Easy Puff Pastry Apple Turnovers

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Easy puff pastry apple turnovers are bursting with apple pie flavor, with a filling that can be prepared a variety of different ways. A simple drizzle of cinnamon glaze is all you need as a finishing touch on these flaky, fruit-filled pastries.

Two apple turnovers on a plate drizzled with cinnamon glaze.

After kicking off apple season this year with Instant Pot applesauce, I rolled right along to these puff pastry apple turnovers. With crisp and flaky pastry and a spiced apple filling that takes no time to make, what's not to like about this fall favorite dessert?

Reasons to Love This Recipe

Frozen puff pastry makes this recipe super easy. Just thaw, fill, and bake.
The apple turnover filling features warm apple pie spices and uses apples that are perfectly tender but not mushy.
It's a small yield recipe, making just four apple turnovers.

Recipe Ingredients

Labeled puff pastry apple turnover ingredients in separate containers.

Apples: Multiple varieties work well. As sugar is added, the sweetness/tartness factor isn't the most important, rather you want choose a type that holds its shape well and doesn't become mushy once cooked. Same deal with air fryer apples (yum).
Puff pastry: This recipe is on the smaller-batch side and uses one sheet of packaged puff pastry to produce four apple turnovers.
Cornstarch: Necessary for thickening the gooey apple filling.
Brown sugar: This adds warmth and sweetness.
Butter: Adds an extra bit of richness, but you can omit if you prefer.
Spices: Classic apple pie spices are used here (listed separately in the recipe card): cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cardamom.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Peel, core, and slice apples into one-quarter inch thin slices. I like thinly-sliced apples as a filling, but you can also chop up the apples into smaller chunks. Add apples to a medium saucepan and toss with lemon juice. Add the rest of the filling ingredients and briefly stir to combine.

Sliced apples and the rest of the filling ingredients in a pan before cooking.

Cover and cook apples over low-medium heat for 15-20 minutes, or until they're tender with some bite to them still. Let them cool off before using.

Gooey apple turnover filling in a saucepan.

Thaw one sheet of puff pastry according to package directions (either in the refrigerator or at room temperature), then roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it's a square about 12-13 inches wide. Slice it into four squares, then add the filling.
Fold over the other half of the puff pastry and seal the edges with a bit of water. Crimp the edges with a fork.

Filling spooned onto puff pastry squares (left) and folded turnovers pre-bake (right).

Bake for 15 or so minutes, or until the turnovers have puffed up and are turning golden brown. Let them cool on the sheet pan for 10 minutes, then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, you can drizzle them with the (optional) icing in the recipe card.

Making Apple Turnover Filling

I've made turnovers multiple times, but I specifically made these puff pastry apple turnovers a few different ways recently. The first time was when I had leftover, absolutely delicious, apple pie filling made in the slow cooker and it worked just great.

But I know everyone doesn't have three-ish hours to prepare apple pie filling in the slow cooker. So I made a stovetop version that cooks for only about twenty minutes. Both batches of apple filling are excellent for using in these turnovers. They're not too goopy and bring all the flavor as far as apple pie spice is concerned.

Here are your three options:

You can follow the instructions in the recipe below to make your own stovetop apple turnover filling in about 20 minutes.
If you're not in a rush and/or you'd like your apple filling to have as little hands-on time as possible, you can use 1 cup of the apple mixture from my (mostly) slow cooker apple pie recipe. Note that you'll have a lot more filling than needed for one batch of these turnovers. <--hardly a bad problem
Life gets busy, so store-bought apple pie filling is an option to make these turnovers even easier.

An apple turnover sitting on a stack of dessert plates.

Recipe Tips and Tricks

If you prefer a smaller consistency of apple filling, peel, core, and then chop the apples into smaller chunks. Try and get them all the same size so that they cook evenly.
In place of the individual spices you can use a pre-made apple pie spice blend.
While an egg wash is frequently added to puff pastry for browning, I really keep these puff pastry apple turnovers "easy" and omit it. The turnovers turn golden without it and the icing drizzle decorates them just fine. That said, add one if you prefer a deep golden brown color.
If you have extra apple filling leftover, it's delicious swirled into yogurt, as an ice cream topping, or eaten straight up.

An apple turnover cut in half on a stack of dessert plates.

Recipe FAQs

What kind of apples should I use for apple turnovers?

Since sugar is added to the recipe, it's not ultra important to use the sweetest apple varieties, rather look for a type that won't mush up when cooked. I often use just what I have on hand: Honeycrisp, Gala, or Pink Lady mostly, depending upon what's on sale. Tarter Granny Smith apples are also a good choice.

How do you store apple turnovers?

Once cooled entirely, store turnovers in an air-tight container out at room temperature. You may wish to reuse the parchment paper from baking to line between the layers so the icing drizzle doesn't transfer to the turnovers above it. They'll lose some of their just-baked crispness as the days go by but will still be enjoyable.

If you’ve enjoyed this recipe, I’d love for you to leave a star rating in the recipe card and/or a comment review below!

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