Let’s Talk! – A Recipe for Cherry Turnovers

Are you ready to switch off your screens and ponder or discuss another writing/conversation prompt from my friend Tyrean Martinson’s book? Here’s my take on it.

You all know by now that I have hardly anything worth being called a sweet tooth. Indeed, I sometimes DO bake, though. Although I would not consider myself a great baker. I have made turnovers before, too. Though not exactly cherry turnovers. I put crushed pineapple in my puff pastry pockets. Or thinly sliced apples seasoned with sugar and cinnamon. I usually prefer savory pastry fillings. As to talking recipes – I go by look, flavor, and fragrance, not by amounts. At least not when I’m talking my own recipes. The ones that I put at the end of my Wycliff novels are the only ones I ever wrote down. And that was a pain in the neck. Because I had to make sure these recipes work for everybody.

So, instead of talking about a cherry turnover recipe, I rather explore where the concept of a turnover comes from. Who came up with taking a piece of rolled out dough, placing some filling onto it, then folding the dough over and closing it up at the seams? Then to bake or fry it and either eat it still hot or once it has cooled down? Basically, probably every western nation in this world. They stuffed their pastries with savory fillings (think Cornish pasties, for example), and sent them along to work with their loved ones. They were easily eaten without the use of plates or cutlery. The concept of creating desserts from such pastries (or turnovers) must have come up when there was time and money for being fancier. Basically, the first purpose of turnovers was to feed somebody with whatever was available in an easy manner.

I have created some savory turnovers myself in the past. I had leftovers – a potato here, some carrots there, stew meat that was too little to turn into a stew. A yeast dough was made quite quickly, and then, I had these fun little kitchen gadgets with which you can die-cut perfect circles of pastry. After filling and sealing the turnovers, I basted them with some egg yolk – and they were pretty much devoured in one enthusiastic seating. Don’t ask me for the recipe. I simply went with the flow and looked into similar pastries’ baking temperatures and times. It was probably my one-time best baking accomplishment that had no recipe to it and turned out perfect.

Maybe, I’ll try some sweet turnovers sometime soon again. It IS the holiday season officially, after all. I might not use cherry, but apple for the filling. And I know I still have a sheet of puff pastry from a recent baking spree. I will probably stick to the advice on the package and not try any experiment. It should become a turnover, in the end … not a turn-off.