Chaussons Aux Pommes

The most recent Bon Appetite had a really delicious-looking recipe for French apple turnovers (chaussons aux pommes), and since the South Bend farmers' market is overflowing with locally-grown apples right now, I decided to give them a try. The story of these turnovers, written by Orangette, can be found here. Below is the recipe, copied from the BA website, with my notes added in red.

Ingredients

FILLING

• 3/4 pound Granny Smith apples
• 3/4 pound Golden Delicious apples -- I used all Cortlands. Four medium Cortland apples gave me the 4 cups, chopped.
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

PASTRY

• 1 14- to 16-ounce package all-butter frozen puff pastry (1 or 2 sheets, depending on brand), thawed -- Since there are no specialty food stores in this area, I used regular Pepridge Farm puff pastry (not all butter). I'm sure the all-butter kind would be just that much better, though.
• 1 egg, beaten to blend (for glaze)
• Superfine sugar (optional) (regular sugar works perfectly well)

Preparation

FILLING

• Peel, core, and cut apples into 1-inch pieces (about 4 cups) (I didn't peel them--I like the nutritional benefits of leaving the peel, and it makes the filling a lovely pink color). Place apples in medium saucepan; add 1/4 cup water, 3 tablespoons sugar, and lemon juice. Bring to boil, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves. Cover; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until apples are very tender, stirring frequently, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat. Gently mash apples with fork or potato masher until mixture is very soft but still chunky.* Cool completely. DO AHEAD Filling can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.
• Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

PASTRY

• If using 14-ounce package (1 sheet), roll out pastry on lightly floured surface to 15-inch square. If using 16-ounce package (2 sheets), stack sheets together and roll out on lightly floured surface to 15-inch square. Cut pastry into nine 5-inch squares. Place 1 generous tablespoon filling in center of each of 8 squares (reserve remaining square for another use). Lightly brush edges of 1 pastry with beaten egg. Fold half of pastry square over filling, forming triangle. Press and pinch pastry edges with fingertips to seal tightly. Lightly brush pastry with beaten egg. Sprinkle lightly with superfine sugar, if desired. Repeat with remaining squares. Using thin, sharp knife, make 3 small slits on top of each triangle to allow steam to escape. Place triangles on prepared baking sheets. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.
• Bake turnovers until beginning to color, about 15 minutes. Reverse baking sheets from top to bottom. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F; continue baking until turnovers are firm and golden, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Cool at least 15 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*I used an immersion blender lightly, then just stirred to break up the largest remaining pieces a little. I think this gave me a good balance between applesauce-consistency and chunks of apple, and it gave me an excuse to use my super-fun immersion blender.

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My only problem with this recipe is that the pastry:filling ratio is WAY off. The amount of pastry this calls for doesn't use anywhere close to all of the filling it makes. I used all nine of my 5-inch squares, and still had about half the filling left (not to mention that I found a "generous tablespoon" of filling to be a bit much for the squares). Next time I make these (and there definitely will be a next time, because they taste fantastic and are pretty easy and cheap to make), I will make half as much filling. I'm not complaining, though. The leftover filling makes GREAT applesauce.