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Darcie Bakes //

September 27, 2017

{Small Batch} Apple Turnovers.

Apple turnovers are a fantastic fall and winter dessert. Honestly, they’re good any time, but I tend to make them more during the fall and winter months. Of course the weather is still a bit whack in St. Louis at the moment, but a girl can dream, eh? appleturnovers_coverI have made these turnovers a number of times, and I’ve been neglecting to share them with you [such a shame, honestly]. Butttt I figure it’s always better late than never when it comes to sharing foodstuffs on the blog. These turnovers are pretty similar to the pumpkin turnovers I made a while back. They use a small-batch puff pastry dough, and a simple apple filling. The glaze is also really easy; I usually add vanilla bean paste to it because I love the little brown specks that the vanilla bean seeds lend the glaze.

appleturnoveropenThe best part about these turnovers is that they can easily be a make-ahead project. In fact, that’s exactly what I often do for these: I make the puff pastry and cook the apples one evening. The following morning, I assemble and bake them for my family. It’s pretty much perfection, and it’s really much easier than you might think.

openwithapples
{Dem innards.}

puffpastryprocess

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// Small Batch Apple Turnovers.
Yield: Four large triangular pies.

Ingredients:

For the quick puff pastry:

  • 1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
  • ¼ tsp. fine salt
  • 10 TBSP. high-quality butter (5 ounces), cold {I use unsalted Kerrygold.}
  • ⅓ cup ice cold water

For the apple filling:

  • 2 cups diced apples (from about 3 small apples, or 2 medium)
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • dash of ground nutmeg {Just something I like to add here.}
  • 1 TBSP. freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ¼ cup light brown sugar
  • 1 TBSP. unsalted butter
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 large egg yolk, beaten
  • coarse sugar (turbinado sugar) for sprinkling
 Instructions:
  1. Make the puff pastry: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.
  2. Next, cube the butter and then add it to the flour bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dough. It will be very crumbly, and you’re done when the butter is in uniform pieces all about the size of peas.
  3. Next, make a hole in the center of the dough and pour in all of the water. Using a fork, stir to combine the dough. It’ll be a shaggy dough, similar to pie crust. This is okay.
  4. Flour a cutting board and rolling pin, and place the dough on the board. Pat it into a rough square. You will still see chunks of butter and it will seem too dry, but do not add extra water. The dough will come together with each roll.
  5. Roll the dough out in front of you into a rectangle about 10″ long; you don’t need to be especially precise at this point.
  6. Fold the bottom third of the dough over the middle of the dough. Fold the upper third of the dough on top of the middle too, like an envelope. Rotate the dough one-quarter turn, and repeat. Use additional flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking.
  7. Roll out, fold, and turn the dough at least 6 or 7 times. If the dough is starting to seem elastic-y and difficult to roll out, that means it’s time to leave it alone for awhile [see step 3 in my collage above].
  8. When done, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour, or overnight.
  1. When you’re ready to make the turnovers: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
  2. To make the apple filling: First, peel, core, and dice the apples. You should have about two cups of diced apples; a bit less is fine.
  3. Add the apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, sugar, butter and salt to a sauté pan, and cook over medium heat until the apples soften and caramelize, about 7 minutes. Stir frequently.
  4. Remove the apples from the heat and let cool.
  5. Meanwhile, roll out the pre-made pastry dough into a 12-inch square. Use flour as you go to prevent sticking.
  6. Divide the apple mixture into four piles in the corners of the dough, but leave about ¾” of border. Cut the dough into four equal squares. Fold the edges of the dough over each of the apple piles. You will have four triangular pies.
  7. Crimp the edges closed with your fingers and the tines of a fork.
  8. Carefully move the pies to the baking sheet.
  9. Brush each pie generously with the beaten egg yolk. Sprinkle with coarse sugar, if using.
  10. Bake the pies for 20 minutes, or until golden brown and puffy. Serve immediately. {Note: You can add a quick vanilla glaze by mixing some powdered sugar with milk and a little vanilla extract/paste. Stir to get the desired consistency, then spoon over the cooled turnovers. Or you can add it to a little Ziplock bag and pipe stripes over them.}

appleturnover2
[Yaassss.]
+ Recipe from Dessert for Two.

Leave a Comment Filed Under: apple, butter, puff pastry, small batch, small batch baking, turnovers

September 3, 2017

Mini Mixed Berry Pies.

mixedberriespies_cover

First of all, Happy Labor Day, friends! I hope you’re enjoying your day off, while also remembering why we celebrate Labor Day in the first place. I’m currently roaming around my hometown, but we’ll get to that later. For now, let’s talk about mini pies.

closeupminipieI have made these mini pies multiple times, but these photos are actually from Memorial Day weekend {yeahhh, back in May}, but I am sharing them now because we’re embarking upon Labor Day. I think they’re just perfect for any kind of “patriotic” holiday. But really, they’re perfect for pretty much any occasion. I just decided to get all ‘MERICA with them here.

sprankles
{Patriotic sprinkles! I found these at our beloved Target a while back.}
pieniceream
{Melting ice cream + warm pie = one of my favorite combinations on this earth.}

Pie is awesome. And mini pies are slightly more awesome. Why? Because anything miniature is just so darn cute! They’re also quite easy to make: you just roll out your chilled dough, toss a circle of dough in a cupcake tin, add your filling, and then add your top crust. Once you’ve assembled several, throw ’em in the oven to bake! Super cute, super impressive, and much easier than they look [also a heck of a lot less fussy than a whole pie, but you didn’t hear that from me].

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// Mini Mixed Berry Pies.

Yield: I doubled the crust recipe (below) to get about six mini pies that will fit in cupcake tins. You may also use the recipe below as is, and make two mini mason jar lid pies [just reduce the amount of filling].

Ingredients:

For the crust:

  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
  • 1/4 tsp. coarse salt
  • 3 TBSP. unsalted butter, cold
  • 1/4 tsp. apple cider vinegar
  • 2-3 TBSP. ice-cold water

For the filling:

  • 1 pound mixed berries [You can use frozen if you wish.]
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Cornstarch slurry
For the tops of the pies:
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • Coarse sugar (e.g. turbinado sugar)

Instructions:
For the crust:

  1. In a small bowl, stir together the flour and salt with a fork. Cube the butter into 12 chunks, and add half of them to the flour mixture.
  2. Stir gently, and then add the remaining butter chunks. Next, using your thumb and index finger [make the “snapping” motion] in order to incorporate the butter chunks into the flour mixture.
  3. Work the butter into the flour for quite a while, making sure it’s evenly incorporated and the dough almost comes together in clumps when you squeeze it in your hands. [The warmth of your hands is bringing the dough together, so if it’s still flour-y, keep working it.]
  4. Finally, add the vinegar and 2 TBSP. of the ice-cold water. Stir with a fork and the dough will easily come together into a mass. You may need a bit more water, depending on the humidity in your area on a given day.
  5. Scoop the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap, shape it into a disk and store it wrapped in the fridge for 30 minutes, while you make the filling.

For the filling:

 

1. Make the filling while the dough is chilling: In a small pot on the stove, add your mixed berries, sugar, and lemon juice.
2. Cook on medium low heat for 12-15 minutes until the berries are soft and can be mashed down. The filling will still be too liquidy so make a cornstarch slurry (a few tsp. of cornstarch with some water) and pour it in the pot.
3. Stir the mixture until it thickens up nicely. Set aside for it to cool a bit before assembling your pies.

To assemble the pies:.

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, and lightly grease 6 muffin cups in your muffin tin.
  2. Once dough is ready, take it out of the fridge and let it warm up for a few minutes.
  3. Roll out one half on the counter top and cut out circles with the largest biscuit cutter you have (or use a large glass; the circle just needs to be larger than the muffin cup).
  4. Place the circles in the muffin cups and crimp down the sides.
  5. Place the cooled filling into the cups, almost until full.
  6. Take the other half of the dough and roll it out. Using a ravioli cutter, cut thin strips of dough to create a lattice pattern on top of the mini pies.
  7. Once you’re done assembling, beat an egg for the egg wash. Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the pies with the egg wash. Sprinkle coarse sugar on top for extra crunch, if desired.
  8. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until they’re nice and golden brown on top.
  9. Allow the pies to cool in the muffin pan for 10 minutes before trying to remove from pan.

// Recipe Inspiration + Resources:
+
Mixed berry filling recipe + muffin tin baking method inspired from Table for Two Blog.
+ Pie crust recipe from Dessert for Two.

piecut
{A beautiful mess.}

Leave a Comment Filed Under: blueberries, butter, cherries, mini pies, miniatures, mixed berries, pie, strawberry

March 4, 2016

Random Sides // Choose Butter Over Bros.

Sometimes I really love playing around in Photoshop and Illustrator. I’m no graphic designer, but I’ve got a soft spot for typography. Graphic design – for me – is very much like baking. It’s the perfect combination of utilizing my technical (left) brain along with my more creative (right) brain. Here’s one sample of something I’ve been up to lately. Of course I had to tribute my beloved butter.

butteroverbros
{Butter graphic by Tom Glass, Jr., via The Noun Project. Print created by me. Inspiration via 100 Days of Fonts.}

More baking posts coming soon; just thought I’d share some fun inspiration in the form of graphic design! <3

Leave a Comment Filed Under: art, butter, graphic design, randomness

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I'm Darcie. In a nutshell: I'm a baker and mental health advocate in the tech industry.
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