In honor of National Cherry Pie Day, I decided to share one of my favorite quick and easy desserts, cherry turnovers. (A turnover is a folded pie, isn’t it?…Okay, I am stretching the occasion to fit what I have already made). What makes them super easy is that I use frozen puff pastry dough and canned fruit pie filling…um..yes, I cheat.
In my own defense, this method reminds me of my childhood. My paternal grandmother would buy Pillsbury’s cherry turnover kits in a box; they were found in the refrigerator section of the grocery store. She used to have me help assemble them. My favorite part though was getting to drizzle on the icing out of the little container and make squiggly lines over the cooled pastries.
I used a “double the cherries” cherry pie filling, but any fruit pie filling would work. I do suggest using filling that are mostly fruit as opposed to mostly filler. You can use other canned fillings like Nutella, minced meat, or peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. Of course, you can also take some extra time and make your own filling using fresh or frozen fruit, custards, etc.
I did not roll my puff pastry thinner and only made eight turnovers using a package of puff pastry dough. You could have a thinner crust and more turnovers by rolling the dough into a 12-inch (or maybe even 16-inch) square. You would have 18 (or maybe 24) turnovers instead of just eight. I just happen to like the thicker puff pastry crust.
