[schema type=”recipe” name=”Apple and Blackberry turnovers with home made custard” author=”Rachel Howard” pubdate=”2014-09-21″ image=”http://www.sundaybaking.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Apple-and-Blacberry-Pasty-5-700.jpg” description=”A delicious short crust pastry filled with apples and blackberries, toped with tasty home made vanilla custard. The perfect pudding after a Sunday lunch! ” prephours=”1″ prepmins=”30″ cookmins=”20″ yield=”6″ ] Each year since moving into our house, I have said I would use the wild Blackberries and Elderflower growing around the edges of the garden. I missed the Elderflower season again this year, but today I went out and collected a bowl full of Blackberries to make some Blackberry and Apple Turnovers. I can’t wait until our little Apple tree is big enough to pick the apples too.
This is actually the first time I have attempted to make my own pastry!…I know…I always thought it was really difficult to get it right. The pastry for these certainly wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty good for my first try. 
While preparing the ingredients, I decided I wanted to make my own custard to go with these. I have made this before and it tastes so much better than shop bought. And so simple to make! The recipe for the turnovers was a adapted from Nigel Slater and the Home made custard from Mary Berry. [callout title=Ingredients for the Turnovers] PASTRY:
- 110g trex (or lard)
- 115g butter
- 450g strong white flour
- cold water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Egg and a splash of milk for glazing
- 1 egg white
- A sprinkle of caster sugar
FILLING:
- 500g apples
- 4tbsp caster sugar
- 200g blackberries
- Cold water
[/callout] Method:
- Freeze the Trex and butter for at least an hour – this just makes them easier to grate!
- Grate the Trex and butter into the flour
- Add the salt
- Add around 5tbsp of cold water
- Mix together with your hands until a firm dough forms
- Roll into a ball and place it in the fridge while you prepare the filling (around 20 minutes)
- Peel the apples, but out the cores and chop into small chunks
- Put the apples in a saucepan with the sugar and 2 tbsp water
- Cook over a medium heat, string regularly until the soften
- Tip in the blackberries and leave to cool
- Preheat the oven to 200C
- Divid the pastry into 6
- Roll out the pasty and cut around a saucer to create a 12cm circle
- Brush around the edges with the egg and milk mixture
- Put a spoonful of filling onto each circle of pastry
- Fold the dough over the filling and press hard around the edges to seal the turnover
- Place the pastries onto a lined baking sheet
- Brush all over with the egg and milk mixture
- Cut a steam whole in the top of each pasty
- Bake for around 35 minutes
- Lightly beat the egg white until it starts to froth – brush lightly over the pasties and then sprinkle with sugar
- Return to the oven for 5 minutes
[callout title=Ingredients for the Custard]
- 1 pint milk
- 55ml single cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 egg yolks
- 30g caster sugar
- 2 tsp cornflour
[/callout] Method:
- Over a low heat, bring the milk and cream to simmer
- Whisk the yolks, cornflour and sugar together in a bowl
- Pour the milk and cream over the yolk mixture, whisking constantly
- Return to the saucepan, add the vanilla extract and stir over a low heat until thickened
If you would prefer to use a vanilla pod, you can add it in whole when you simmer the milk and cream, then take it out when you add the egg yolk mixture. This is a perfect pudding after your Sunday roast! If I was to make these again, I would probably make sure I added as much filling as possible and make the pastry slightly thinner. But overall, these are a great little treat that are well worth the effort! 
Although I have named these turnovers, I think the word pasty is more suitable for them. But maybe it’s just because my nan used to make me apple turnovers from puff pastry so the shortcrust pastry used for these makes me think more of pies!
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