These puff pastry apple turnovers are a delight! With a simple but delicious apple and cinnamon filling and wonderfully flaky puff pastry, these vegan apple turnovers are a must for fall!
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For a delicious breakfast or a teatime treat, an apple turnover is just the thing! They're even easier to make than our other favourite breakfast bake - these Vegan Cinnamon Rolls.
You can't go wrong with the classic combination of flaky pastry and a sweet apple and cinnamon filling.
This puff pastry apple turnover recipe has just 7 simple ingredients that you probably already have at home!
Turnovers are simple to make when you know how, but they can be a little fiddly at first. So do have a read of our top tips for success first time round!
Ingredient tips
Here’s what we need to make these delicious vegan apple turnovers:
Puff pastry
To make these turnovers quickly and easily, we use a pre rolled sheet of vegan puff pastry.
A lot of puff pastry is suitable for vegans (just check the packaging). In the US, Pepperidge Farm is vegan too.
If the size or weight of your sheet differs from what we have specified in the recipe, you can adjust the serving amounts to calculate the amount of filling to suit you.
If using a frozen puff pastry, follow the instructions on the package to defrost before use.
Apples
We've made these turnovers with all kinds of apples! We recommend a firm apple for baking so that the filling still has some texture to it after cooking.
Try apple varieties such as Granny Smith, Braeburn, Jonagold, Honeycrisp or Pink Lady. We use organic apples and don't find it necessary to peel them.
Vegan butter
Our preferred brand of vegan butter is Naturli vegan block, as it tastes so good and works great in baking! But for this recipe, any type of dairy-free spread will likely work just fine.
Sugar
You can use regular vegan sugar, or brown sugar for a more caramel taste.
Feel free to add the lower amount of sugar first, and then adjust to taste to suit the tartness of your apples.
You'll also need:
- Cinnamon - it just goes well with apples!
- A small amount of cornstarch, also known as cornflour in the UK, which is used to thicken the filling.
- And soy milk and an extra sprinkle of sugar to give the turnovers a lovely golden top.
Step by step pictures
Here's a handy guide to show you how to make and shape these vegan apple turnovers. (Full recipe in the card at the end of the post)
Step 1 - Heat the diced apple with the vegan butter, sugar and cinnamon. When the butter and sugar are melted, simmer for 3 minutes to soften the apple.
Step 2 - Stir in the cornstarch. Simmer to thicken for another minute, then take the pan off the heat and let cool.
Step 3 - Cut the sheet of puff pastry into 6 squares.
Step 4 - Place some apple filling towards one corner of a puff pastry square.
Step 5 - Fold over the puff pastry and crimp down the edges with a fork to seal them tightly.
Step 6 - Transfer the turnovers to a lined baking sheet and score them to allow steam to escape during baking.
Step 7 - Brush the tops with soy milk.
Step 8 - Sprinkle some sugar on top of the turnovers.
Step 9 - Bake the apple turnovers at 200℃ (390℉) for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown.
How to stop turnovers from leaking
It’s almost guaranteed that one of your turnovers will leak a bit of filling - and that’s ok! But here’s a few helpful tips that we’ve learned from experience:
Make sure the filling is not too liquid - A less juicy filling will stay put more easily even if there are some tiny gaps in the pastry. This is why we like to add cornstarch to our filling, as it helps thicken the liquid.
Don’t overfill - Sure it’s tempting to think that more filling is better, but for less leaky turnovers - less filling is better! You don’t want to stretch the pastry, or get filling on the edge of the square, as this can prevent you from sealing the pastry well.
Thoroughly seal the edges - Be meticulous when sealing the two pastry edges together, the filling can escape through a small gap. If the pastry isn’t sticking well to itself, run a moist finger along the edges to help them seal.
Score the turnovers before baking - this helps to release some steam which can cause your turnovers to split at the sides.
Chilling the turnovers for 15-30 minutes before baking can also help prevent the filling from leaking.
Variations and substitutions
In addition to the cinnamon, feel free to add more spices to taste. We love a pinch of ground cardamom with apples. Ground ginger, nutmeg or allspice are great options too!
To make icing or glaze for the turnovers, mix ½ cup / 50g powdered icing sugar with 1- 2 teaspoons of water and mix until smooth. Adjust the thickness by adding more liquid if necessary and then drizzle over the baked turnovers.
Serving and storage
Apple turnovers are best eaten fresh, shortly after baking. Just let them cool down a little as the filling can stay pretty hot!
Leftovers can be stored at room temperature for 1 day or covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.
To reheat a turnover, you can reheat over a toaster, or in the oven at 180℃ / 350℉ for 5-10 minutes.
We don’t recommend reheating the turnovers in the microwave, as the pastry goes soggy.
More vegan apple recipes
Got more apples to use up? You gotta try these scrumptious vegan apple recipes:
Our rustic and wholesome Vegan Apple Cake
This delightful and simple to make Vegan Apple Tart
And, if you’re feeling adventurous, try our Apple Curry!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Apple Turnovers
Ingredients
Apple Filling
- 2 small (200 g / 1⅔ cup) apples 1cm or ⅓ inch cubes
- 1 tbsp vegan butter
- 1 - 2 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp cornstarch cornflour
Turnovers
- 1 sheet (320 g) vegan puff pastry
- flour for dusting
- 1 tbsp soy milk for brushing
- 1 tsp sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
Apple filling
- Place the diced apple, butter, sugar and cinnamon in a saucepan. Stir on medium heat until butter and sugar melt, then continue to simmer on low-medium heat for about 3 minutes.
- Sprinkle and stir in the cornstarch. Let thicken for about 1 minute, then take the saucepan off heat.
- Let the apple filling cool down until it's not steaming anymore, which keeps the puff pastry from going too soft when the filling is placed on top.
Assemble and bake
- Preheat the oven to 200℃ / 390℉ (fan).
- Cut a sheet of puff pastry into six almost square shaped rectangles. We like to use a pizza cutter for this.
- Place one of the puff pastry squares on a lightly dusted work surface or wooden board. Top it with a slightly heaped tablespoon of apple filling in one corner, leaving a ½ inch (1cm) border.
- Fold the opposite corner over the filling, align the edges and then crimp them together with a fork to seal them tightly. If the fork sticks a bit to the puff pastry, dip it in some flour occasionally.
- Place the sealed puff pastry turnovers on a lined baking sheet and repeat with the rest of the pieces until you have assembled all the turnovers.
- On the baking tray, score the turnover tops with a sharp knife (we make three cuts), brush them with soy milk and sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake the apple turnovers at 200℃ / 390℉ (fan) for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. Let the turnovers cool down on a cooling rack.
Notes
Nutrition
This information is calculated per serving and is an estimate only.
Loved our recipe? Have a question we can answer? We'd love to hear from you! Sophie and Paul 💚