Homemade, from scratch, flakey, buttery puff pastry with a fall spiced apple and blackberry filling and fresh whipped cream. So delicious and much easier than you think, this recipe includes a step by step guide on how to make your own real puff pastry from scratch! The perfect treat to welcome in Autumn.
I love autumn, I can’t imagine there are many people that don’t love it! But as I sit here and write this post, ready to gush about how wonderful this season is, it’s pouring down with rain and has been all day – that’s the reality of British fall! The leaves may turn beautiful colours, but they’re soggy piles of mulch on the ground! And you can get cosy in your oversized sweater, but you’re gonna ruin the wool as soon as you step outside! On the plus side, the miserable weather is the perfect excuse to stay indoors and fill your house with wonderful autumn baking aromas – and these apple and blackberry cream turnovers are a great start!
Blackberries are one of my favourite fruits of the season, not just because they’re delicious and are great for baking, but they’re so easy to get ahold of in the UK – for free! I have picked so many blackberries from the field where I walk the dogs this past month I’ve lost track, I can only imagine how much I would have spent on the same amount of berries in the supermarket (they go for £2 for a 150g packet, which is barely a handful). I had more blackberries than I knew what to do with, I froze some for my smoothies and I used some to make blackberry liquor (which is still in the making, can’t wait to test that out!) and I, of course, used some for these apple and blackberry cream turnovers!
Apple and blackberry are a great combination, together they’re an autumn staple here in the UK – usually in a pie or a crumble – I like to be a little different though!
Turnovers are such an under appreciated treat, they’re flaky, puffy parcels of goodness – especially when filled with fresh cream too! Definitely not one for the diet but so worth the extra calories, you really won’t be disappointed with these! Turnovers are made with puff pastry, which isn’t hard to make it’s just a bit of a pain in the butt! Really, it’s perfectly fine to use pre made puff pastry, especially if you don’t have all day to be continuously rolling and chilling dough! Just make sure you use a good quality one, it really makes all the difference! If you do want to have a go at making your own puff pastry, I definitely say go for it – it can be tedious but it’s simple enough, I actually find it pretty therapuetic. At end of this post I’m gonna include a quick step guide to help you along your way in making your own real, flakey puff pastry, so scroll down for that!
- 125g plain flour (all purpose)
- 125g strong white flour
- Pinch of salt
- 100ml ice water
- 250g cold, unsalted butter
- 150g apples, tart works best, I used granny smiths (about 2 apples), cored, peeled and chopped into 1/4" pieces
- 1 lemon, juice of
- 1/2 lime, juice of
- 150g blackberries
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp coarse black pepper
- 115g brown sugar
- pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 50g demerara sugar
- 200ml double cream (heavy cream works too)
- 2 tbsp icing sugar (powdered sugar)
- pinch of cinnamon
- Mix the flours and salt together, add water a little at a time and combine until you have a soft dough (but not sticky). You most likely will not need all of the water, only use enough to form a dough. I use a food processor for this, but can be done by hand. Bring dough together and wrap in cling film, chill for 15 minutes.
- Use a rolling pin to roll/beat the cold butter into a square, about 1/4 -1/2" thick. Wrap and chill for 15 minutes.
- Roll the dough out to a square that is about double the size of your butter square. Place the butter in the centre and fold the dough around it like an envelope, seal completely so you can't see any butter.
- Roll this out into a long rectangle, fold one side of the rectangle halfway across itself, so the end meets the middle of the rectangle, fold the other half over to cover that half (see photos at the end of the post for visual). Turn the square 90 degrees, and roll out into another long rectangle and repeat the folding and turning. Repeat this process 3 times, then return to the fridge and chill for 20 minutes. Then repeat this folding, turning and chilling process a minimum of three or four times, the more you do it the more layers you will have (this process is called lamination).Keep your kitchen as cool as possible while doing this. Once done, wrap and chill until ready to use.
- Add all the filling ingredients to a large sauce pan and cook on medium, stirring, until sugar melts. Bring to a simmer and simmer for 10 minutes, until apples are softened. Remove from heat and cool completely.
- Beat the egg and vanilla in a small bowl for the glaze.
- Roll your pastry out on a lightly floured surface to a 10x10" square, and cut into four 5" squares.
- Fill half of the square with the filling, about 2 tbsp, brush the edges of the square with the egg glaze and fold the top right point of the square to meet the bottom left point, sealing the egdes with a fork. Cut three small slits in the top of the triangle, to allow steam to escape and for your cream piping hole! Repeat with all squares, place on a lined baking sheet and chill for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 190C/350F.
- Remove the tray from the fridge and brush the turnovers with the egg glaze, sprinkle demerara sugar over them.
- Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown.
- Cool on a wire rack.
- When completely cooled, make the whipped cream - add all the ingredients to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or use a handheld beater). Whip until soft peaks form (cream is starting to hold form, but points don't stand up when whisk removed).
- Spoon into a piping bag fitted with any nozzle (a nozzle is just needed to be able to get the cream inside the hole!). Poke the nozzle through the middle slit you made in the turnover, and squeeze until you can see cream starting to poke out through the other holes. Repeat with all turnovers.
- Best enjoyed the day of making, but will keep well for 3 days
- If you don't have demerara sugar, brown sugar works well too!
- See end of post for visuals on how to make puff pastry from scratch.
- Store in air tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days
- This recipe makes 4 large turnovers, make smaller squares for more, smaller turnovers (use less filling in each). Or the recipe is easily doubled!
But whether you use storebought or homemade pastry, I can promise you are gonna LOVE these turnovers. They’re full of amazing fall flavours, but the sweet tartness of the berries and the sweet, fresh cream will keep them light enough to enjoy all year round! You can totally use frozen blackberries for these turnovers too, just make sure to thaw them first! As I mentioned before I picked my blackberries myself (ouchy with all those brambles, but so satisfying!) and, well, I don’t like to wash blackberries (or raspberries) because they’re so delicate, you end up losing valuable juice when you wash them – so I spent a good amount of time sorting through them to make sure there were no bugs or bits of plant in them, and just hoped the cooking process would counteract any nastiness on the berries! Besides, paleo’s all the rage these days – I bet our hunting and gathering ancestors never washed their blackberries 😉
Okay, now it’s time to go into the puff pastry making process a bit more in depth! Really, this is going to be more of a visual aid then a wordy step by step, there’s not that many different steps – you just have to repeat them all several times! First, a couple of tips for you:
- Keep your kitchen as cold as possible! Have the windows open, keep the oven off, have fans on if you can! The last thing you want is your butter to melt into the dough, you’ll ruin the layering and all your hardwork! If your kitchen is warm, I recommend chilling the dough in between every single folding, turning and rolling – tedious? yes! But totally worth it to stop the butter melting.
- Don’t be tempted to chill the dough in the freezer! Yes it will get colder quickly, but you’ll risk freezing parts of the butter, which will crack when you roll it next and you’ll end up with chunks of butter rather than one layer, which will limit how much puff you get!
- Don’t rush it! If it feels too warm, chill more often. Chill it at least 20 minutes between rolling and turnings so it’s properly cold and you’re not risking melting it. The more times you repeat the rolling, folding and turning steps the more layers you’ll have and the better your puff will be (there is a certain amount of times you’re supposed to do it for puff, but I have no idea what they are. I just make sure to do it completely at least 5 times).
- And last of all – don’t sweat it! If it doesn’t work out, it’s not a big deal. It sucks to waste all that time and ingredients, but it isn’t the end of the world! You can always run to the store and grab some more or get some storebought, it’s all good! Just have fun!
Okay, for this little puff pasty guide I have two animated gifs for you! I figured this was the best way to show your the process! If you have any questions, just shout 🙂
Once you mixed up your dough from the flours, water and salt and you’ve chilled it for 15 minutes and you’ve rolled/beat your butter into a square (see recipe for full details) roll it out into a large square. Don’t worry about measurements here, just get it about double the size of your butter square! Take the butter square and place it in the centre of the dough. Then fold all four sides of the dough around the butter, enclosing it like an envelope. Seal the edges properly with your finger tips, make sure you can’t see any of the butter – you don’t want any peaking out (including through tears, so make sure to seal them if you make any).
Now you start the rolling, folding and turning process!
Roll your square out into a long rectangle, try and keep the edges as straight as you can (but don’t worry about it too much, as you’ll see I’m not very good at that part!). Then, with the rectangle horizontal across your work space, take the long end of one side and fold it over so the end meets the middle of the rectangle. Now, take the over side and fold it over so it goes completely over the bit you just folded – now you end up with another square! Turn it 90 degrees so the fold is facing up (or down, doesn’t matter haha) and roll it out into another long rectangle – fold it again like described. Turn 90 degrees again and roll and fold one more time. Wrap the square up and chill for 20 minutes. Then, take it out and repeat the above. Chill. Repeat. Chill. Repeat. You get the idea!
Can you visualise the layers you are making with this process (it’s called lamination)? The more folds you do, the more layers you make, so the puffier your pastry will be when you bake it! Since when you bake it, the water in the butter creates steam as it melts, so each layer of butter you have creates a layer of pastry as it expands with the steam! You end up with flaky, buttery, layery pastry goodness – real science there!
You need to do the rolling, folding, turning, chilling, repeat process at least 3 times – I like to do it a total of 5 times.
I hope that all makes sense to you, but if I haven’t explained something clearly enough or you have any questions, just shout 🙂 The most important thing to remember is to keep the dough cold at all times, you do not want that butter melting before it gets in the oven!
I hope that you give these apple and blackberry cream turnovers a try, either with homemade puff pastry or storebought, they’re absolustely delicious and I think you’re gonna love them!
If you do try them out and I’d love to hear what you think, either comment below or tag me in any photos you take of your bakes with @GiraffesCanBake on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!
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Fiesta Friday with Quinn and Judi, Friday Favorites, Foodie FriDIY, Throwback Thursday, Saucy Saturdays, Bake of the Week,
Your turnovers look fabulous!
Thank you!
Excuse me while I wipe up my drool. These look absolutely fabulous! I’ve never made turnovers before, this might make me attempt it for the first time, thanks for sharing! I’d love for you to come link up with us over at Throwback Thursday link party!
Thank you so much! I will definitely pop over, thanks for the invite 🙂
These look so delicious! I do kind of miss picking blackberries while out on a walk, as I used to in my parents area. Sadly store-bought is my only real option here, but I still like them and they are great in baked goods, just as they look great here!
Thank you, Caroline! I had to buy them last year, I completely misjudged the season and when I went to pick them they were all gone/shriveled 🙁 I hate buying them, but it’s better than not having any 😀
These turnovers look gorgeous! I love all kinds of fruit-filled pastries, and I bet these are delicious. I would like to try this recipe. 🙂
Thank you Jenny!
OMG! Those are the best looking turnovers I have ever seen and I just love all that delicious whipped cream inside, holy moly drooling 🙂
😀 Thank you Lily!!!
Never had apple and blackberry together, looks delicious especially with all that cream! I took a class many years ago making puff pastry – a lot of work. Yours certainly looks much, much better. Thanks for bringing these to the party Michelle!
It’s a really yummy, autumnal combo Judi, I love it!
Thank so much 😀 xxx
These look soooooooooo GOOD !!
We actually have wonderful apples all-year-round, but my family can’t get enough of apple pastries.
I’d love to try these.
Thank you so much Winnie!
OMG Michelle!!! These look wicked good!!! And with homemade puff pastry! Wow!!!
Thank you Naina!!
These turnovers look sound wonderful–i love all that cream filling! 🙂
Thank you!!
Michelle I think you have a winner here. They look so good. You post is very detailed and you pics are very sharp. Thanks for sharing with Fiesta Friday and Throwback Thursday. Sorry I am doing double duty this week Hope to see you again this week at both party’s.
😀 Thank you Quinn!
Wow, those looks sooooo good! You sure can bake!
Aww thank you Denise!
Michelle, these look absolutely incredible! Yum!
Thank you so much, Kristen!
That flaky crust is extraordinary. I’m also feeling a little love for the cream. I appreciate the tutorial so much. I’m a novice baker but committed to improving.
Thank you Christine! I hope you find the tutorial helpful, my goal is to try and make baking easier for those who don’t do it very often!
And, oh yeah, thanks for linking up at #SaucySaturdays.
Ok babe. thats it. I am inviting myself over to your place..right now!! Love the dish.. seems like apples in the air 😉 Loved the video too..very helpful 🙂 Pinned!
😀 Thank you Swayam! And you’re more than welcome to come over whenever I bake, I’m on a diet so I need eating volunteers haha!
Geez Louise! They look simply amazing! I want one of these right now!
😀 Thank you Angie!!
OMG! These are incredible! This is a great recipe and I love your pictures!
Thank you so much!