TWD: Blueberry Turnovers

I have mentioned here before that I am not a baked fruit lover. That said, there are a few I will eat in small quantities. Blueberries, while never cheap (around here or really most anywhere it seems) are one that I generally like in muffins, pancakes, etc.

I debated all week whether or not I was going to make this recipe - really just because of the vast quantites of blueberries it was going to take to make the Double-Crusted Blueberry Pie (as chosen by Amy of South in Your Mouth - where you will find the recipe.)

My solution that I finally settled on wasn't so much in the ingredients (though I fiddled a tiny bit by using brown sugar in the filling) as in the method. I wasn't sure if it was going to work exactly right, but since I had absolutely no use for a full pie (and no one to give it to this week) I decided that attempting to turn these in to turnovers was my best bet. It made four turnovers, which was totally manageable for our house.

So, here you have a half recipe of filling with a single crust portion of dough. I simply rolled the dough into about an 1/8-inch thick (and approximately 12x12-inch square), trimmed the edges and cut that into four squares. Since I "overtoasted" (aka, blackened) my breadcrumbs by forgetting them in the oven while preheating (yeah, I'm really aware like that), and since I didn't have anymore bread, I just used one crumbled Ritz butter cracker per square. I then topped the cracker crumbs with about 1/8 cup (a large spoonful) of filling. I egg washed two sides and folded the top down to make the triangles and sealed the edges with a fork. All that was left to do was the egg wash and a couple of venting slits on the crust. I sprinkled the turnovers liberally with raw sugar and baked them til golden in a 400 degree F oven for about 22 minutes. Then I just took them out on the baking sheet and let them cool for a few minutes before I let them sit on a cooling rack.

I thought they tasted wonderful and the "crust-to-filling" ratio was much more in line for me as a turnover. Other bonuses - you could also freeze them quite easily for later baking. Also, I have actually made a lot of pies (and eaten even more having waited tables in two restaurants over the years who's specialty was - you guessed it - pie) - my point? Dorie's crust is probably the most flaky I've ever made and eaten. I was really impressed with it. I actually ended up making it by hand because my food processor wouldn't fit the full double crust amount. Since I only ended up using half the dough, I'm still deciding what to do with the other half in the fridge.

Don't forget to check out the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll to see all the other amazing blueberry pie flaky sweet goodness this week!

Oh, and, if by chance you still don't have your copy of this amazing book - really - you should get one now!