Is it weird that cooking and baking with some ingredients intimidate me? Yeast for bread baking used to give me the heeby jeebies and, fun fact, I even went as far as to use it as one of the topics for my college essays. What?! You never used a fungus to help sway your way into higher education? #lonewolf
Well, apparently it worked because I’m in college (woo!) and eventually overcame that weird phobia and now can make delicious baked goods like focaccia and Norsk boller and cinnamon rolls.
Annnnddd guess what! Today I crossed off another food-related fear and used puff pastry. There’s something so intimidating about it. Like, for reals, there must be some catch behind all those flaky layers. I had this idea in my head that the dough would be all temperamental and cranky to work with or that I would need to let it rise a million times, but nope. The exact opposite is true. EASIEST thing ever.
Okay, okay. Maybe using pre-made puff pastry is cheating slightly, but ain’t nobody got time to make their own. I’m all about convenience, and if using store-bought dough means I can have Salted Caramel Apple Turnovers in my mouth that much faster, sign me up! No food snobbery here.
The hardest part of this recipe is probably cutting the apples. Especially if you’re like me and have to stop every 30 seconds to eat the peeled apple skins. My Obachan (Japanese grandma) always laughs at me and calls me rabbit for nibbling on the scraps, while my mom scolds me for my “dangerous” apple cutting technique. Ahhhh family love at its finest.
Once the hard part is over, you get all your apple bits and caramel ingredients going in a pot. Add a little heat, and presssttooo!
Then, you take out that scary looking puff pastry, unroll it, and cut it into squares. Add a dollop of apple filling into the middle (don’t get too excited and overfill them like me, though), fold the square into a triangle, crimp the edges, and throw em in the oven.
And that’s it. You pull these gorgeous and bakery-worthy treats out of the oven and impress everybody. I’ve been staying over at Kyle’s apartment with his roommates, and shocked them by serving these babies up in 30 minutes. One of his roommates exclaimed that he JUST saw me stewing up some apples a few minutes ago, then all of a sudden I had these gorgeously flaky pastries on a plate in front of them. They probably think I’m some sort of magical goddess of turnovers now. Throw in an intense World Cup match (ahhhh the PK shootout!) and you’ve got yourself a house full of happy boys.
These are perfectly sweet and the flake-factor of the puff pastry itself is insane. Oh! And a pretty drizzle of powdered sugar glaze is completely mandatory.
I haven’t had lunch yet and I’m already craving dessert. That was cruel 😉 These look amazing, Christine!
Oh my! These look gorgeous, my hubby would love these!
Oh man, I would love these. Apples are my favorite. I haven’t had an apple turnover in years!!
oooh boy this look fantastic. Coffee and these = perfect combo!
These look gorgeous, lady! And this is the part where I confess that I still haven’t gotten over my fear of working with yeast. I’ve only done it on a few occasions (once because I REALLY wanted cinnamon rolls), and yeah… I still don’t feel all that comfortable with it.
Oh. My YUM! These look so dang good. You can’t help but be enticed by those lovely pictures.
Excuse my drooling.. but those look amazing!!!
These look so delicious!! And would’ve been the perfect thing for breakfast! Your photos look amazing too!
Oooh girl, my husband would cry if he saw these! They look amazing!
Pretty sure I would have stress ate my way through this entire batch if they were available during those world cup games. Holy freaking smokes. That Mexico game had me squealing, but this recipe has me drooling!!
Okay yum to da MAX. I have never worked with puff pastry before, but I’ve conquered my fear of yeast! And that drizzle shot? Nice nice nice 😉
I like your version of these–super simple. Also, I’ve never used yeast or puff pastry because I’m scared soooo…..maybe it’s time to change that!
This is definitely one of my favorite kind of treats for the Summer…these look pretty darn amazing, Christine! YUM
Wow!! These look sublime! And I hear ya about yeast… I’ve baked with it before… but it does seem to freak me out a little! Haha… but yeah, these look delightful!!
Gotta love puff pastry!
These look way too good for something made in an instant. Caramel + apples… mmh. Which reminds me I still have yet to try your apple crisp.
Don’t think you were the loner with your essay on yeast. I don’t know the details but rumor has it the husband of one of my cousins did research on yeast. It doesn’t fit with his work today but at least the fact made for a good running gag between my sister and me ;). “Hey, let’s bake with yeast!” – “Oh, sure, why don’t we ask R for some advice first?”
I know, right?! Flaky, puffy pastries seem so intimidating! Hahah too funny that your cousin did research on it. I actually studied it a little under a microscope in a lab and was thinking “YUCK! We put that in our bread 😯 “
Apple turnovers have to be one of my all time favourite desserts, especially when topped with some light cream! Thanks for the great recipe and photos, definitely one for the weekend.