Cherry and Cream Cheese Turnovers with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze
The turnovers are so good that people will think you bought them from a local bakery.
Except they’re super easy and ready in 20 minutes.
These are the best cherry turnovers I’ve ever had and you can pretend you slaved over them if you think it will bring you and that new purse or pair of shoes you have your eye on one step closer to being a done deal.
With just three key ingredients, you’ll never need to settle for storebought again and can have warm, fresh, and homemade in minutes. Talk about a breakfast worth waking up for.
They’re what you’d get if you crossed a cherry turnover with a cream cheese danish, and we inhaled them in minutes. The batch size makes just four turnovers for built-in portion control.
They’d be great for brunch or special events where you want to impress your guests, but don’t want to make anything too fussy. Just double, triple, etc. the recipe as necessary.
I made them using one sheet of puff pastry, one of the best kitchen shortcuts ever.
Try to work through the recipe quickly so the pastry stays chilled because it will puff better in the oven. It’s like working with chilled pie dough that yields a better tasting crust when the dough stays cold.
Thaw the puff pastry and slice it into 4 smaller squares using a pizza wheel. In the center of each square, add the cream cheese. I used about 1/2 tablespoon lite cream cheese for each, although you can use a bit more if you’re partial to it.
Top each with 2 tablespoons chunky preserves or jam. If you have homemade, or another flavor you enjoy like strawberry, peach, or blueberry, go for it.
Fold the squares diagonally to create a triangle, and crimp to seal with a fork, going up and back with the fork on all seams a few times. Cherry juice that leaks on the baking sheet is prone to burning quickly.
Brush with a lightly beaten egg to help encourage the turnovers to turn golden brown in the oven.
Before baking sprinkle generously with turbinado sugar or coarse sugar. I love chunky sugar granules on muffin tops and on pastries of any kind. It lends a subtle crunchy texture for authenticity, while also providing an extra pop of sweetness, and some light caramelizing, although you may omit.
The slight tang from the simple cream cheese glaze drizzled on perfectly offsets the sweetness from the jam, and it also helps to bring out the cream cheese in the filling.
It’s not necessary to glaze them, but glaze or frosting of any kind is never optional for me. You could try Nutella, peanut butter-maple syrup, or salted caramel.
The pastry is light, flaky, tender, and slightly chewy. Biting into the sweet, plump, oven-warmed cherries, with bursts of cream cheese from the filling and glaze peeking through, makes everything in the world just stop while I savor that perfect bite.
There’s a reason we scarfed these in minutes. Seriously the best turnovers I’ve ever had and way too easy.
Cherry and Cream Cheese Turnovers with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze
The turnovers are so good that people will think you bought them from a local bakery, but they're so easy, ready in 20 minutes, and you'll never need to settle for storebought turnovers again. They're the best turnovers I've ever had and are what you'd get if you crossed a cherry turnover with a cream cheese danish. I used lite cream cheese in the filling and the glaze, and you can use a bit more in the filling if you're partial to it. If you have homemade jam or preserves, like strawberry, peach, or blueberry, use it. Make sure to securely crimp the edges with a fork to seal the turnovers because cherry juice that leaks on the baking sheet is prone to burning quickly. Turbinado sugar lends a crunchy texture for authenticity, and I love the glaze, but neither are absolutely necessary. The pastry is light, flaky, tender, and slightly chewy. Biting into the sweet, plump, oven-warmed cherries with bursts of cream cheese is a breakfast worth waking up for.
Yield: 4 bakery-style turnovers
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 to 19 minutes
Total Time: about 30 minutes
Ingredients:
Turnovers
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed but try to keep chilled (chilled pastry puffs better)
about 2 tablespoons softened cream cheese, divided (lite okay; I used 1/2 tablespoon for each danish)
about 8 tablespoons cherry preserves or jam, divided (or your favorite flavor; I used 2 tablespoons for each danish)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
about 8 teaspoons turbinado or coarse sugar for sprinkling, divided
Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze (optional but recommended)
2 tablespoons softened cream cheese, (lite okay)
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, or as necessary to achieve desired glaze consistency
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
splash cream or milk, as necessary to achieve desired glaze consistency
Directions:
- Try to work quickly through the recipe because chilled puff pastry puffs better when baked (like chilled pie dough), and the less you handle it, the better. Preheat oven to 4ooF, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- Turnovers - On a clean counter or work surface, unroll puff pastry and slice with a pizza cutter into four, evenly-sized squares.
- In the center of each square, add the cream cheese, spreading it out just slightly with a table knife.
- On top of the cream cheese, add the preserves, spreading it out just slightly with the knife.
- Fold each square in half diagonally to create triangles.
- Seal all edges with a fork by crimping them. Make sure to crimp very well, going up and back over the seams a few times because if preserves leak while baking, it burns quickly.
- Crack the egg in a small bowl and beat it lightly with a fork (crimping fork is okay).
- Evenly brush all the turnovers with the eggwash; discard remainder.
- Evenly and generously sprinkle the tops of all the turnovers with turbinado sugar.
- Bake for about 15 to 19 minutes, or until puffed, lightly golden, and pastry looks done and set. Allow turnovers to cool on baking tray for 5 to 10 minutes before moving. While turnovers bake, make the glaze.
- Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze - In a small bowl, combine all ingredients except the cream and whisk until smooth and combined.
- As necessary, whisk in cream until desired glazed consistency is reached. If you accidentally add too much, add a bit more sugar.
- Evenly drizzle glaze over the turnovers noting that if the turnovers are still quite warm, the glaze will melt into them. Serve immediately. Turnovers are best warm and fresh, but will keep airtight for up to 4 days.
Recipe from Averie Cooks. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.
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