Flaky French apple turnovers with salted caramel sauce
Flaky puff pastry baked to a perfect golden brown and tart juicy apples laced with warming spices. All generously drizzled with luscious salted caramel. Let me tell you that the addition of the salted caramel takes these apple turnovers from delicious to the only food you want to take with you to a deserted island.
I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm going through a salted-caramel-and-spiced-apple-phase. I posted the recipe for Salted caramel and spice apple lava cakes a few days ago. I'm sharing apple turnovers with salted caramel today, which I will also be making on my Instagram stories. I will leave them highlighted if you want to check that out later.
I also have two more apple & caramel recipes lined up, but since I know everyone is going through a pumpkin phase, I might just post them later.
I wish I could say that I exhaustively researched apple turnovers and that I came up with this recipe while doing so, but I'd be lying.
The truth is, I saw Kristie Pryor's "BOMB AF Pastry Berry hand Pies". I just loved the triangular she made and the fact that they were generously drizzled with icing.
I had some plums in the fridge, and I figured that the purple juices oozing out of a flaky golden brown pastry would look gorgeous. I also had a couple of boxes of ready-made all-butter puff pastry in the freezer. Yes, I ALWAYS keep a box or two of puff pastry in the freezer. You never know when you might have a pastry emergency.
Because it was already so late, I put the pastry box in the fridge to thaw overnight and went to bed thinking of those lovely plum pastries I was going to make for breakfast.
But plum turnovers just wasn't in the cards. I had already preheated my oven and made my egg-wash when I realized I had misplaced seven of my eight plums.
Then it hit me. A certain Frenchman must have done something with them, turns out I was right. They got blended alongside 3 figs, 1 banana, 1/2 a cup of raspberries, 1/4 cup greek yogurt, and some peanut butter into his morning smoothie.
I swear that man does that to torture me. Every time I am about to cook or bake something, he's eaten at least one of my ingredients.
Frustrated I put the puff pastry back in the fridge and thought about getting more plums.
And then the apple and salted caramel craziness began. I realized that what I really wanted to make were salted caramel and apple turnovers.
These are so easy to make that minutes later there I was with an apple turnover in one hand, salted caramel dipping sauce in the other and a big fat smile on my face.
Suddenly Frenchie appeared out of thin air. He can be miles away, but that over-sensitive nose of his drags him into the kitchen every time I'm cooking, which let's face it, is quite often.
He grabbed one of my warm apple turnovers without even asking if I needed them to take a picture. He took a bite and happily exclaimed how much he loved Chausson aux Pommes.
That got me thinking. If they're a French pastry then chances are there's some fun history and trivia behind them that I need to know. So I sat down with a cup of coffee, an apple turnover, and a little bowl of caramel sauce and started my research.
Boy was I in luck, not only are they steeped in history, but they also have a Confrerie or Brotherhood protecting them. If you're not new to this blog, you might have noticed that I have a thing for European dishes with a guardian Brotherhood. However, let me tell you something that you probably don't know about the 16th century. It was incredibly cold.
The Earth was going through a period geologists call the Little Ice Age. The freezing temperatures lasted well over five centuries and hit Europe particularly hard.
This period was triggered by 4 massive volcano eruptions that catapulted immense quantities of ash microparticles which covered the Earth's atmosphere. Sunlight was almost entirely blocked which brought world temperatures many degrees lower.
Remember when that Icelandic volcano erupted in 2010. Yeah, the one that no one can pronounce, pretty sure not even the Icelanders can. I mean Eyjafjallajökull? Seriously? Do you remember how flights to be canceled all over the Northern Hemisphere because of low visibility and how cold the weather got for a couple of weeks?
Well, Eyjafjallajökull was kid's play. I'm talking about massive volcano eruptions. The kind that only the Karakatua, and friends can cause. And they all happened in less than 50 years which meant the dust and ash hadn't even settled when the next one hit.
Glaciers expanded and covered most of Europe, even parts of Northern Africa were affected by freezing temperatures.
Food became increasingly scarce and famine spells broke throughout most of Europe.
The winter of 1629 was a particularly ruthless one. It was recorded in the French anals as the Great Cold. To make matters worse the following spring and summer were unprecedentedly wet. Weeds were out of control and spread through the fields. The little grain that could be collected rot because of the humidity.
But Saint-Calais had not seen the worst yet. Whenever famine and death strike, pestilence is soon to follow. Plague broke out and the town lost two-thirds of its once bustling population.
Drastic times call for drastic measures.
Saint-Calais had one of the most beautiful abbeys in all of France. Desperate to save the neighboring town, the monks turned to prayer and vowed to God that so long as the Abbey stood, they would celebrate a mass with the town's people every year.
Françoise de Lorraine, Duchess of Vendôme and Chatelaine of Saint-Calais, took a more worldly approach. She ordered the castle cooks to feed the population. A healthy broth made with vegetables and some meat called Soupe à la Jambe de Bouâ and some freshly baked pocket pies full of apples were distributed amongst the hungry survivors.
Once they bit into those delicious apple pastries, the townspeople were smitten. The newly made apple pies were baptized Chausson aux Pommes, which translates into apple slippers or apple socks.
I suggest we call them turnovers or by their name in French. Somehow saying here's the recipe for apple socks seems somewhat less appealing.
So hooked was Saint-Calais with the apple Chaussons that the townspeople self-proclaimed the town was the world capital of Apple Turnovers.
A tittle they are not willing to let go willy nilly. They even have a supportive group of vigilant Chausson aux Pommes enthusiasts grouped under the apple turnover flag.
This noble group of apple pastry warriors goes by the name of the Cofrerie de Chausson aux Pommes, and have vowed to protect Chausson aux Pommes.
This Brotherhood has 21 devout members, including their fearless leader, Patrick Gautier, Grand Master of the Apple Turnover Brotherhood.
In an interview, monsieur Gautier admitted that although French law states that any applicant should be accepted into their Confrerie, in fact, nepotism runs deep within the Brotherhood. In fact, not only do you have to love the apple pastry above all others but you have to know a guy.
You can only really join the club if you have friends in the club. High offices are only awarded to those that can move the apple power strings. Easy task I guess considering the size of the group.
Saint-Calais has been celebrating the Fete des Chausson aux Pommes since 1631. Remember the mass the monks vowed to hold every year so long as their abbey stood? Even though the abbey was pillaged, plundered and burned to the ground by the revolutionaries in 1789 with the monks inside, the town has kept the promise, with the support of the Confrerie. Except for two years during WWI, a huge Medieval fair is held on the first Sunday of September.
A fun procession complete with music and dancing leads to the town's church where the yearly mass commemorating those who died in 1630 and those who lived and live today in Saint-Calais. Food stalls all over the town distribute Soupe à la Jambe de Bouâ and Chausson aux Pommes. It's a celebration of life and good fortune.
Watch the video here.
And on that note, I'll leave you the easiest recipe you'll make all year, which just so happens make the most delicious of handheld pastries.
French apple turnovers with salted caramel sauce
ingredients:
- 1 sheet store bought all butter puff pastry
- 2 large apples, peeled, cored and diced
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 100 g sugar + more for sprinkling
- 1 lightly beaten egg
- 1 tbsp milk
- 200 g (1 cup) sugar
- 90 g (6 tbsp) butter
- 125 g heavy cream
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
instructions:
How to cook French apple turnovers with salted caramel sauce
- Preheat oven to 350° C (180° F)
- Place apples, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar in a pan over medium heat and cook until apples are tender. Stir often.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Add the milk to the egg and mix with a fork until well combined.
- Roll out pastry with the help of a rolling pin. Cut into 9 equal sized squares.
- Place 2 heaped tablespoon of filling in the middle of each pastry square.
- Brush the edge of each square with the egg wash.
- Fold each square in half and seal the edges with the help of a fork.
- Cut 3 small holes in each pastry triangle.
- Transfer apple turnovers to a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
- Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake for 25 min of until golden brown.
- Drizzle with caramel sauce generously
- Enjoy!
- Place sugar in a pot and cook over medium high heat. Stir often so the sugar gets evenly dissolved.
- Once the sugar turns into a deep amber color turn off heat. Add cream and stir vigorously. The mixture will quickly boil because of the caramel temperature.
- Add the butter and the salt and continue to mix until well combined.
- Return to heat and cook for another minute or two.
- Turn off heat and allow caramel to cool down before using
