These little, apple turnovers pack all the punch of an apple pie in a single serving package. And they are easy to make ahead, which is an extra bonus during the busy holiday season. These turnovers extend the Greek theme of the Spinach Feta Fillo Triangles I posted on Wednesday by pairing apples with honey, cinnamon, and cloves and wrapping that filling in the rest of the fillo dough that I bought for the triangles. So good. So sweet. So tasty with a cup of coffee. Yum!
I have a few different fruit turnover and tart recipes I like to make, but this one might just be a new favorite of mine. These have so much apple flavor in them since I cooked down the apples before filling the turnovers, like my Twice the Apples Homemade Deep Dish Apple Pie, and I find that the technique is even more important here since the turnovers cook for such a short period of time. Also, I really love using honey as a sweetener, both for the flavor and because it’s a natural product. I even have some local honey that I get at the farmer’s market, which is what I used here. Local, natural products, that’s what I’m all about. 🙂
While these turnovers are excellent all by themselves, I thought they needed a little something to put them over the top. So I developed a quick, honey icing that I piped over them. You can see a bit of my squeeze bottle up above. I had forgotten I even owned a set of squeeze and pour bottles with different tips! I had been thinking how much I really needed some and there they were. It’s a bit amazing the things I’m finding tucked away in the corners of my kitchen that I bought or was gifted with years ago and now I have reasons to use them. If you are like most people and don’t have a cupcake decorating set, a plastic freezer bag with the corner cut off will do just fine to pipe a little frosting on top of the turnovers.
If your family is anything like mine these turnovers will not last long at all. As soon as my pictures were taken they were gathered around asking if they could have one yet. And then asking for another.
– Happy Eating, Annemarie
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
- 6 apples, peeled and cut into ½ inch dice
- 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- 4 tbsp honey
- 20 sheets fillo dough
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 tbsp honey
- 4 tsp milk
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet. Add diced apples and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and honey. Continue cooking until the mixture is thick and much of the moisture has evaporated. Transfer filling to the refrigerator until it is fully cooled, at least 1 hour. The filling can be kept overnight in the fridge.
- Now it's time to make the turnovers. Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, transfer the butter to a small bowl and put it in your work space for the turnovers. Set out a large cutting board in the middle of the space. Put the fillo dough to one side and the apple filling to the other.
- Take out 1 sheet of fillo and put it on the cutting board. Brush it with butter and layer another sheet on top, brushing that one as well. Cut the two sheets down the middle lengthwise. Scoop out about 2½ tablespoons of filling onto the bottom right corner of each of the fillo strips. Fold the fillo up and to the right so that the bottom of the fillo strip meets the right edge and makes a triangle. Then fold the fillo up, and over, and up, and over until it is all folded and you have triangle of fillo dough with apple filling in the middle.
- Put each completed turnover on a baking sheet and brush the top with a little butter. Once you have made the turnovers, you can bake them now or freeze them for later. Either way you will bake them at 350F for 12-14 minutes. Frozen turnovers may need one extra minute, but keep an eye on the fillo since you don't want it to burn.
- Honey Icing - To make the icing put all the icing ingredients in a large bowl and whip them with a mixer until you have a smooth icing that you can pipe over the turnovers. Pipe the icing using a squeeze bottle or decorating bag with a round icing tip or with a plastic freezer bag with the corner snipped off to make a small hole. Start small since you can always cut a little more off.
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