Apple-Pear Turnovers

Apple-Pear Turnovers

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Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 8
Be sure to seal the edges of the turnovers so the filling doesn't ooze out!

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Ingredients:

For the filling:

• 2 apples, about 3/4 pound total
  
• 1 firm but ripe pear, about 1/2 pound
  
• 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
  
• 1/3 cup raisins (optional)
  
  
  

For the pastry:

• All-purpose flour for rolling
  
• 2 frozen puff pastry sheets, each 9 1/2 inches
    square, thawed
  
• 1 egg
  
• 2 tablespoons sugar
  

Directions:

Before you start
Be sure an adult is nearby to help.

Position 2 oven racks evenly in the oven near the center so there is space in between them. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease 2 baking sheets with butter.

Make the filling
Peel, cut into quarters, and core the apples and the pear. Using a small, sharp knife, cut the apple and pear quarters into small chunks.

Put the chunks into a bowl. Add the brown sugar, flour, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and raisins and stir together with a wooden spoon.

Roll out the pastry
Sprinkle a work surface with some flour. Unfold 1 of the thawed puff pastry sheets on top of the flour. Keep the other sheet wrapped in the refrigerator.

Sprinkle some flour on the pastry. Using a rolling pin, and beginning at the center of the pastry, roll out to the far side. Then roll from the center toward you. After every few rolls, give the pastry a quarter turn and sprinkle the top and bottom of the pastry with more of the flour so the pastry does not stick. Keep rolling and sprinkling until the pastry is a 12 1/2-inch square.

Cut out the squares
Using a ruler and a pizza wheel or table knife, trim the edges to make a 12-inch square. Pull away the scraps of dough and discard. Cut the 12-inch square into 4 equal 6-inch squares.

Add the filling
Spoon 1/3 cup of the filling into the center of each square. Spread the filling across the middle toward 2 opposite points.

In a small bowl, beat the egg with a fork. Set aside.

Assemble the turnovers
Brush the beaten egg along 2 edges of each square with the pastry brush. Fold one-half of each square over the filling, enclosing it fully and forming a triangle. Press the edges together with the fork to seal them.

Place the 4 turnovers on a prepared baking sheet, spacing them 2 inches apart. Repeat with the remaining puff pastry sheet and filling.

Brush and bake the turnovers
Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the turnovers with the beaten egg. Sprinkle the turnovers with the sugar.

Put 1 baking sheet on the upper rack in the oven and the other sheet on the lower rack in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Then, using oven mitts, remove the baking sheets and put each one on the opposite rack. Bake until the turnovers are puffed and brown, about 15 minutes more.

Using oven mitts, remove the baking sheets from the oven and set each on a cooling rack to cool for 10 minutes. Makes 8 large turnovers.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kids Baking, by Abigail Johnson Dodge (Oxmoor House, 2003).

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