On the menu today: apple turnovers. I've been attempting to recreate some of the foods I loved in Germany, and near the top of my to-do list was a little pastry called an "apfeltasche" (literally: apple pocket). Every time I walked into the Innenstadt in Göttingen, I would pass this little bakery that had the most amazing goodies: raspberry-and-creme-fraische-filled scones, cheesy bread, marinated chicken pockets...I'm drooling just thinking about them. If I had a choice, though, I would always grab myself an apfeltasche. There was something about the combination of the flaky croissant-like crust and the warm, gooey, cinnamon-apple-y innards that could brighten up even the gloomiest of gloomy days.
I decided that today was the perfect opportunity to try out the recipe I found in my new cookbook, How to Cook Everything. It has recipes, as you would expect, for practically anything you could possibly imagine. I've already tried out a few and it hasn't failed me yet. I figured today would be the perfect day to try out another -- all of my friends were working, it was pouring rain, and my car was on the fritz. Little did I know, apple turnovers weren't going to be the easy-peasy dessert I had thought them to be.
Step one: Core, peel, and grate four tart apples. -- Simple, right? Coring was the first problem. There is actually an implement in my kitchen, purchased long ago, called an "apple corer." You'd think it would have been specially designed to perfectly core an apple, but it wasn't. It's basically a ladle, but instead of a spoon at the bottom, it has a metal ring (supposedly the size of an apple core, but in reality, much too small). At the bottom of the metal ring, it has tiny teeth to eat through the skin and flesh of the apple. Of course, it managed to cut through the skin and flesh of the baker as well. After I bandaged myself up (clumsy people really shouldn't work in the kitchen, but I can't help myself), it was onto the peeling. You'd think if coring was an issue, peeling would certainly give me a couple more band-aids here and there, but I made it out alive. Lastly, the grating. For those of you who don't know, apples are slippery. Apples are especially slippery without the skin. Add a box grater to that mix and you have a recipe for disaster. I'll just leave it at that and let your imaginations run wild from there.
Step two: Mix in fresh-squeezed lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon, sugar, and corn starch. -- This step was easy enough, but naturally some of that fresh-squeezed lemon juice managed to leak into one of my freshly-applied bandages. Nothing stings like lemon juice on an open wound.
Step three: Cut sheets of puff-pastry (homemade in theory, but I took the easy way out and purchased some from the store) into squares, place a spoonful of the apple mixture inside, and seal into triangles. -- Also, not as easy as it sounded. My apples were apparently extra juicy (that's what she said) and the mixture kept spilling out over the sides of the puff pastry. I ultimately had to suck it up, dirty another dish, and strain the bejeezus out of that stuff. Once I had solved the seepage problem (I know, I'm making this super appetizing), I sealed everything up, sprinkled sugar on the top, and scored them so they wouldn't explode in the oven.
Step four: Bake in a 350-degree oven for 40 minutes and eat. -- The baking part was a piece of cake, but of course I had to fail in one more way before my baking journey was done. Apparently I was a bit too eager and managed t
o burn myself on, what I can only assume was, 350-degree apple goo. It was worth it though. The apple turnovers were mouth-watering, and although I didn't manage to perfectly replicate my beloved apfeltasche, I still managed to find a base recipe with which I can experiment. I'm sure my friends and family will be more than willing to taste-test all my attempts.
