I have recently been making fruit turnovers using the recipe from the pie bible.  I’m having trouble getting enough filling in them without making a mess.  Can you freeze the filling in 3 tablespoon piles and then put them in the turnover?  It seems like it would work.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Hi-

This isn’t exactly an answer. I would worry about the cooking time for the filling if it goes in frozen. Cook’s grates the apples instead of slicing them. The result stays put when you spoon it out. Also, it won’t poke through the pastry.

Cathy

I was thinking I would freeze the filling, put it in the pastry and then allow it to defrost to some extent before baking.  After assembly I would probably put it in the refrigerator for a time per the Pie Bible instructions.  I am thinking this would let the filling defrost some.  But I do agree, it would perhaps affect the baking time.

Does the filling need to reach a certain temperature in order to gel properly? If not, I don’t see any reason why your idea wouldn’t work.

But if the filling does need to reach, say 180 degrees F, then having it start out frozen might mean that the pastry will be done before the filling is. Maybe your solution to only freeze it for filling the turnover will work. Another idea is to freeze the whole turnover. This way, everything will be at the same starting temperature when it goes into the oven, as with baking a frozen pie.

The filling has cornstarch in it, so it does have to get just about to the boiling point to thicken. If it doesn’t get hot enough, you get runny filling with cloudy cornstarch in the juices.

In my ‘fridge, which chronically freezes my lettuce, 1 hour would not be enough to thaw the filling. But people definitely bake frozen turnovers, so I’d think you could do this, provided you test the filling for doneness. You could dip a skewer in the vent to see if the juices are thickened.

Cathy