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Apple & Date Turnover

Warm apple turnover smothered in hot custard is sure to see away the winter blues

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,586 recipes mention both. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4 - 6
Prep20 min
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan / 400°F) and line a baking tray with baking paper.

  2. Mix the chopped apples, dates, caster sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and 1 tbsp plain flour in a bowl until evenly combined.

  3. On a lightly floured surface, roll the puff pastry into a rectangle about 3 mm thick. Cut it into 4 to 6 equal squares or rectangles.

  4. Spoon a portion of the apple and date mixture onto one half of each piece of pastry, leaving a border around the edge.

  5. Brush the pastry border with beaten egg, fold the pastry over the filling to make triangles or rectangles, and press the edges firmly to seal. Crimp with a fork if you like.

  6. Arrange the turnovers on the lined tray and brush the tops with the remaining beaten egg. Cut two small slits in each top to let steam escape.

  7. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes until deep golden brown and puffed. Cool on the tray for 5 minutes before serving.

  8. Dust with icing to serve, if using (optional).

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Apple + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,586 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  2. Sugar + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together30,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Dates + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together283 recipes

    Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

  4. Cinnamon + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together16,954 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and cinnamon share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,777 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, apple, dates, sugar, cinnamon, egg):

  1. Vanillabetter flavor fit
  2. Figbetter flavor fit
  3. Raisinbetter flavor fit
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, apple, dates, sugar, cinnamon, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).