This Old-Fashioned Apple Turnover Recipe wraps a tender, warmly spiced apple filling in light, crispy puff pastry and finishes each golden turnover with a rich glaze. Whether you serve one as a handheld fall dessert or enjoy it alongside a hot cup of coffee for a cozy breakfast, every flaky, sweet bite is worth savoring.
Old-Fashioned Apple Turnover Recipe at a Glance
- 🧄 Flavor & Texture: Sweet and buttery with warm spices, flaky pastry, and a soft apple center.
- 🛒 Main Ingredients: Apples, flour, butter, brown sugar, cream, cinnamon, nutmeg, powdered sugar, egg, and milk.
- ⏱️ Total Time: 47 minutes, plus at least 1 hour of chilling.
- 🍴 Servings: makes 12 turnovers
- 🥗 Dietary Info: Vegetarian; contains gluten, dairy, and egg.
- 🍚 Best Served With: Perfect for breakfast, snacking, or dessert.
- 🧊 Make Ahead?: Yes, chill the dough overnight or refrigerate baked turnovers for up to 5 days.
- ❤️ Why You Will Love It: Flaky homemade pastry, spiced apple filling, and sweet glaze make a classic treat.
Summarize and Save This Content On
Fall trips to the apple orchard have been a long-standing family tradition, and they always remind me of my own grandma baking with freshly picked apples.
I love turning those crisp, sweet apples into flaky, buttery turnovers filled with warm cinnamon-spiced apples, whether I'm serving them as a lazy weekend treat with coffee or a cozy, comforting dessert for the holidays.
Baked apple fritters and apple cinnamon coffee cake also work great as sweet fall breakfast items or dessert.
Jump to:
- Old-Fashioned Apple Turnover Recipe at a Glance
- Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients
- Variations
- How to Make Turnover Dough From Scratch
- How to Make This Old-Fashioned Apple Turnover Recipe
- Expert Tips
- Serving Suggestions
- Old-Fashioned Apple Turnover Recipe FAQs
- More Delicious Apple Dessert Recipes
- Old-Fashioned Apple Turnover Recipe
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- It's freezer-friendly: Make a batch ahead and freeze the unbaked turnovers so you can bake them whenever a craving strikes.
- Can glaze them while hot: Drizzle the warm turnovers with glaze right after baking for a sweet finish that melts into all those flaky layers.
- Made with homemade puff pastry: You get buttery, flaky puff pastry without the fuss of traditional folding and laminating.
Ingredients
Below are the key ingredients for the turnover pastry dough and the cinnamon apple filling.
Turnover Dough Recipe Ingredients
- Cold butter: Use cold butter straight from the refrigerator. Keeping the butter cold helps create flaky layers in the pastry. I also use it when I make these pumpkin scones.
- Heavy cream: Cold heavy cream adds richness and tenderness that water alone doesn't provide, while keeping the dough moist enough to come together without becoming tough.
Apple Turnover Filling Ingredients
- Apples: Use a firm apple that holds its shape well when baked, such as Granny Smith or Honeycrisp. Peel and core the apples before slicing, and avoid softer varieties like McIntosh or Red Delicious, which can release too much moisture and make the filling watery.
- Spices: Ginger and nutmeg give the apple filling a warm, cozy flavor that goes beyond the cinnamon-only spice blend found in many apple turnovers.
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.
Variations
- Apple berry combo: Replace about 1½ cups of the apples with 1½ cups of fresh or frozen berries, such as blackberries or cranberries. Pears also work well with the apples for a softer, mellow variation.
- Shortcut: Replace the homemade puff pastry with two sheets of store-bought. It will save you time, but I find the homemade version tastes better.
- Use phyllo dough: Make this recipe with 12 sheets of phyllo dough, layering 3 sheets for each turnover. Brush each layer lightly with melted butter before folding and filling.
- Add more warm spices: Add an extra ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon of ground ginger, or a pinch of cloves to give the filling an even warmer, more spiced flavor.
How to Make Turnover Dough From Scratch
These are the steps needed for this easy turnover dough recipe.
Step 1: Pulse the flour and salt. Add flour and salt to your food processor and pulse until they are well mixed.
Step 2: Add the cold butter. Next, add the cold butter to the flour mixture and process until the butter breaks up into pea-sized pieces.
Step 3: Pour in the water and cream. Then, stream in the water and cold cream and continue to process until the mixture becomes more like dough that balls up on the side.
Step 4: Wrap and chill. Add flour to the plastic wrap (the dough will still be wet and sticky) and carefully wrap it and place it in the fridge overnight to chill.
How to Make This Old-Fashioned Apple Turnover Recipe
Here are the instructions for this old-fashioned apple turnover recipe with the puff pastry you made from scratch. Preheat your oven to 425F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Step 1: Make the apple filling. Combine all the filling ingredients in a saucepan and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until it reduces and thickens. Set it aside to cool.
Step 2: Roll and fill the dough. Once the filling cools, separate the dough into golf-ball-sized pieces. Roll each one out into a 4-inch square and add 2 tablespoons of apple filling.
Step 3: Pinch them closed and bake. Brush the edge with egg wash, fold over the dough, and pinch it closed. Repeat this for the rest of the turnovers. Place them on a prepared pan with about an inch of space between them. Bake for about 22 minutes.
Step 4: Add the glaze and serve. Mix the homemade glaze and drizzle it over the hot turnovers and enjoy with an apple crisp cold brew!
Expert Tips
- Use a pastry cutter or grater: If you don't have a food processor, cut the cold butter into the flour with a pastry cutter or grate it in with a cheese grater. If grating, hold the butter with an ice-water-dampened towel to keep your hands from warming it.
- Avoid overcooking the filling: Cook the apples just until softened and thickened. Overcooking reduces the filling too much, leaving you without enough for all 12 turnovers.
- Don't overfill the pastry: Keep the filling away from the edges so the pastry seals properly. Space the turnovers about 1 inch apart so the bottoms can crisp.
- Bake at 350°F instead: Bake for about 36 minutes at 350°F for a slower bake. The turnovers will still be delicious but won't puff as dramatically and will have a flatter appearance.
- Storage instructions: Store cooled turnovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or refrigerate for up to 4 days. Prepare the dough 1-2 days before you make the filling, too!
These mushroom turnovers are a savory version that I also make with a homemade dough.
Serving Suggestions
- Make it a cozy fall breakfast: Serve warm turnovers with coffee or an apple cider slushie for a fun seasonal pairing. For coffee lovers, apple crisp cold foam turns a simple cup of coffee into an extra-special fall treat.
- Turn them into dessert: Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or a drizzle of caramel sauce for an easy after-dinner treat. For another cozy apple dessert, try my Grandma's apple crumble.
- Serve them for the holidays: These flaky apple turnovers are perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any fall gathering where you want an easy handheld dessert. For a pumpkin-inspired addition to the dessert table, try pumpkin fluff, a quick, creamy treat that's especially suited to holiday gatherings.
- Enjoy them all season long: Keep a batch on hand for afternoon coffee, weekend brunches, bake sales, or casual get-togethers-their individual size makes them easy to share.
Old-Fashioned Apple Turnover Recipe FAQs
Apple turnovers can leak if they're overfilled or the filling gets too close to the edges. When making apple turnovers, leave a clear border around the filling and firmly crimp the edges to create a good seal.
Soggy bottoms are usually caused by excess moisture from the apple filling or overcrowding the baking sheet. Keep the filling thick and space the turnovers about 1 inch apart so air can circulate and the bottoms crisp.
Yes! You can use two sheets of store-bought puff pastry instead of making the pastry from scratch. However, homemade puff pastry has a richer flavor and flakier texture that really makes these turnovers special.
Yes, although homemade apple pie filling is easy to make and has better flavor. If using canned filling, reduce the sugar to ¼ cup in Grandma's old-fashioned apple turnover recipe since the canned filling is already sweetened.
More Delicious Apple Dessert Recipes
Do you like apple dessert recipes? Here are some recipes you may also like to try.
If you try this recipe and love it please leave a star rating in the recipe card below or even better, drop a review in the comment section. I always appreciate your feedback. Be sure to follow along with me on Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube for more easy recipes!
Old-Fashioned Apple Turnover Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Puff Pastry
- 2 ¼ cups flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 12 Tbs butter cold, cubed
- ½ cup cold water
- 3 Tbs heavy cream cold
Filling
- 3 cups apples chopped
- ⅔ cup brown sugar packed
- 2 Tbs butter
- 1 teaspoon lemon or lime juice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoon milk
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Glaze
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 3 ½ Tbs milk
Instructions
- To make the puff pastry, place the flour and salt into a food processor. Pulse a couple times to combine.
- Add the cold butter. Process for 45 seconds or until the butter is pea sized.
- With the processor still running, stream the water and heavy cream in through the chute. Let process for another minute until the mixture comes together and begins to ball up on one side.
- At this point, the dough will be very wet and sticky. Remove the dough from the processor and place onto a lightly floured piece of plastic wrap.
- Wrap tightly and place into the fridge for at least one hour and up to overnight.
- Gather together all the ingredients for the filling and measure them.
- While the dough is chilling, make the filling. Add all of the filling ingredients to a medium sized saucepan. Place over medium heat. Stir constantly while the brown sugar and butter melt down.
- Allow the mixture to cook down for 10 minutes or until reduced to a 2 cup mixture. Be sure to stir constantly so that the mixture does not burn. Once cooked down, pour into a heat safe bowl to cool down.
- Once the dough has chilled, make the egg wash by whisking all of the ingredients in a small bowl until completely combined.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and place onto a well floured surface. Separate dough into golf ball sized pieces.
- Use a rolling pin to roll each ball out into a rough square about 4" long and wide.
- Spoon 2 tablespoons of filling onto the center keeping it on one half of the square. Use a pastry brush to brush some egg wash around the border of the square to act like a glue.
- Fold the empty half of the dough over the filling. Press down around the edges. Use a fork to press the dough together.
- Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut the extra border off. Be sure to leave at least a ½" border.
- Preheat the oven to 425 F. Place the turnovers onto a parchment lined baking sheet making sure to leave about 1" of space between them. Brush with the remaining egg wash. Place into the oven to bake for 22 minutes or until golden brown on top.
- Gather together the ingredients for the glaze and measure them.
- While the turnovers are baking, make the glaze by whisking the ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. Once the turnovers are baked, brush with glaze immediately. Let set for a few minutes to cool sufficiently before serving.
- Whisk glaze until smooth.
- Remove the turnovers from the oven.
- Once the turnovers are baked, brush with glaze immediately. Let set for a few minutes to cool sufficiently before serving.
Video
Notes
- No food processor? Cut the cold butter into the flour with a pastry cutter or grate it in with a cheese grater. If grating, use an ice-water-dampened towel to hold the butter and keep it from warming in your hands.
- Keep the filling in the center of each pastry, leaving the edges clear so they seal securely. Place the turnovers about 1 inch apart on the baking sheet to help the bottoms crisp.
- You can use two sheets of store-bought puff pastry to save time, but homemade puff pastry gives these turnovers a richer flavor and flakier texture.
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