Caramel Apple Turnovers: Flaky Puff Pastry Hand Pies in Under an Hour

Crisp puff pastry, soft cooked red apples and a warm ribbon of caramel make these turnovers feel like a bakery treat. Each one is a single hand-held pie, built from a few simple ingredients and finished with a pinch of flaky salt. You need one cutting board, a box grater and a baking tray to get them on the table.

Caramel apple turnovers are a classic American hand pie built on a simple idea: a square of flaky pastry wrapped around a warm, sweet apple filling. Here the filling combines small cubes of fresh red apples, brown sugar and grated caramel, which melts into the fruit as it bakes. The pastry puffs and turns golden while the apples soften into tender pieces.

Once baked, the turnovers are finished with warm caramel sauce and a sprinkle of flaky salt, which balances the sweetness and adds a clean finish. The method is quick enough for a weeknight dessert and simple enough for a first attempt at homemade pastry, since the pastry is store-bought and you only shape, fill and bake.

Ingredients

Why this recipe works

Dicing the apples small is the key to the texture of this dessert. Small cubes cook through in the same time the puff pastry takes to rise and brown, so the filling is tender without turning to mush.

Tossing the apples with brown sugar before filling draws out a little juice, which mixes with the grated caramel and forms a thick, glossy syrup inside each turnover rather than a watery pool.

Grating the caramel instead of chopping it is what makes the filling spread evenly. Cold caramel grates into fine, curly shavings that scatter across the apples and melt quickly in the oven.

Each bite gets a little caramel without large pockets of melted sugar. Sealing the edges with a fork and scoring a crisscross pattern on top give the steam a path to escape, so the pastry puffs upward instead of bursting at the seams.

Notes and substitutions

Red apples are used for their firm flesh, which keeps the cubes intact under heat. Honeycrisp or Granny Smith work well if you prefer a crisper or tarter filling. Avoid very soft, mealy apples, which can collapse into a wet filling. Peel the apples before dicing so the pastry does not get tough pieces of skin on the surface.

You need a cutting board, a sharp chef's knife, a box grater, a fork, a pastry brush, a small bowl and a parchment-lined baking tray. Parchment keeps the sugar that leaks from the filling from sticking to the tray.

Brush the egg wash evenly so the crust colors well. If you do not have caramel sauce, use a thick store-bought caramel topping, warmed until pourable, but keep the flavor and sweetness close to the original.

• brown sugar: granulated sugar, or a mix of granulated sugar and a little molasses
• egg wash: milk or heavy cream brushed over the pastry for a softer golden color
• red apples: Honeycrisp or Granny Smith apples, which hold their shape well in the oven

Equipment

• Cutting board and sharp chef's knife
• Box grater
• Fork
• Parchment-lined baking tray
• Pastry brush
• Small bowl