Whiskey Glazed Bourbon Peach Turnovers

I've made turnovers just a few times in the past year or so and was never super impressed with the results. First, the pastry was never quite flakey enough. Second, I always wanted to stuff in more fruit than the poor pastry could handle. Restraint, apparently, is not a strong suit. Then, I agreed to cater a tea and since the hostess asked for turnovers, I needed to practice.

Oddly enough, as much time as I spend on the internet, I think about the internet in a very 1 dimensional way - I read websites. When I develop recipes, I look at websites such as AllRecipes, Epicurious, Martha Steward, Food Network and whatever Yummly throws at me. Then I frankenstein my ideas together. Getting the dough right, I've learned is better seen than read - and especially given my trials with turnovers, I needed more than words to get me to this finish line. Thank God for YouTube!

One quick search and I discovered Laura Vitale's Peach HandPie video and was kicked in the head with the secret to getting a flakier crust... roll it like puff pastry! Duh.

Here are the versions of the peach turnovers I made this past weekend:

• 3" turnovers with peaches topped with a glaze

• 3" turnovers with peaches topped with a whiskey glaze

• 3" turnovers with peaches soaked in bourbon for 1 hour, topped with a glaze

• 3" turnovers with peaches soaked in bourbon for 1 hour, topped with a whiskey glaze

• 5" turnovers with peaches soaked in bourbon for 2 days, topped with a vanilla cinnamon glaze

Yeah - I love testing recipes.

What I learned:

1. With the 3" turnovers, I followed Laura's instructions on the dough verbatim. I thought 3" was too small - I couldn't get as much fruit in each bite as I would like.

2. Soaking the peaches for 1 hour is not enough time to get the whiskey flavor into the peaches.

3. Whiskey glaze is AWESOME!

4. If you're going to soak peaches for 2 days, add enough whiskey to get the flavor to stay. To be honest, I did not mean to soak them for 2 days, I just got busy. I should have added more whiskey to the peaches. They tasted great, just not super boozy.

5. Vanilla cinnamon glaze is AWESOME!

The essential bones of the recipe yield fantastic results. If you are planning to try it, please let me know your variations and results!

Whiskey Glazed Bourbon Peach Turnovers

Dough

• 3 cups flour

• 1 cup cold unsalted butter

• 1 cup cold water (You should not need to use the entire cup, but it's good to have in case you do)

• 1 teaspoon salt

Filling

• 5-6 medium peaches

• 2 cups Jack Daniels

• 4 tablespoons flour

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/4 cup milk

• 2 tablespoons raw sugar

Glaze

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

• 1 tablespoon Jack Daniels

Make the Dough:

• Whisk together the the flour and salt.

• Cut the butter into small squared and toss into the flour mixture using your hands, a food processor or a pastry blender.

• Pour in about 1/4 cup of water and mix. Keep adding water unil the mixture sticks together in a ball. There should be large chunks of butter visible in the dough.

• Separate the dough into 2 balls, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour (or freeze for up to 1 month).

Prepare the Filling:

• Prepare a bowl of ice water.

• In a medium size pot, boil water and drop each peach in for 30 to 60 seconds. Then move each peach, using a slotted spoon, into the ice water. This will help get the skin off.

• Separate the peach flesh from the seed, dice and put in a large bowl. Take about half (1-2 cups) of the peaches and soak in Jack Daniels for at least 1 hour.

• Mix the flour, sugar and vanilla into the bowl with the remaining peaches.

Assemble the Turnovers:

• Roll out the first dough ball roughly into a 9" circle. Fold the circle in 1/2, then in half again.

• Re-roll the dough so that is about 1/8" thick. (NOTE: the thinner the roll, the less flakey the turnover.)

• Using a biscuit or cookie cutter, cut out the pastry and lay them on a parchment lined cookie sheet. You can fit about 6 per cookie sheet.

• Add about a tablespoon of filling just off center of the pastry cut-out. You need to be able to fold and seal the dough so the filling should not be on the edge or in the middle. (NOTE: the amount you can add depends on the size of the peaches as well as the size of the pastry cut out. The 3" version took a little less than a tablespoon, the 5" version took a little more. Next time, I might just leave the peaches as slices and see how that works...)

• Cut some vents into the pastry with a knife. Brush the milk along the edge of the pastry. Fold the top over to meet the bottom and seal with a fork.

• Brush the top of the turnover with milk and dust with the raw sugar. Put in the refrigerator. Turn on the oven to 400 and finish cutting and filling the remaining pastry with the remaining filling.

• Place the turnovers in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes (NOTE: my oven sucks and always takes too long. If you know your oven, you want to be sure the filling in done [bubbling from the vents] and the pastry is cooked all the way through. My first batch, at 375 degrees took 43 minutes. My second batch at 400 took 32. The 3rd batch, at 425 wasn't quite done after 25 minutes...).

• Allow the turnovers to cook for 30 to 60 minutes before eating. This is the hardest part but giving them time to cool off is SO WORTH IT.

Glazing:

• Mix the sugar and whiskey together. Drizzle over cooled turnovers. Chill for about 10 minutes.

I will update this as I test this recipe further, with different fruit combinations and cooking times (and one day in an oven that isn't awful). Let me know your experiences, challenges and successes with this recipe in the comments section. Until then, CHOOSE PIE!

#Peach #Whiskey #Turnovers #Glaze