Cooking With Puff Pastry

Remember the days of Julia Child? I was a faithful watcher of her show, and always enjoyed learning a new cooking technique. One item that she taught her TV audience was how to make puff pastry. In her time, there was no frozen puff pastry in the freezer of your local supermarket. You made the dough, adding in bits of butter in each layer. It was a tedious process, and frankly was not as good as what you can purchase today. I like the Pepperidge Farm brand. Actually it's the only one I've ever used. It has become one of my favorite food items to experiment with. A few weeks ago I had my neighbor over for dinner and decided to experiment with a puff pastry dessert.

I always like a good piece of apple pie with a slice of cheddar cheese. I first started eating this at a little diner in Berkley in the early 1960's, and I haven't seen it on any menu lately. So I decided to create something like this in the form of a turnover. Here's what I came up with, and it was delicious, especially warm right out of the oven.

Apple and Cheddar Turnovers With Cranberries

Makes 8 turnovers

2 tart cooking apples (pippin or granny smith) peeled, halved, cored, and cut in 1/2 inch chunks
1 1/2 loosely packed coarsely grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 c. maple syrup
1/4 c. chopped walnuts
1/4c. dried cranberries
pinch of salt

2 sheets of frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 large egg, beaten, with 1 tsp. water to blend (for glaze and glue)

Combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl. Can be made several hours ahead. Cover and chill

Take a sheet of thawed puff pastry (takes about 45 minutes to defrost), sprinkle with a little flour, and roll out to repair the crackers in the puff pastry. Divide the sheet into four equal squares.

Spoon earlier prepared filling equally in the center of each square. Brush the edges of the puff pastry with the egg mixture, then fold pastry over into a triangle, and press edges to seal. Make sure each triangle is completely sealed. Make all 8 turnovers in this fashion, place on a cookie sheet, use knife to cut 2 slits for steam to escape in each turnover. Brush top of each turnover with the egg glaze, cook for 20-25 minutes at 350degrees, or until pastry is golden brown. Cook for 10 minutes, and serve warm. Absolutely delicious!!