Cherry Turnovers with Cream Cheese Crust

 
During a trip I took out to San Francisco last year, my friend Dana decided it would be fun to bake mini pies - basically because everything's cuter as a tiny version of itself. So we used glasses to cut circles from pre-made, generic pie dough, then filled and baked them in muffin tins. (This was an appropriate recourse as it turns out, since Dana evidently loves baking things in muffin tins.)

What interests me about the concept of the Mini Pie is a) the sheer cuteness and b) the portability. I never think I need a car in the city until the (not so infrequent) times I smush up a pie crust or a painstakingly decorated birthday cake because I leaned it too far one way or the other getting to and from the metro. So it seemed like a neat solution to make turnovers - little hand pies! And I was glad to learn that turnovers are indeed easy to transport, especially because of their firm structure. Just stack them in a tupperware container and cover each layer with wax paper and they shouldn't shift around.

I half-heartedly looked for fresh cherries to use in this recipe but couldn't find any, unsurprising since it's almost Halloween already. (The scary Giant at 9th and O didn't help, either.) I also find canned fruit filling absurdly bad. So in the end I used unsweetened frozen cherries, and the bag I bought ended up containing just about 2 1/2 cups. I also amended the recipe by increasing the sugar to 3 tablespoons and the cornstarch to two tablespoons. The amounts of lemon zest and juice suggested were perfect - added just the right level of tartness to the filling.

This dough is relatively easy to roll out and cut, too. The recipe suggests cutting the dough using a bowl with a 6" diameter, but I opted for a wide-mouthed wine glass with about a 4.5" diameter. I also only placed about a tablespoon and a half of the cherry filling into each pastry, which makes some sense since I cut smaller circles. As suggested I used parchment paper (always good to have around for baking), and this made for easy removal.

I'm definitely making some flavor of turnover the next time I need to transport a baked good. The crust in this recipe was also so outstanding that I'm going to use it as a base for a cherry pie (my dad's favorite) at Thanksgiving. I'm sure the pie will look gorgeous with a lattice crust and the egg wash/coarse sugar combination.


Using the changes I suggested and the smaller (4.5") diameter rim, this made about 11 turnovers.

Recipe from http://www.recipegirl.com/
Originally adapted from The Art and Soul of Baking


Recipe:
Cream Cheese Crust
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. granulated white sugar
1 stick cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
8 oz. package cold cream cheese, cut into tablespoons
pinch of salt

Cherry Filling
2 1/2 cups pitted & halved fresh cherries (I used frozen)
2 tbsp. white granulated sugar
1 tbsp. finely grated lemon zest
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt


Egg Wash
1 large egg yolk
2 tbsp. milk or cream

Top
Coarse grain sugar

Directions:
1. Put the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and process for 10 seconds to blend. (Using an electric mixer in place of a food processor worked fine.)

2. Add the cold butter pieces and process for just a few seconds, until the mixture looks like crumbs. Add the cream cheese and pulse quickly until a clump of dough has formed. Turn the clump of dough onto wax paper and knead gently 2 to 3 times to bring dough together.

3. Flatten the dough into a 7x7" square. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes (up to 2 days).

4. Meanwhile, mix cherries with sugar, lemon zest & juice, cornstarch and salt; set aside.

5. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll into a 15×15" square. Use the top of a 6" diameter bowl as your cutter; re-roll scraps as necessary.

6. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

7. Place cut-out dough onto prepared baking sheets. On each square or circle, use a knife to make a light indent showing the halfway mark. (Make sure it’s just a line indentation & not cut all the way through.)

8. Spoon a couple of tablespoonfuls of the cherries onto each “half,” keeping it on one side of the dividing line and leaving a 1/4-inch border along the edge. Brush edges on the fruit side of the turnover with the prepared egg wash.

9. Carefully fold the other side over the fruit and use the tines of a fork to press the edges together and seal them. Move baking sheets to refrigerator and chill for about 20 minutes.

10. Preheat oven to 375°F. (Here the recipe suggests adjusting racks to top and bottom thirds of the oven. This burnt the bottoms of my first turnover batch, so I left the second batch on the top rack for a full 15 minutes.)

11. Brush the tops of the turnovers with egg wash and sprinkle with the coarse sugar. Use the tip of a paring knife to carefully cut three slits in the top of each turnover, allowing steam to escape during baking.

12. Bake turnovers on bottom and top third racks for 15 minutes. Then rotate the sheets and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

13. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Tastes best served warm.

Yield: About 9

To re-heat, preheat oven to 375ºF and bake until warmed through - works great and takes only a few minutes. 

Served with vanilla ice cream