Apple Turnover — the French bakery's chausson aux pommes

i. Origin & history

Fruit folded into pastry is an ancient and universal idea, and apple pasties and turnovers have been made across northern Europe for centuries. The French chausson aux pommes has a cherished local legend attached to it. In the town of Saint-Calais in the Sarthe, in western France, the story goes that during an epidemic in the 1630s, the lady of the local château distributed flour and apples to the poor, who baked them into pastries. The town still celebrates the event with an annual Fête du Chausson aux Pommes in early September, complete with a procession and a giant turnover.

Like many such stories, it cannot be confirmed, but it reflects the long association of the turnover with western France, where apple orchards are abundant — the same region that produces cider and Calvados. As puff pastry (pâte feuilletée) became a standard technique of French bakeries in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the turnover took on its modern form: crisp, many-layered pastry enclosing a smooth compote.

In the twentieth century the chausson aux pommes became one of the core viennoiseries of the French bakery, sold every morning and eaten for breakfast or as an after-school snack. Its distinctive look — a scalloped half-moon with a glossy egg-washed top scored with fine lines like the veins of a leaf — is instantly recognisable.

The English-speaking world has its own versions: the British apple turnover, often triangular and sometimes filled with whipped cream; and the American apple turnover, typically made with spiced apple chunks and often finished with a sugar glaze.

ii. Why the filling is a thick compote, not raw apple

A French chausson is filled with compote: apples cooked down with a little butter and sugar until soft and thick, then cooled. There are good reasons for this. Raw apple releases a lot of juice as it bakes, which turns the inside of the pastry soggy and can burst the seal. It also shrinks, leaving a hollow gap under a puffed lid. Pre-cooking drives off excess water and gives a filling that holds its shape and fully fills the pastry.

The compote must be cold when it goes onto the pastry. Puff pastry depends on hundreds of thin layers of butter between layers of dough; in the hot oven, water in the dough turns to steam and pushes the layers apart. If warm filling softens the butter before baking, the layers merge and the pastry rises poorly and greasily.

A good compote balances texture and flavour. A mix of apples works best: a sharp cooking apple, such as Bramley, which collapses into a soft purée, and a firm eating apple, such as Reinette, Cox or Golden Delicious, which keeps small pieces. A squeeze of lemon brightens the flavour, and a little vanilla or cinnamon rounds it out.

Finally, sealing and glazing matter. Brushing the edge with water or egg and pressing firmly seals the turnover so the filling does not escape. Egg wash on top gives a deep, glossy colour, and scoring a pattern through the glaze lets steam escape and gives the classic leaf design.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 8 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 500 g all-butter puff pastry
• 2 large cooking apples (such as Bramley), peeled, cored and chopped
• 2 firm eating apples (such as Cox or Reinette), peeled, cored and diced
• 25 g unsalted butter
• 60 g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
• 1 egg yolk, beaten with 1 tbsp milk, to glaze
• 1 tbsp caster sugar, for sprinkling

Good all-butter puff pastry from the shop is what many French home cooks use, and it gives excellent results; check that it is made with butter rather than vegetable fat for the best flavour and flakiness. The mix of apples gives a compote with both smooth and chunky texture. Cinnamon is optional — a classic French chausson is often flavoured simply with vanilla — but it is standard in British and American turnovers. A tablespoon of Calvados in the compote is a Normandy touch.

iv. Method

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add all the apples, sugar and lemon juice, cover and cook over a medium-low heat for 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the cooking apples have collapsed.
2. Uncover and cook for 5–10 minutes more, stirring, until the compote is thick and there is no free liquid in the pan. Stir in the vanilla and cinnamon. Spread on a plate and chill until completely cold.
3. Roll the puff pastry to about 3 mm thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut eight 13–14 cm rounds with a fluted cutter or around a saucer. Roll each round slightly into an oval.
4. Place a heaped tablespoon of cold compote on one half of each oval, leaving a 1.5 cm border. Brush the border with water, fold the pastry over and press the edges firmly to seal.
5. Turn the turnovers over onto a lined baking tray, so the seam is underneath. Brush with egg glaze and chill for 20 minutes. Heat the oven to 200 °C (400 °F), fan 180 °C.
6. Brush with a second coat of glaze. Using the tip of a small knife, score a leaf pattern on top, cutting through the glaze but not the pastry, and make two small slits for steam. Sprinkle with sugar.
7. Bake for 20–25 minutes, until well risen, deep golden and crisp. Cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes before eating — the filling is very hot.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Cook the compote until thick. Watery filling makes soggy pastry and leaks through the seal.
• Chill the compote completely. Warm filling melts the butter layers and the pastry will not puff.
• Do not overfill. Too much compote bursts the seal. A heaped tablespoon per turnover is enough.
• Keep egg wash off the cut edges. Glaze on the edges glues the layers together and stops them rising.
• Chill before baking. Twenty minutes in the fridge firms the butter and gives a taller, flakier pastry.
• Bake until deep golden. Pale puff pastry is underbaked and doughy inside.

vi. Variations

The French bakery also sells chaussons with pear, apricot or mixed fruit compote. The British apple turnover is often triangular, sometimes split and filled with whipped cream once cool; the American version usually uses spiced apple chunks and is drizzled with a white sugar glaze. Adding a few raisins, a little grated orange zest or a spoonful of caramel to the compote are simple variations.

For other apple pastries on DessertCat, see the Austrian Apfelstrudel, the Polish szarlotka and the apple pie. The Eccles cake is another flaky pastry parcel, filled with currants, and French puff pastry also makes the caramelised palmiers.

vii. Serving & storage

In France, chaussons aux pommes are eaten at breakfast with coffee, or as an afternoon snack, at room temperature or slightly warm. They need no accompaniment, though a spoonful of crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream turns them into a dessert.

Turnovers are best on the day they are baked. Keep leftovers in a paper bag or loosely covered at room temperature for up to 2 days, and reheat in a 180 °C (350 °F) oven for 5–8 minutes to re-crisp the pastry; avoid the microwave, which makes it soggy. Unbaked, assembled turnovers freeze very well for up to 2 months: bake them straight from frozen, glazing just before baking and adding 5–10 minutes to the time. The compote keeps for 4 days in the fridge.

ix. More from French

• Palmiers — caramelised puff pastry hearts
• Pear Tart — tarte Bourdaloue
• Flaugnarde — fruit baked in batter
• Apfelstrudel — Viennese apple strudel
• Eccles Cake — currant-filled pastry
• Szarlotka — Polish apple cake