With apple turnovers, the biggest decision one needs to make is how to do the pastry crust. If you use an already prepared frozen puff pastry or folded pie crust, the apple turnovers will be a snap to make, they will look pretty, and the crust may be acceptable, but probably nothing to write home about. If you use a homemade butter crust (pâte brisée) which is really not so hard to make, your pastry will taste wonderful, and may even be flaky, but not filled with puffy layers. If you make your own homemade puff pastry dough, which requires technique and steps beyond a simple homemade pie dough, you will have a truly delicious and gorgeous pastry. Since I have yet to master this last technique, I am obliged to use either a homemade butter pie crust, or a frozen prepared puff pastry sheet. I’ve made apple turnovers with both, and I can say that the homemade butter crust is light years better than the frozen puff pastry, but is obviously a bit more work. So, what I have here is a recipe that calls for either using a frozen puff pastry sheet or homemade pâte brisée dough.

The inside of these apple turnovers include apples, of course, but also dried currants, walnuts, apple sauce, a little sugar and cinnamon, and a dash of vanilla.

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