How to Make Easy Vegan Apple Turnovers
Holy crap. If you are looking for an ultra-comforting, easy, vegan dessert recipe, here you go! I make these vegan apple turnovers with store-bought puff pastry, fill them with a sugary, buttery, cinnamon apple filling, and glaze them with a simple icing. These turnovers are ridiculously indulgent!
Only 11 ingredients and simple kitchen techniques are required to make these!
I love this apple turnover recipe, not only because they’re delicious, but because I make them using pretty basic ingredients. The methods to make these are also nothing out of the ordinary. Seriously, no crazy kitchen skills are required to make these, despite how elegant they look.
First of all, I use store-bought puff pastry for the base of my turnovers. Some people may call that cheating. I call it working smarter, not harder, during the holidays, haha. But hey, by all means, make homemade vegan puff pastry if you’d like. I can not stop you!
Then I roll the puff pastry dough out a tad and scoop on top a super easy apple filling. I make the filling by tossing together diced red apples, lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, flour, and vegan butter. The butter and flour create a creamy texture around the apples, making an apple pie filling feel once baked.
Next, I fold and seal the dough over the filling to create triangular-shaped pastries and bake them until golden brown and perfectly flaky. I then allow them to cool completely and drizzle over a simple icing. I’m telling you, these vegan apple turnovers truly are not rocket science to put together!
These vegan apple turnovers are sweet, tart, buttery, creamy, and flaky.
Think apple pie, but with a much more delicious crust. I 100% prefer puff pastry over a classic pie crust. The pastry is exceptionally flaky, with subtle layers, similar to a croissant. The apple filling is creamy and slightly sticky, just like a traditional apple pie filling. And, of course, the turnovers are sweet, but they’re not overwhelmingly sweet—the butteriness and tartness balance out the sugar perfectly. Plus, these are basically handheld pies, making them way more fun than a slice of pie!
So, if you’re looking for an easy crowd-pleasing dessert or a comforting breakfast on the go, give these vegan apple turnovers a try! I am confident you will be pleased. If you need another delicious sweet treat that is perfect for the holidays, then check out this Caramel Apple Popcorn recipe. It’s delicious, easy, and it just so happens to be on the healthier side.
If you make these turnovers, don’t forget to post a picture to Instagram, tag me @chefsummerstorm, and #gardengrub so I can see your recreation!
How to Make Easy Vegan Apple Turnovers
Ingredients
- 1 sheet store-bought vegan puff pastry, thawed (I always use the brand Pepperidge Farm)
- All-purpose flour, as needed for dusting the counter
Apple Filling
- 2 cups red apple, peeled and small diced into about 1/2 inch pieces (About 1 1/2 apples)
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp organic brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour,
- 1/4 cup vegan butter, cold
Icing
- 1/2 cup organic powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract, 100% pure
- 2 tsp plain, unsweetened almond milk
Instructions
- If your puff pastry is not already thawed, pull it from the freezer and allow it to thaw at room temperature per the box instructions. Usually, it takes around 30-40 minutes.
Apple Filling
- Into a medium-sized mixing bowl, toss together the diced apples, lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
- Sprinkle the flour over the apple mix. Then, break the butter up into little pieces and sprinkle it over the mixture as well.
- Now, using your hands, mix everything until no visible flour and butter are showing, and it's created a slightly creamy look on the apples. Set this in the refrigerator while you roll out the puff pastry dough.
How to Assemble and Bake the Apple Turnovers
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- For the puff pastry dough, heavily flour the counter. Unfold the piece of dough and heavily flour the top of it. Roll it into a 12-inch by 12-inch square, which is just slightly bigger than its original size.
- Cut the sheet in half vertically and in half horizontally, giving you four squares.
- To fill the puff pastry squares, I find it most comfortable to turn them, so one of its corners is facing me. Then, evenly distribute the apple filling amongst them all. Lay the filling horizontally in the center but slightly closer to you. Leave about an inch around the pastry's outer edges closest to you clean and lightly wet them with water.
- Fold the opposite side of the dough that is empty over the apple filling, bringing the opposite corner onto the corner closest to you, giving you a triangular shape. Press the outer edges of dough together as best and as tight as you can. Trim off the very outer edges if you'd like to make them look a bit neater. Cut a 1-inch slit on the top of each turnover to allow steam to release while they bake.
- Using a bench scraper, gently lift the turnovers and place them onto a large parchment paper-lined sheet pan, at least an inch apart from each other. Place the pan on the middle oven rack and bake for 15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.
- Allow cooling before icing.
Icing
- Stir together all of the ingredients until super smooth.
- To glaze the turnovers, use an eating spoon to distribute and drizzle the icing over the top of each one evenly. As long as the turnovers are cooled down, the icing will set within a few minutes or so.
Tiparooskis
Welcome to the tip section of the vegan apple turnover recipe! Here I provide my top tips to help you perfect the recipe. Sometimes, I also give substitute suggestions that I think you may find helpful.
- Make sure to press and seal the edges of the turnover very well before baking them. Otherwise, the filling will ooze through, and some of the sugary liquid may burn. A little bit of the liquid oozing out is expected; however, the goal is to prevent the majority of it from coming out.
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2 Comments
RW
These were sooo easy to make and so delicious. I kept looking back at the recipe to make sure I didn’t miss a step because they were so darn easy. Warm, buttery, perfectly spiced, and just sweet enough. I basically got to eat one the night I made these and then my omni family devoured the rest before noon. I guess I’ll need to make another batch, thank so much Chef Summer!
garden grub
YAY! I am so glad you and your family loved these, too! Since these look way more difficult than they actually are to prepare, I totally understand why you needed to do a double-take at the instructions! I’m so happy you enjoyed these so much that you’re going to make them again sometime!