These super quick and easy Blackberry Fruit Turnovers are flaky and light with a sweet but still tart fruit filling wrapped in puff pastry. They’re a great alternative to crumble or jam in bramble picking season and ideal all year as a warm dessert or grab and go snack!
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My obsession with puff pastry continues. And my latest fruit obsession (I’m trying to move on from peaches) is blackberries. Or brambles if you prefer. So it was only natural that I’d try and make a marriage of the two with these blackberry turnovers.
And oh my gosh, they are good. Really good in fact. I’ve added a crunchy sugar coating which just adds another level to the flaky pastry and sweet fruit. But don’t worry, the whole package is perfectly balanced. Not too sweet and not too sour.
Are Blackberries the Same As Brambles?
You might notice that I use the terms blackberry and bramble quite interchangeably in this post.
That’s because for the most part they are the same thing, especially here in the UK. In the simplest terms, brambles are simply wild blackberries. What we forage here in late summer and call brambles are blackberries.
The slightly more complicated answer is that the term “bramble” actually refers to a whole group of wild growing berries. This can also include raspberries and a similar looking fruit called dewberries. And in the US, the term caneberry is more often used than bramble.
Bonus fun fact about blackberries: They aren’t berries at all but aggregate fruits. Each small part of the fruit called a drupelet is an individual fruit. So what we consider the berry is actually lots of tiny fruits all joined together.
How to Serve Blackberry Turnovers
I’ve not really eaten that many fruit turnovers until now. But I’ve found that just like sausage rolls, they’re as great eaten warm as they are cold.
As for cold, or more importantly, room temperature, you can simply grab them and go. Or to take them to the next level, you can give them a cheeky glaze of icing sugar mixed with lemon juice and a little blackberry juice for colour.
Warmed a little (be careful not to dive in when they are really hot or the fruit will burn you) and they made the perfect snack or dessert. I like to serve them with ice cream or whipped cream. Or for a more warning dessert, with custard powder custard.
One is plenty for a really good sized dessert or snack. If you wanted smaller portions, you could consider either splitting them or making them half sized.
Make Puff Pastry Turnovers into a Feast
I truly believe that you can make any dish into a proper feast! Whether thats a feast for one after work on a Tuesday, a casual feast for four on a Friday evening or a feast for 12 for a special occasion!
Fruit turnovers are perfect picnic food. Full of the joys of summer and totally transportable. Pack them up with some Scotch Eggs and Chicken Satay Skewers for a savoury element, throw in some Chilli & Oregano Soda Bread and you’re good to go.
Don’t forget to head over to my Feast Collection pages to find all of my tips and tricks to help you host a fun and stress-free feast. Plus remember to check out my recipe index to create your own awesome Feast!
Ingredients for Bramble Turnovers
Blackberries
I used shop bought blackberries to create this recipe as it was too early in the year to buy or pick native fruit. But using any will be fine, including frozen blackberries.
If you are struggling to make up the number of blackberries you need for the recipe, you can always use from dark fruit jam to bulk out the filling a little.
Puff Pastry
As always I must mention the glory that is Homemade Puff Pastry. Because it is fun to make and absolutely delicious. But there is nothing at all wrong with using store bought pastry.
If you are buying the pastry, I highly recommend buying the ready rolled variety as it is the perfect thickness and size to cut 6 even squares. That is true here in the UK in any event.
Sugar
Just a quick note about the sugar. I have used white caster (superfine) sugar. It doesn’t matter if you use regular granulated sugar as it will be melted in any event. But please do not use brown sugar in the filling. It adds a caramel note that I do not think works with the blackberries.
As for the demerara (turbinado) sugar that I use on the outside, this is perfect as it retains its crunch after cooking. If you cannot get hold of this, granulated (regular) white sugar would be the best alternative. A soft brown or dark sugar will simply melt and not be suitable.
Cornflour
I am usually adamant that cornflour should never be added to a dish without being mixed with water first. But this is the one time that I’m ok with it being added and tossed with the fruit without being made into a slurry.
Be Flexible
Once you have mastered the concept of making a fruit pie filling, you can use the same method with many various fruits. There are however two things you need to take into account.
Firstly the amount of liquid that it will release. For more watery fruits, you will need more cornflour. Secondly how sweet the fruit is. For tarter fruits you will need more sugar and for sweeter fruits, a little less.
For a truly cheat version, just use a chunky jam or preserve. The bonus here is that you don’t even need to cook it before filling the pastry! It is also a great opportunity to use homemade fruit curds like Peach or Plum Curd.
You can also vary the shape of the pastries. You can make a kind of pop tart shape like with my Sweet Pizza Pockets or small Puff Pastry Pies. Or you can cut out rounds to make full or half circle hand pies.
What you should avoid is any kind of pastry shape which is open like a sausage roll or pastry wrap. Otherwise the filling will simply escape all over the place.
Make it Vegetarian or Vegan
These blackberry turnovers are naturally suitable for vegetarians. And they are really easy to make vegan too.
Most commercially produced standard puff pastry is vegan. So providing you check the label and avoid the “all-butter” varieties, the pastry shouldn’t be an issue.
So the only swap to make is the egg. I would recommend using a neutral flavoured plant based milk or even better, cream. You won’t get the same level of golden brown on the pastry but the flavour shouldn’t be any different.
Make it Allergy Friendly
This recipe is free from dairy and nuts.
Gluten Free: Gluten free puff pastry is now readily available, including the ready rolled variety. If you can’t find it in the chiller section, try the freezer. There are no other substitutions required.
Egg Free: The egg is easy to replace with milk or cream. The colour on the pastry won’t be as brown after baking but it will still be delicious!
Please note that this recipe may contain other allergens not referred to above and any variations suggested have not been tested unless otherwise stated. For more information regarding any dietary information provided on this website, please refer to my Nutritional Disclaimer.
Equipment Notes for Blackberry Fruit Turnovers
You do not need an awful lot of equipment to make these pastries but you will need some kitchen basics.
A baking tray of some sort will obviously be required. And I would highly recommend lining it even if it tells you it is non stick.
I also thought quite carefully about the saucepan and spatula that I chose to use when making the blackberry filling. Because blackberries stain! I recommend avoiding anything wooden entirely and choosing dark coloured silicone wherever possible. And then rinsing everything as soon as possible.
A comprehensive list of the equipment used to make this recipe is included in the main recipe card below. Click on any item to see an example. There are no hard and fast rules so many items can be sensibly substituted to achieve the same results.
Get Ahead
These pastries keep fully cooked really well. So you can easily get a few days ahead. You can also make up the pastries and keep them in the fridge for up to 24 hours before taking them out and baking. But you do need to keep them chilled however.
You can also make up the pastries and freeze them raw or baked. I would not recommend baking from frozen due to their size but they shouldn’t take long to thaw if left on the counter.
Leftover Blackberry Pastries
Leftovers will keep really well in a airtight container. You can also freeze them.
If the pastry feel like it is getting a little dry, give them a little blast in the microwave or oven to revive them.
Bramble Fruit Turnover Tips
Please please do not stress if you get blackberry juice coming out the sides of the pastry when you are folding and making them. I could not manage to keep them tidy for love nor money. And there is really no need to try,
Cutting the slits in the top of the pastry is for 2 reasons. To allow the pastry more room to expand and some some of the filling can bubble out. If the slits close up a little on baking, you can always take a knife to them and open them back up part way through cooking.
I like to be able to see the filling so a bit escaping the edges hurts no one!
Please allow them to cool a little before eating, no matter how delicious they looks. The filling will be scalding hot when fresh out the oven – it is basically hot jam!
Do be careful when moving the folded pastries onto the baking tray. If you are nervous, you should make them directly on the tray. Just use a bigger tray than you would otherwise.
Don’t forget to let me know in the comments if you try making this recipe – I want to know what you think and if you made any substitutions, how did it turn out?
Still Have Questions?
Simple! Just contact me and I will do my best to help as quickly as I am able. Head over to my Contact Me page, any of my social media channels or post a comment at the bottom of this page and I’ll see what I can do.
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The Recipe
Blackberry Fruit Turnovers with Puff Pastry Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 250 g Blackberries
- 1 tbsp Cornflour (Cornstarch)
- 40 g Caster Sugar (Superfine Sugar)
- 1 Egg
- 320 g Puff Pastry
- 1 tbsp Demerara Sugar (Turbinado Sugar)
Optional Glaze
- 1 tsp Icing Sugar (Confectioner’s Sugar) - for dusting
- 3 Blackberries
- 100 g Icing Sugar (Confectioner’s Sugar)
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
Instructions
Make the Filling
- Add 250g Blackberries to a small saucepan along with 1 tbsp Cornflour.
- Turn the berries in the cornflour until they’re coated. Try to make sure that there isn’t any cornflour just sitting on the bottom of the pan.
- Add 40g Caster Sugar to the berries and start to heat the pan over a gentle heat.
- Keep stirring the berries (do not under any circumstances walk away). The sugar will start to melt and the berries will start to release their juices.
- Cook for around 5 minutes until the berries are mostly soft. Use your spatula to crush some of the berries whilst leaving others whole or nearly whole.
- Take the filling off the heat and leave it to cool thoroughly. If you are in a rush, transfer it to a bowl rather than leaving it in the pan.
Make the Turnovers
- Preheat the oven to 200c fan | 200c | 390c or equivalent. Line a medium baking tin.
- Beat 1 Egg in a small bowl ready for the egg wash.
- Unroll a 320g Puff Pastry sheet. Or roll out pastry until around ½ cm thick. Use a sharp knife to cut the pastry into 6 squares. They will be roughly 11cm or 4 ½“ square.
- Make the pastries one at a time. Don’t be tempted to work in batches or the filling will end up everywhere. So take one square and either lay in on the lined baking tray or on your board with space around it.
- Use a pastry brush to brush egg along two adjoining sides of the pastry square.
- Spoon around 40g of the cooled filling mix onto the centre of the pastry. Try to keep it away from the edges and largely towards the sides with the egg wash.
- Bring the un egg-washed corner of the pastry over the filling to meet the opposite corner. Work quickly to use your fingers to press the edges together.
- Use a fork to press together the edges more. Don’t worry if some of the filling starts coming out and onto the pastry – it all adds to the final look.
- Repeat with the remaining pastry squares and filling. Move each turnover onto the baking tray as you’re done.
- Use more of the beaten egg to coat each of the pastries.
- Generously sprinkle roughly 1 tbsp Demerara Sugar over the pastries.
- Use the tip of a sharp knife to make some cuts in the top of each pastry. Make sure to cut the pastry all the way through to the filling.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the pastries are golden and bubbly.
- Allow to cool a little on a rack before glazing.
Make the Blackberry Glaze
- Push 3 Blackberries through a sieve into a mixing bowl. Discard the pips and pulp.
- Measure 100g Icing Sugar and 1 tbsp Lemon Juice into the same bowl. Start to mix it all together.
- Keep stirring until it has all combined. You can add a little extra lemon juice if needed but don't go in too early – it comes together all of a sudden.
Serve the Turnovers
- Dust the turnovers with 1 tsp Icing Sugar and then drizzle over the glaze. Serve!
Cat says
I love blackberry picking and always have puff pastry in the freezer so these are the perfect quick and easy sweet treat for me to bake. They look so tasty!
Janice says
Great recipe! So easy to make and so very delicious, I predict I will be making these all summer.
Lesley says
Blackberries encased in pastry – say no more. I love a proper fruit turnover!