Prep Time: 15 + 15 Minutes | Cook Time: 30 Minutes | Total Time: 2 hours | Difficulty: Easy
Hello my lovelies! It’s all pies all the time this week. The cooler weather always turns my mind to pie. Admittedly it’s not very difficult to get me thinking about pie. We are celebrating the end of summer with a flaky, buttery, fruity treat. Using one of my favourite pastries to do justice to the flavours of the season. The last hurrah of stone fruit before we turn our attention to apples and pears. I love nectarines. They are the more balanced cousin of the peach. A little more acidity. A little more punch. And a perfect foil for rich flaky pie dough. They are an excellent partner for passionfruit. Both are aromatic and tart and inviting. A little passionfruit goes a long way in these hand-pies so you don’t need to break the bank buying them – one or two will get you there.
We are using cream cheese pastry for these neat handfuls of joy. It comes together so easily and gives lots of flaky butteriness without the hassle of making puff. It also rolls out and handles like a dream. We want pie to be easier not harder. These turnovers can be made larger for an adult treat, or smaller if there are little hands to be filled. To be honest they’re not a bad lunchbox option with only a few tablespoons of added sugar in the whole recipe.
We’re back at our food processor for the second time this week. Pop the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and diced butter into the processor. Pulse until the butter is rubbed in.
Add the cream cheese and pulse for a few seconds at a time until the dough comes together. It’s much better to pulse than let it run. It will keep the dough cooler and it helps toss the ingredients together evenly.
Tip the dough out onto the bench and bring it together into a disc. Wrap with plastic wrap, a zip-lock bag or put it in an airtight container. Chill for at least an hour.
When you’re ready to make the pies, heat the oven to 200C (395F). Pit and slice the nectarines. You can dice them if you like but make sure the slices are about 1cm thick and no more.
Mix the nectarines with the passionfruit pulp, sugar and flour. It will look a gooey mess. This is ok.
There are a couple of ways to prep your pastry. For larger pies you can divide the dough into 8 even pieces and roll each out into a circle about 6 inches across. Or you can roll out the dough to 2 to 3mm thick and cut out 5 inch circles (you’ll get about 12) or you can roll out to a rectangle and use a knife to cut squares that you’ll fold into triangles.
When you’ve got your rolled out pie pieces, beat an egg in a small bowl with a fork. Now my top tip for any folded and sealed pie is to brush the inside with egg before adding the filling. The egg is a much better glue than wetting the edges with water or milk, and the egg will make a bit of a moisture barrier between the crust and the filling.
Brush each circle. Put a bit of filling slightly to the side of centre on each one. you should be able to comfortably fold the dough over without stretching it. If you’ve sliced the nectarines a couple of slices will do for each pie, If you’ve diced the nectarines then a tablespoon or two is ample.
Fold each pie over and press down with your fingers. Using a fork dipped in flour, seal the edge by pressing all along the seam.
Brush the top of each turnover with beaten egg and transfer them to a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Use a small sharp knife to cut one or two small slits in the top to let steam out. If you don’t make a steam hole, your pies are much more likely to burst open along the seam.
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until the pies are dark golden brown and juices are bubbling out. You’re never going to keep all the juice inside. It’s part of their charm.
Transfer the pies to a rack to cool straight away so the bottoms don’t get soggy. You can tuck in as soon as the pies are cool enough not to burn your mouth, but letting them cool until they are just warm will let the filling set up a bit.
I like these as is, but a little vanilla ice cream wouldn’t go astray. If you’re into that sort of thing…
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Nectarine + Passionfruit Turnovers
Prep Time : 20 mins | Cook Time : 30 mins | Total Time : 2 hours | Difficulty : Easy
Makes : 8 to 12 turnovers, depending on size
Flaky golden cream cheese pastry wrapped around the best of late summer.
Ingredients:
For the pastry:
- 1 + 1/4 cups (175 grams) all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons icing sugar
- 9 tablespoons (125 grams) cold unsalted butter
- 4 + 1/2 ounces (125 grams) cold cream cheese
- beaten egg, to finish
For the filling:
- 2 tablespoons passionfruit pulp
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 medium nectarines, pitted and sliced
– If using metric cups, reduce volume measures by 1 tablespoon for every cup of dry or liquid ingredients –
Equipment:
- Food processor
- Rolling pin and large round cutters
- Baking sheet lined with baking paper.
Directions:
We’re back at our food processor for the second time this week. Pop the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and diced butter into the processor. Pulse until the butter is rubbed in.
Add the cream cheese and pulse for a few seconds at a time until the dough comes together. It’s much better to pulse than let it run. It will keep the dough cooler and it helps toss the ingredients together evenly.
Tip the dough out onto the bench and bring it together into a disc. Wrap with plastic wrap, a zip-lock bag or put it in an airtight container. Chill for at least an hour.
When you’re ready to make the pies, heat the oven to 200C (395F). Pit and slice the nectarines. You can dice them if you like but make sure the slices are about 1cm thick and no more.
Mix the nectarines with the passionfruit pulp, sugar and flour. It will look a gooey mess. This is ok.
There are a couple of ways to prep your pastry. For larger pies you can divide the dough into 8 even pieces and roll each out into a circle about 6 inches across. Or you can roll out the dough to 2 to 3mm thick and cut out 5 inch circles (you’ll get about 12) or you can roll out to a rectangle and use a knife to cut squares that you’ll fold into triangles.
When you’ve got your rolled out pie pieces, beat an egg in a small bowl with a fork. Now my top tip for any folded and sealed pie is to brush the inside with egg before adding the filling. The egg is a much better glue than wetting the edges with water or milk, and the egg will make a bit of a moisture barrier between the crust and the filling.
Brush each circle. Put a bit of filling slightly to the side of centre on each one. you should be able to comfortably fold the dough over without stretching it. If you’ve sliced the nectarines a couple of slices will do for each pie, If you’ve diced the nectarines then a tablespoon or two is ample.
Fold each pie over and press down with your fingers. Using a fork dipped in flour, seal the edge by pressing all along the seam.
Brush the top of each turnover with beaten egg and transfer them to a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Use a small sharp knife to cut one or two small slits in the top to let steam out. If you don’t make a steam hole, your pies are much more likely to burst open along the seam.
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until the pies are dark golden brown and juices are bubbling out. You’re never going to keep all the juice inside. It’s part of their charm.
Transfer the pies to a rack to cool straight away so the bottoms don’t get soggy. You can tuck in as soon as the pies are cool enough not to burn your mouth, but letting them cool until they are just warm will let the filling set up a bit.
I like these as is, but a little vanilla ice cream wouldn’t go astray. If you’re into that sort of thing…
Cook’s Notes:
- This recipe is a great vehicle for any fruit, just make sure it doesn’t release too much liquid. Berries on their own may be too juicy, and so will rhubarb. Apple and blackberry is a good start to autumn though and so is pear and cardamom!
- This pastry will keep frozen for a month so if you want to make a larger batch and freeze some for almost instant pies that’s an approach I encourage.
– These pies are best the day they are made or the next, for longer keeping wrap the pies carefully in plastic wrap and freeze –
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