And I’ve got a whole bag of apples I have to get through, so perfect timing!
I know! I’m guilty of it too. I’ve been wanting to make apple recipes all week and it just hasn’t happened yet. These look perfect.
The other apple recipe I posted a month ago didnt do so well even though it was a personal fave of the year! After this, it’s full on pumpkin. :)
I love apple everything this time of year!! These look delicious!
Turnovers always remind me of my Grandma… English was her second language and she used to call them Apple Upside Downs. This recipe makes me smile and miss her all at the same time.
Awww what sweet memories about your grandma. I miss mine too so much, and certain recipes just remind me of her – totally can relate!
I like apple recipes even more than pumpkin. Thanks for including one. I’ve been meaning to try your apple fritter bread ever since you posted it … maybe this is the year! Looking forward to trying the turnovers, too.
Yes, maybe this is the year!
This makes great use of puff pastry and the filling looks yummy! I love turnovers–they’re like double crusted mini pies.
I almost called them hand pies but thought they were closer to a turnover but the name could go either way.
Anything in puff pastry. ANYTHING. That stuff is food of the gods. I love it to no end.
But yes, especially apple. What could be more autumnal than apple turnovers?
It’s such a versatile product. Love the stuff!