Gluten-Free Apple Turnovers

Published: October 23, 2020 | By: Kristina Stosek

Prep Time 30 Minutes

Difficulty Intermediate

Cook Time 25 Minutes

Serves 8

Average Rating: 5 | Rated By: 10 users

Freshly made at home Gluten-Free Apple Turnovers. There is nothing better than homemade pastries. These flaky pastries are filled with fresh apple cinnamon filling and are made totally from scratch.

The shortcrust pastry is light, slightly crispy, filled with bubbling buttery fresh apples lightly dusted with cinnamon and fresh lemon juice.

The Gluten-Free Apple Turnovers are insanely delicious! Sometimes…you long for something sweet and fresh… and this ticks all the boxes!

Why I made Gluten-Free Apple Turnovers?

With the apple season is in full force, what better reason than to bake something sweet and delicious that the entire family will love. Apple turnovers are something I grew up with and loved, especially warm right out of the oven.

My grandmother always made them for me whenever I visited her, but she used the classic store-bought chilled puffed pastry.

I tried some store bought frozen gluten-free apple turnovers, and honestly, I couldn’t eat them. Another apple dessert you may enjoy is the Gluten-Free Breakfast Apple Yogurt Cake

Today, I decided to challenge myself and make gluten-free apple turnovers totally from scratch. This apple recipe has been on my mind for a very long time, so I knew today was the day. The weather is cold and rainy here on the west coast, so what better way to spend the day than baking fresh Gluten-Free Apple Turnovers.

Rachael Ray Nonstick Bakeware Set with Grips, Nonstick Baking Sheets / Baking Pans – 3 Piece, Gray with Orange Grips

First, I made the sweet pastry. To give you an idea, this gluten-free pastry texture is something between shortcrust and puff pastry. The pastry turned out well. Then I wanted a fresh apple filling to compliment the pastry.

This part was super easy. The fresh apple chunks are briefly cooked in a buttery, cinnamon sauce with fresh lemon juice. The filling is sooo good!

assembling the Apple Turnovers,

The next part is assembling the Apple Turnovers. First, let me stress that when you work with pastry dough, it has to be cold. You want to have small pieces of butter in the flour. The butter is what gives the flakiness to the pastry. The dough is rolled out into two squares and then cut into four more squares.

Now add the filling to half the square and seal the pastry. I found it a lot of fun making the apple turnovers. Although I had troubles keeping away from the filling, I just had to keep tasting it….YUM!

As with all gluten-free baking, these pastries are the best when fresh and slightly warm. I like to warm them in a hot oven for a few minutes for that freshly baked texture for leftovers.

I have also re-heated them in microwave for 15 seconds, and they were almost as good. If you want to make the Gluten-Free Apple Turnovers into a special dessert, top them with vanilla bean ice cream…heaven! Enjoy 🙂

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Ingredients

APPLE FILLING

4 large Granny Smith or Honey Crisp apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped into small pieces

3 Tbsp. Unsalted butter

2 Tbsp. Coconut sugar or brown sugar

1 tsp. GF ground cinnamon

1 tsp. Lemon juice

2 Tbsp. water

1 tsp. arrowroot or tapioca flour

PASTRY

3 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour blend, one that includes xanthan gum. (Otherwise, add 3/4 tsp.) My favourite flour for this recipe is cup4cup because it contains milk and works best in this recipe. Better batter works also very well

1/4 cup Sugar (I used fine coconut sugar)

1/2 tsp. Xanthan gum (this is in addition to the xanthan gum in the flour blend)

1 tsp. Baking soda

1/4 tsp. Sea salt

2/3 cup unsalted butter (place the butter in the freezer for 15 minutes before using)

1 cup sour cream

4 + Tbsp. Ice water or as needed

1 egg beaten, for eggwash

1 Tbsp. Coconut sugar for topping (optional)

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Instructions

APPLE FILLING

Heat butter, sugar and cinnamon in a large saucepan over medium heat until the butter starts to melt. Add apples and lemon juice, stir to combine and cook until the apples begin to soften but still holding shape. Stirring as needed, about 3 - 5 minutes.

Mix water with arrowroot/tapioca and add to the apples. Cook for about another minute until the sauce starts to bubble. Remove from the heat, bring to room temperature and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until ready to use. You can make the filling a day in advance.

PASTRY

Using a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, xanthan gum, baking soda and salt.

Using a box grater, grate the chilled butter into the flour. Using a fork, mix the butter with the flour, and then using your fingers, work the butter into the flour until slightly crumbly.

Add sour cream and mix. The dough will still be a bit dry. Add one tablespoon of ice water at a time and use your hands, knead the dough until it begins to come together. If the dough is too dry, keep adding 1 tablespoon of ice water at a time while working the dough until it holds together. I used 6 tablespoons.

Transfer dough onto a plastic wrap and form a compact disk. Wrap the dough and place it in the refrigerator for 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 F and line a large baking tray with parchment paper

Divide the dough in half. Working with one half at a time, roll the dough out on a lightly floured parchment paper into a square about 1/8-inch thick, using flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking. Cut into for squares.

Add apple filling over half of each square and fold the pastry over apples. Wet the tips of your fingers lightly with water and moisten inside of the edges of the pastry dough. Press the edges to seal the filling. Transfer to a lined baking tray. The apple filling should fill eight pastries, I used about two tablespoons of filling per each pastry.

Using a sharp knife, cut three slits in the top of each pastry and brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 23 - 26 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and place pastries on a cooling rack. Enjoy warm or at room temperature

11 Responses to Gluten-Free Apple Turnovers

Cathy October 24, 2020
I made this recipe today and it was to die for! I added a bit of vanilla to the filling, as that’s my preference. The dough was easy to work with, I rolled it between two pieces of parchment because I was afraid of it sticking but it was nice and sturdy. It baked up soft and flaky without any gumminess. I was really impressed! This recipe is ten-stars in my book, thank you for this!
- Kristina October 25, 2020
  Thank you Cathy for letting us know, you made my day!!!!
Leslie October 25, 2020
I just made these and they turned outstanding!!! Thank you ☺️
John February 2, 2021
My first experience with baking….I think I could be a vontrtstay on “Nailed It”. Pastry was too dry which made the fill and fold kind of a nightmare. I’ll mix it up richer next time.
- Kristina February 3, 2021
  be careful when you measure your flour! It is important when you measure the flour to lightly fill the measuring cup with a spoon and then level it off with a knife. I found that often many people dip the measuring cup into the flour. This will give you more flour than you need making the pastry too dry. Thank you for sharing
Kathy July 5, 2021
I made these for the 4th of July weekend, everyone loved them! I didn’t have any sour cream on hand so I substituted with plain Greek yogurt 2%. It seemed to be fine.
- Kristina July 5, 2021
  thank you Kathy for sharing!
Ray Elisseos September 18, 2021
Can I make these and freeze them, and bake at a later date when needed.
- Kristina September 19, 2021
  Yes Ray, bring them to room temperature before baking
Andie Glasgow April 7, 2022
Since I’m dairy free, would coconut milk yogurt work as a replacement?
- Kristina April 7, 2022
  Andie, in this apple turnover recipe you can use coconut milk (not canned) or rice milk. I don’t know about the coconut milk yogurt? Sorry

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