Vegan Apple Turnovers

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If you’re craving the yummy sweet flaky pastry of a vegan apple turnover, you’ve come to the right place. Within my recipe archive I like to try and cover a lot of the classics, those delicious snacks and desserts everyone enjoys growing up. I veganise them to show that you really don't have to give anything up to live a snack-packed, fulfilling (apple filling in this case) vegan life.

Obviously, my collection wouldn't be complete without this absolute classic. Apple turnovers are actually so easy, and to make this recipe completely accessible for all I've written it with ready-made store bought pastry in mind. This is the half cheat method to create super easy turnovers that look and taste deliciously homemade, and of course, we won't tell if you don't!

Enjoyed warm with soya cream, custard or ice cream, these make for the perfect dessert. Leave them to cool and place them in airtight containers and you've got delicious portable snacks for picnics, parties or on-the-go treats.

Some people make their apple turnovers with raw apple, as the apple can cook inside whilst they are in the oven. However, I always cook my apples beforehand, otherwise I find they can shrink inside and you don’t get as much filling as you’d like, and if there's one thing that's key to the perfect turnover, you have to have filling in every bite. Using precooked apples also means that you can just focus on getting your pastry cooked to perfection, rather than having to worry about the apple inside too.

If you did want to make your own pastry, simply follow a vegan puff pastry recipe and then roll it out at step 3.

If I'm making them for a party or a finger buffet style event (or if I'm trying to watch what I'm eating) I sometimes make them smaller (although I usually just end up eating more anyway). Whilst this can be a bit fiddly with cutting the pastry into even squares, filling and sealing, they make the cutest mini turnovers you can imagine, but be sure to remember they won't need as long in the oven.

If you're worried your apples are too sour, you can try your mix before you cool it, remembering though that it will be VERY HOT! If your mix isn't as sweet as you desire, simply add a bit more sugar till you reach the ideal sweetness. Of course, cooking apples are the apples i'm going to recommend for this recipe, I usually use bramley if I'm buying from the shop.

This year I am lucky enough to have an apple tree in the garden of our student house, and whilst I'm not sure what species specifically, I believe they are eating apples. That said, I have used them in this recipe more than once, and they've turned out delicious. 

If you're after that 'oh so American' flavour, Granny Smiths are the go-to apple for you. Whatever apple you choose, make sure to let us know in the comments below what you used and how it turned out (no pun intended). As always, tag us in your creations on Instagram and we might even feature you on our page!

Recipe

Servings: 6

Total Time: 35M

Ingredients: 

• 4 cooking apples
• 6 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• Water
• 1 sheet ready rolled vegan puff pastry (I use Jus-Rol which is accidentally vegan!)
• 2 tbsp vegan margarine

Method:

• STEP 1: Preheat oven to 200c. Peel your cooking apples and chop them into about 1cm cubes.
  
  
• STEP 2: Place your apples into a large pan along with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 6 tablespoons of water. Cook on a medium heat until your apple is nice and soft, but not mushy. Set your mix to one side to cool completely. (To speed up the cooking, you can spread it out on a large tray.)
  
  
• STEP 3: Lay your pastry out and cut down the middle and then decide each strip into 3. Then melt your vegan margarine in a mug in the microwave, you’ll need a pastry brush!
  
  
• STEP 4: Place a tablespoon of mix in the centre of each piece of pastry, then brush the reminding pastry on show with margarine.
  
  
• STEP 5: Fold your pastry over and then press down along the edges with your fingers, and then with the back of a fork to seal.
  
  
• STEP 6: Place on a papered tray and then brush each one on top with your margarine, then stab 2 or 3 little holes in the top of each.
  
  
• STEP 7: In a small bowl mix together your remaining sugar and your cinnamon and the sprinkle over the top of your apple turnovers!
  
  
• STEP 8: Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown! You can either serve them warm with some vegan custard or ice cream, or leave them to cool and eat them over the next 3 days.

How did your turnovers turn out?

It makes a change to make a fruity sweet treat instead of just chocolate all the time! How did you get on? Did you do anything differently? We'd love to know!

If you're looking for something else to try, why not try our Gooey Blueberry Muffins Recipe? 

We sold them at our stall at the Kind Heart Festival and they went down a storm! 

On to Blueberry Muffins >>

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Written by Amy Northwood
Her-Bivore
My passion for food and conservation has led me to where I am now! My aim is to show people that veganism can be diverse, tasty and adapted to fit every lifestyle and budget!
You can find me on Instagram

This millionaire shortbread recipe is gauranteed to impress. It takes a bit of time but is definitly worth it. This one is miles better than any shop bought I've ever found, but I cannot promise you'll be able to stop yourself eating the whole thing.

I love cake and I love cookie dough. It obviously made sense to bring the two together and make a recipe!

This is a little bit more complicated than a normal cupcake recipe because the cupcakes have actual cookie dough in the centre, as well as cookie dough icing on top. You can skip this bit of the recipe and just have a cookie dough ball on top but that's not the right attitude. Trust me, it will be worth it!

Although the cookie dough obviously doesn't contain any egg, it is also important to ensure the flour has been heated to a tempature at which bateria will be removed as raw flour can be a source of e-coli.

Whether you are making these for a party, a work do, a gathering or just as a go-to snack, you are going to love these cupcakes! Let us know how you get on in the comments below. If you made any changes to the recipe, we'd love to know! (Unless of course you skimped on cookie dough, in which case... well)

Recipe

Servings: 24

Total Time: 1H

Ingredients:

For the Cupcakes (Dry)

• 2 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1 1/2 cups caster sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

For the Cupcakes (Wet)

• 1 1/3 cups almond milk (soy will also work.)
• 2/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

For the Cookie Dough Center

• 1/2 cup vegan margarine
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp almond milk
• a pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

For the Icing/Frosting

• 1 cup vegan margarine
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp almond milk
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• a small handful of vegan chocolate (chopped small)

Method:

• STEP 1: Preheat oven to 180c. In a large bowl mix together all your dry ingredients for the cupcakes, and in a separate bowl mix together your wet ingredients for your cupcakes.
  
  
• STEP 2: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and whisk together until the mix just comes together, then divide evenly into your 24 cupcake cases.
  
  
• STEP 3: Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown. To check if they are cooked, insert a cocktail stick into the centre of one of the cakes, if they are ready it will come out clean. Place on a cooling rack to cool.
  
  
• STEP 4: In the meantime, place the flour for your cookie dough in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on full power for 45-60 seconds or until the temperature in the centre reaches 72c. Then cream together your margarine and brown sugar for your cookie dough centre.  Add your vanilla, almond milk and salt, then your flour. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and you’re good to go!
  
  
• STEP 5: Once your cupcakes are slightly cooled, use the large side of an icing nozzle (or something similar) and make a hole in each cupcake by pressing it into the centre. Use a teaspoon to remove the section of cake (but don’t eat them! You still need them!)
  
  
• STEP 6: Roll your cookie dough centre into small balls and place one into the centre of each cupcake, and then press your removed cake back on to the top.
  
  
• STEP 7: Wait until the cupcakes have completely cooled before icing them, but once they are cool cream together the margarine, brown sugar, vanilla and almond milk. Add your icing sugar and then your flour and salt. Stir in your chopped chocolate.
  
  
• STEP 8: Pipe on to the cakes using a large nozzle so your chocolate doesn’t get stuck. At this point, you can either leave them as they are after this or sprinkle with mini vegan chocolate chips or I used my remaining cookie dough to make little balls to go on top too! if you try any other vegan toppings, let me know (I think crushed Oreo’s would also work great!).

How did you get on?

This was probably a fairly tricky recipe but I hope you enjoyed it!

If you liked it, then please do give it a share so other people can give it a go.

If you are looking for a simpler recipe then you should check out my quick and easy vegan chocolate cupcake recipe. It only has two ingredients so it definitely won’t be as stressful! 

>> To Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

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Written by Amy Northwood
Her-Bivore
My passion for food and conservation has led me to where I am now! My aim is to show people that veganism can be diverse, tasty and adapted to fit every lifestyle and budget!
You can find me on Instagram

Vegan Scones

Scones, a must have for any Afternoon Tea or Cream Tea. While they originated in Scotland in the early 1500s, they’ve come a long way since then, and now you can make your own vegan scones which taste as good as any other!

I split my mix in half and made 5 fruit and 5 plain, but you can do all plain by leaving the fruit out completely or all fruit by adding double the amount of fruit and adding it to the lot.

You’ll want a 3inch round cutter for cutting them out. You could make mini scones, but you’ll need to adjust your cooking times accordingly. 

Recipe

Servings: 10

Total Time: 25

Ingredients:

• 500g/3.25 cups self raising flour
• 125g/0.5 cups vegan margarine
• 100g/1/2 cup caster sugar
• 2tsp baking powder
• 200ml/ 1 cup water
• 115g/ 0.75 cups raisins (optional)

Method:

• STEP 1: In a mixing bowl, add your baking powder, flour and vegan margarine and rub between your fingers until it forms a breadcrumb texture.
  
  
• STEP 2: Add your sugar and mix in, then place the bowl onto an electric mixer, add your water and use the beater to gently mix until combined.
  
  
• STEP 3: Your mix should be a nice dough texture. Remove from the bowl and mix in your rasins
  
  
• STEP 4: On a floured surface, gently knead your mix and add a little flour if its too soft, roll it out so its about 4cm thick. Use your cutter to cut the scones out and place them on a papered baking tray. Keep remoulding and rolling your mix until you’ve used it all up.
  
  
• STEP 5: Bake for 12-15 minutes or until they look golden brown. Another good way to test is to take one off the tray, and gently tap the bottom, it should sound hollow.
  
  
• STEP 6: Serve warm with vegan margarine and jam or cool completely and store in an airtight container. These are also great for freezing, just make sure you give yourself enough time for them to fully defrost before eating!

How did you get on?

The vegan scones in our house were “scone” before we knew it…. *queue tumbleweed*

Did you make any changes to the recipe? Did you have any additions? Most importantly, jam or vegan cream on top?? We’d love for you to share your thoughts with us!

<< Back To Snacks

Written by Amy Northwood
Her-Bivore
My passion for food and conservation has led me to where I am now! My aim is to show people that veganism can be diverse, tasty and adapted to fit every lifestyle and budget!
You can find me on Instagram

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The spread of speculation and myths around veganism in the world seems to grow at an equal rate to the lifestyle itself. It can feel impossible to try and sort fact from fiction and to establish a real answer to your health related questions, so we’re scoured high and low in the world of nutritionists to bring you a comprehensive blog about B12.

It’s worth mentioning that I’m not a qualified nutritionist, which for this might be a positive. While I don’t have the paperwork myself to back up what I’ve found, I’ve taken into account the opinions of several health professionals when putting together this article for you!

As always, if you have any concerns about your health, make sure you see your own doctor! If you worry you may be deficient in anything, they’ll be able to run blood tests and tailor a treatment plan around your specific needs.

Let’s get back to B12, while as I’ve said, I’m not a healthcare professional who can give you specific advice on this matter, I am a paramedic student. From my own experience, the amount of elderly people who are prescribed a B12 supplement is far higher than the number of elderly vegans, seeing as I don’t think I’ve ever knowingly come across one.

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 isn't made by either animals or plants. It is produced by microbes in the soil. In this day and age, it is hard for us to get this vitamin in our diet. The same applies to meat eaters. This is because millions of years ago, we sourced our diet the same way animals did. We would drink from streams or pull vegetables out the ground and it never occurred to us to wash them. Therefore, we got this vitamin from literally eating dirt.

Now, animals do still get this vitamin from the grass they eat and whatnot. One may assume that as they are eating from the ground and that they are getting this nutrient that it would, therefore, occur in their flesh, right?

 Nope, they're not eating enough to give you your vitamin B12 recommended dosage from them and most of it is removed from the meat when cooked anyway.

So vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians, omnivores... we're all subject to a vitamin B12 deficiency.

What happens if you don't get enough?

Vitamin B12 is primarily supplementing your immune system. Without enough B12, your body might not be producing enough red blood cells and the red blood cells you do have will be abnormally large and not very efficient. This can lead to some forms of anaemia. This could lead to the following:

• Problems with the nervous system

• Temporary infertility

• Heart conditions

• Pregnancy complications

Pretty scary right? So these are the symptoms you need to watch out for:

• Extreme tiredness

• Pins and needles

• Mouth ulcers

• A sore, red tongue

• Muscle weakness

• Disturbed vision

• Depression or confusion

• Problems with memory, understanding or judgement

I apologise to the hypochondriacs out there. Although tiredness, confusion, memory loss, lack of understanding and judgement is all just part of a regular day for me! I'm taking supplements so those are just character traits, unfortunately...

Source: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamin-b12-or-folate-deficiency-anaemia/

How to get vitamin B12

You will find that some foods are fortified with vitamin B12 such as yeast extract, breakfast cereals and soya products.

However, experts such as Michael Greger and Michael Klaper say that the cleanest, safest, cheapest and most reliable source of vitamin B12 is in supplements. There is a stigma surrounding supplements that they are "unnatural" and if we're having to take them, we're obviously not doing something right.

This isn't the case. It's a sad situation that current agricultural practices are wiping out our natural sources of this through sanitation. We could consider this unnatural in itself. This doesn't just come down to a vegan diet, everyone should be taking a B12 supplement to get their recommended intake.

Which Brand is Best?

This is a lengthy question, but the easy answer realistically is that it doesn’t really matter! You can take just a B12 supplement or you could take a complete multivitamin. Whatever your requirements, there will be a multivitamin out there to suit you.

As with most medical things, it can be a bit more comforting to stick to a reputable brand, so this one from The Vegan Kind Supermarket is perfect for just that, and with all 5* reviews, you know it’s good.

Written by Jack Ricketts
-Him-Bivore
Marketing has always been my career focus. I am striving to promote a plant-based lifestyle to the masses through positive campaigns and sharing the benefits of veganism. The animals, and the planet, need us more than ever to make a change. 
You can find me on Instagram