Cherry Quince Turnovers

Quince strikes again! Mike’s mother sent us a recipe for gluten-free “crescent roll dough.” We couldn’t resist trying it out. There were some quince hanging out in the refrigerator. Crescent roll dough + Quince + a few extra goodies = Cherry Quince Turnovers!

Mike’s mother is in a Yahoo group for Celiacs in the St. Louis area, which is where the recipe came from. So thanks go to “Jen” of the StLouisAlerts Yahoo group for sharing this gluten-free dough recipe.

For the dough:

• 1 stick of butter, room temperature
• 1 cup small curd cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1 cup oat flour
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup potato starch
• 2 teaspoons xanthan gum
• scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons sugar

For the filling:

• 2 quince, cut into small chunks
• 1/4 cup dried cherries
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• splash of vanilla extract
• 1/2 tablespoon butter

1. Start by making your dough. Combine all the dry ingredients, making sure they are thoroughly mixed, set aside. Then combine the butter, cottage cheese, cream cheese in a mixer until well combined, then add the cider vinegar.  Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and continue mixing until a ball forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
2. When you’re ready to make your turnovers, mix all the filling ingredients, except the butter, in a bowl. Heat the butter in a medium sized frying pan over medium high heat. Once the butter is melted, add the filling ingredients and cook for about 5 minutes, until the quince are softened. Set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 10 balls. On a well floured surface, press out the balls into a circle. Spoon some of the filling into one half of the circle, then fold over the other half. Finally, fold over the edges to create a seal. Place on the baking sheet. Repeat with the other 9 balls.
4. Cut a couple little slits in the top of the turnovers. Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

(Makes 10 turnovers)

Now, I will be up front with you: When you hear “crescent roll” or “turnover” you likely think of very light, flaky, buttery dough. This dough is good, and similar to pastry dough, but don’t expect the flakiness of normal wheat-filled pastry dough.

Also, we added an extra tablespoon of sugar to the dough, since we knew we were using it for turnovers. This dough certainly could have other uses if you lowered the sugar content (pizza dough, for example).

You can help the edges of the dough stick together by mixing 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of water. Paint that along the edges of the dough before you fold the top half over the filling. You can use then paint the egg wash over the top of the turnovers to give them a little sheen.

As to the taste, I thought a bit more orange zest wouldn’t hurt, but Mike thought the turnovers were fine as is. I’m also sure many people would want to add cinnamon/nutmeg/cloves/allspice/cardamom etc. to the filling. And I’m sure that would taste great, we just didn’t feel like doing that this go round.

I suppose I should also mention that you don’t have to cook the filling. Mike just likes his sweets extra gooey. Decide based upon what texture you want your fruit.

Mike adds: While quince are great, they’d probably be just as good with apple instead.

Looking for More Gluten-Free Vegetarian Recipes?

I recommend The Gluten-Free Vegetarian Kitchen, by Donna Klein. See it on Amazon. Read reviews on Amazon.

• More than 200 tasty recipes,
• Numerous tips for succesful gluten-free cooking and baking, and
• Nutritional information (calories, grams of protein, fat, carbs, etc.) for every recipe.