mix, mix…stir, stir

A little package of pastry with a delicious filling is hard to beat —sweet or savory. One of the most appealing features of this style of treat is the ability to pick it up and eat it out of hand. There is an added element of pleasure to food I can hold in my hand and eat. I am not sure why that is, but it could be because such foods generally involve a pastry shell or doughy wrapper of some sort, which is almost an unfair advantage.

These Apple Turnovers are part of the Tuesdays with Dorie baking odyssey.  Julie of Someone’s in the Kitchen, selected the baking task for us and has the recipe posted on her blog. The dough was flaky, not too sweet and had a nice tangy note from sour cream. The instructions direct to combine the butter and flour by hand, but I was feeling pressed for time and rather impatient, so I employed my food processor to get the job done in all of about 30 seconds. Like any pastry dough there is chill time, so don’t be thinking this is the kind of treat you can whip up the instant a craving hits.

The sour cream adds such a great flavor, but makes for very soft dough, so rolling it out between plastic or parchment paper will save a lot of frustration. Because I was in a hurry and didn’t want to fuss with a cutter, I just sliced the rolled dough into squares, filled, folded, and baked.

Being pressed for time didn’t prevent me from adding a little extra dash of this and pinch of that. The first deviation I made was to grate the apples rather than chop them. I wanted the filling to cook down into an applesauce like consistency and the grated apples did just that. The only seasoning the recipe calls for is a bit of cinnamon, but I couldn’t stop there. I added 1/2  teaspoon of lemon zest, pinch of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of coriander. The apple coriander combo is working its way into my DNA. I also used brown sugar rather than granulated sugar because it just seemed right. The filling was great. Knowing David isn’t a fan of fruit fillings, I filled half of the turnovers with chopped bittersweet chocolate, which was equally as delicious. Each turnover was sprinkled with spiced sugar I had saved from a previous baking project to add another touch of flavor.

This is a quick pastry that is delicate, flaky, and flavorful. It does require patients to chill and re-chill mid-assembly if necessary, but definitely a success in my book.

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours . 91 recipes completed 130 to go!