Saturday 1 October 2016

Apple turnovers + October #ReadCookEat linky

apple recipes


I read "Hearts Awakening" by Delia Parr over a year ago. It is an unusual story with an unusual setting. It starts with Ellie Kilmer arriving to the household of the young widower to work as a housekeeper. There is no spark between her and the moody Jackson Smith who tries to bring up his boys on his own and escape the scandal surrounding his late wife. Two different personalities clash, only to be united further on in a marriage of convenience. It is not an easy-going romance. If anything, Jackson is such an unlikable character that I wanted to smack him at times.
The background is beautifully written, and the setting of Dillon Island and its wonderful apple orchards was most fascinating.
When Ellie arrives to be the housekeeper, she is struggling with the cooking, as the kitchen is most basic. She burns one dinner after another. However, she manages to bake the most delicious apple turnovers which become a big hit at the local market, where Jackson sells the produce from his apple orchard.
I have bookmarked the pages where the apple turnovers were mentioned, so that I could recreate the recipe one day for my #ReadCookEat challenge.
Here are a couple of quotes:
"Fortunately, the man had a sweet tooth, which made her perfectly baked apple turnovers today the only saving grace to the entire dinner she had served"
"Ellie worked alongside the boys setting out an assortment of miniature apple turnovers and applesauce cakes she had made using that old brick-back oven behind the house instead of the cookstove"

Ellie, of course, made her own pastry. I used a pack of Jus-Rol puff pastry to speed up the process.
GBBO candidate I am not. Kudos to everyone who makes their own pastry, but I find it much easier and faster to use perfectly rolled Jus-Rol. If Mary Berry came for dinner, I'll bake a cake from scratch, but wouldn't try to impress her with my homemade pastry.

I googled for apple turnover recipes, and the easiest I found was on Betty Crocker's site - they are even called The Easiest Apple Turnovers. I did cook four apples as stated, but since I had quite a bit of apple filling left, I'd say - use 3 medium apples, or cook 4 and use the leftovers to add to the morning porridge or yogurt.



Apple Turnovers
Ingredients:
3 medium apples, peeled, cored, quartered and sliced
25g butter
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground ginger
1/2tsp ground cloves
125g demerara sugar
2tsp cornflour+ 2 tsp cold water
320g puff pastry, ready to roll
1 medium egg, beaten with a dash of water

In a medium frying pan, melt the butter and add peeled, cored, quartered and sliced apples. Add the spices and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add spices, sugar and a dash of water, mix well, cook on low for another 5 minutes. In a small cup mix 2tsp of cornflour with 2-3 tsp of cold water until you reach a runny consistency. Add the cornflour to the apple filling mix, stir in, cook for a minute.
Let it cool before making turnovers.
If using a ready made pastry, roll it out on the parchment paper it has been wrapped in. Cut in half horizontally, then into four squares each, so you get eight pieces of pastry.
Beat the egg with a bit of cold water, brush each pastry square with the egg wash. Spoon a heaped tablespoon of apple filling onto each square.



Fold in half diagonally to make a triangle. Press the edges, using fingers, then using a fork crimp the edges a bit. Place the turnovers on the baking trays covered with cooking foil or parchment paper.
Brush the tops of the turnovers with the egg wash. Using a sharp knife, cut a few vents on the top of each turnover.
Cook in the oven preheated to 200C for about 20 minutes or more, until golden.

autumn recipes

These apple turnovers are easy and quick to make. They taste lovely, especially when served with a cup of tea.


Have you read a book recently which inspired you to run to the kitchen and cook to your heart's content?

I hope you are inspired by books to join in the #ReadCookEat challenge.

The idea is to choose a book, either a world classic or modern fiction, or even memoirs and pick up a dish mentioned or described in that book and then recreate it in a recipe. Please say a few lines about your chosen book, and maybe even do a quote from the book.

If you decide to take part, please add the badge to your post and link up back to me, and either use a link-up tool or add the url of your post as a comment. Alternatively, email me with the link to your post (my email is sasha1703 at yahoo dot com).

I promise to Pin all blogs posts taking part in this challenge, as well as RT and Google+

2 comments:

  1. Simple but delicious :) I have a few #readcookeat posts ready and waiting to add already, I think - I'll go and have a look :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love your mug and these look delicious. I must do a Read cook eat

    ReplyDelete