“Wait until morning,” Marge told her. “They’ll get ice crystals if you freeze them while they’re warm. Cover them with a sheet of wax paper until morning, and then wrap and freeze them.”
Hannah stood up and stretched her back. “You’re the boss, Marge,” she said, wiping down the work surface. She stopped as she came to the apple peeler that Marge and Jack had brought with them. “Do you want to take this home with you?”
“No sense in that,” Patsy said, also standing and stretching. “We’re just going to use it tomorrow night. Can you stick it in that industrial dishwasher of yours and save it for us when we come down here tomorrow night?”
“Sure, but are you sure you want to do this again tomorrow?”
Patsy laughed. “We’d better. Mrs. Mayor said she needed turnovers for the talent show, Casino Night, and Donkey Baseball. I figure that’s got to add up to seven hundred, maybe even a thousand.”
“You’re right,” Mike offered his opinion. “Anybody who eats one at intermission tomorrow night is going to want another one on Casino Night and another at Donkey Baseball. People are going to be talking about how good these turnovers are. That’s word of mouth and it’s going to send sales through the roof.”
“So you like my apple turnovers?” Marge asked him.
“They’re even better than my…” Mike stopped and looked as guilty as a small boy with his hand caught in the cookie jar. “Don’t tell anybody I said this, okay? Mom’s apple pie is great. I love Mom’s apple p
Hannah’s 1stNote: Marge uses commercial puff pastry dough for her turnover crusts. She says life’s too short to spend all day making puff pastry. She buys it frozen in sheets and thaws it as she needs it. One batch makes 8 turnovers, and Marge uses one 17.5-ounce package. Florence down at the Red Owl carries Pepperidge Farm frozen puff pastry dough and it contains 2 sheets.
If you’d rather, you can use pie crust dough. Just remember to roll it out a little thicker than you would for a regular pie since it won’t be in a pie pan.
The Crust
One 17.5-ounce package frozen puff pastry dough
1 egg
1 Tablespoon water
White
sugar to sprinkle on top
Apple Filling:
4 and ? cups cored, peeled, sliced, and chopped apples
? cup sweetened dried cranberries
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup white
sugar
? cup flour
? teaspoon ground nutmeg
? teaspoon cinnamon
? teaspoon cardamom
? teaspoon salt
Thaw your puff pastry dough according to package directions. Do this on a floured board.
While your pastry is thawing, core and peel the apples. Slice them as you would for a pie and then cut the slices into 3 pieces. Place the apples in a large mixing bowl and mix in the sweetened dried cranberries. Sprinkle the fruit with 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice to keep the apples from browning. Toss the mixture around with your fingers to make sure all the apples are moistened.
Mix the sugar, flour, spices, and salt together in a small bowl.
Dump the bowl with the dry ingredients on top of the apples and toss them to coat the apples.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
When your puff pastry has thawed, roll half of it out to a twelve-inch square on a floured board. Use a sharp knife to make one horizontal line through the middle of the square and one vertical line through the middle of the square. This will divide it into 4 equal
Break the egg into a cup. Add 1 Tablespoon of water and whisk it up. This will be your egg wash.
Line a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
Transfer one square of puff pastry dough to the cookie sheet.
Use a pastry brush to brush the inside edges of the square with the egg wash. This will make the edges stick together when you fold the dough over the apples.
With a slotted spoon, pick up approximately ? cup of the filling
Pull one corner of the square over the filling to the opposite corner of the square, forming a triangle. Press the edges together.
Use the tines of a fork to seal the edges together.
Coat the top of the turnover with egg wash, using a pastry brush.
Cut two slits in the top of the turnover with a sharp knife. The slits should be about an inch long.
Follow the same procedure to fill and seal the remaining three turnovers.
Roll out the second sheet of puff pastry and cut it into squares. Transfer the squares to the baking sheet, and fill and seal the remaining turnovers.
When all the turnovers have been filled, sealed, and brushed with egg wash, sprinkle the tops with white sugar.
Bake your turnovers at 400 degrees F. for 25 minutes, or until they’re golden brown on top.
Remove the cookie sheet to a wire rack and let the turnovers cool for 5 minutes. Then pull the parchment paper and the turnovers off the cookie sheet and onto a waiting wire rack.
These turnovers are delicious eaten while slightly warm. They’re also good cold.
If any turnovers are left over
Chapter Six
The dimly-lit garage smelled of wet concrete blocks, soaked by yesterday’s midafternoon rain shower, lingering exhaust fumes from recently departed vehicles, and a potpourri of coffee grounds and old orange peels from the dumpster that sat against the far wall. It wasn’t the stuff that perfumes are made of, but to Hannah it smelled like home.
Mike took her arm and walked her to the set of steps leading up to ground level. This took them past the dumpster and Hannah noticed that he wrinkled his nose. “Tomorrow’s garbage day?” he asked.
“That’s right. Every Tuesday morning.”
