Buttery Shortcrust Apple Turnovers

I love shortcrust pastry, especially when it’s crisp,  buttery and flaky.  So when I saw a recipe on Food Wishes for what Chef John called Buttercrust pastry I thought I would like to try it, instead of my usual shortcrust, for some apple turnovers.  I have made apple turnovers before, but that was using puff pastry.  They were very good, but I always prefer shortcrust, so this was a good opportunity to try out this recipe.

For the filling I used Bramley apples, which are cooking apples and are very tart.  Granny Smith or any other green, tart, apple would be fine.  Of course any apple of your choice would be ok too.  I also added cinnamon and cooked the apples in some butter and sugar with the cinnamon, until soft and most of the liquid had been cooked out.

It is imperative to let the pastry dough rest for at least an hour.  I left mine for two hours.  The recipe calls for more water than I might otherwise have used, but that certainly makes rolling out easier.  

The turnovers turned out very well indeed, with a lovely, crisp, pastry case.  The filling retained some tartness, and had the sweetness of the sugar as well as the hit of cinnamon.  Altogether they were very good indeed.  

Quite easy to make and the recipe is simple and unlikely to fail, so I recommend this one to all.

Buttery Shortcrust Apple Turnovers – Video

Ingredients:
For the pastry:

• 256g plain flour
• 113g ice cold butter, cut into 16 cubes
• 15g caster sugar
• 90ml ice cold water
• 1 tsp salt

For the filling:

• 700g apples(before peeling)
• 50g caster sugar
• 30g soft light brown sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 28g butter
• A little water, if necessary
• juice o a lemon to stop the apples oxidising(optional)
• Egg wash

Method:

1. In a food processor place half the flour.
2. Add the cubed butter.
3. Add the remaining flour, sugar and salt.
4. Pulse in short bursts until the butter has been broken down and there are pea sized lumps.
5. Scrape down the sides of the processor bowl and then add the water.
6. Pulse, in slightly longer bursts, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
7. Scrape down again and pulse for a couple of seconds more.
8. Turn the mixture onto a work surface, it will be all crumbs,  and use your hands to squeeze it together until it forms a nice pastry ball.  
9. Mop up any loose crumbs and form the dough into a disc.
10. Cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate for at least one hour ( I did two hour, so my filling could cool down as well).
11. Peel the apples and core them.
12. Cut them into small cubes, tossing in lemon juice if you wish to stop them browning as you peel the others.
13. Place the butter into a large frying pan and heat until melted and starting to brown(don’t have the heat too high).
14. Add the apples and toss to coat in butter.
15. Allow the apples to cook and release the juices.
16. Cook until the juice is bubbling nicely and then add the sugars.
17. Stir around to mix the sugar into the apples.
18. As the juices begin to reduce sprinkle over the cinnamon and continue to cook until the liquid has just about disappeared. (if you have the softness you want in the apples you can strain off excess juice).
19. Place the mixture onto a plate and allow to cool.
20. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/400F
21. Line baking trays(I used two, to hold two turnovers each) with silicone mats or parchment paper.
22. Divide the pastry dough into four equal parts.
23. Roll out into roughly 8 inch circles and place a quarter of the apple mixture in the centre.
24. Fold one half of the pastry over the apples and press down against the other half of the pastry, but leaving a gap around the edge.
25. Press the top pastry edge down on to the bottom pastry.
26. Fold the overlapping part of the bottom pastry over on to the edge of the top pastry, pressing down.
27. Using a finger and thumb of one hand and a finger of the other pinch the edge together, making dimples.
28. Place the turnovers onto the baking trays and brush them with egg wash.
29. Sprinkle some granulated sugar over the top.
30. Make three small slits into the top of each turnover.
31. Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the pastry has gone a lovely golden brown colour and the sugar on top as melted in.
32. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before trying to eat.