- Yield: 12
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
Apricot Cheese Turnovers
I had a craving for the old fashioned bakery style cheese danish my dad used to pick up on Sunday after church. But, I figured I could make them just as awesome using fillo dough. I used our Fillo Factory whole wheat fillo, a ricotta/cream cheese filling with a dollop of apricot preserves. Eat them warm and crispy - oh so good.
Make these for breakfast or brunch. Make them as small or big as you like. Use whatever jam/preserves you want. In short, these are highly adaptable and easy to make in a pinch. I used the whole wheat fillo, but in fact any of our fillo doughs would work fine. I'm featuring below our organic varieties.
Ingredients
- Fillo Factory whole wheat fillo dough - 1 lb
- cream cheese - 8 oz
- Ricotta Cheese - 2 tbs
- egg yolks - two extra large
- vanilla extract - 1 tsp
- sugar - 1/4 cup
- confectioners sugar - for dusting/icing
- sea salt - 1/4 tsp
- melted butter - 1/3 cup melted
- apricot preserves - 8 oz jar
- Icing drizzle
- confectioners sugar - 1/2 cup
- milk or water - 1 tablespoon
- vanilla extract - 1/4 tsp
Instructions
Oven set to 375f
Baking pan lined with parchment paper.
Have all ingredients at room temperature, including the fillo. Check box for handling instructions.
Step one: blend the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add ricotta, egg yolks, vanilla & salt - blend another 30 seconds until just smooth. Do not over beat. Place mix into fridge for a few minutes while you prep the fillo. (the mix can be made a few hours ahead of time.)
Unwrap and unroll the fillo dough- remove 1 sheet and cover the rest with a towel to keep from drying out.Baste that sheet generously with the melted butter. Lay another sheet over it and baste that one.
Using a sharp knife, cut the sheets into strips the long way, aprox 3" across. So each strip has two layers and is about 3" across. You should get 4 strips: each aprox 18" long by 3" wide. Place a tablespoon or so of cheese mix at the bottom as per the diagram, and fold as shown below, similar to folding a flag.
Take a generous tablespoon of the filling mixture and place it at the end nearest you, add a teaspoon of the preserves on top and begin folding up the bottom right edge across to the left side. then fold up from the new bottom, keeping even with the left side, then fold towards the right- and on and on... just like folding a flag. Each danish is becoming a filled triangle. You should trim the fillo strip near the top, so you don't make the triangle too thick with too many folds and fold overs.
The icing- I didn't use icing on the turnovers I photographed, I dusted them with confectioners sugar. However for those with a sweet tooth, you may enjoy the traditional drizzled white icing. It certainly will look nice.
Simply mix the milk (or water) & vanilla into the powdered sugar in a small bowl until the consistency is good for a drizzle. Add more liquid a drop or two at a time if too thick.
Place the folded turnovers on baking paper on a baking sheet, baste them with butter and then bake at 375f for about 15-18 minutes. They will turn golden brown. Dust or drizzle with confectioner's sugar. Serve warm.