Cherry Turnovers

Danish Pastry Dough, mentioned in this post from last November, is truly great stuff.  Producing a pastry with multiple crisp, buttery layers, anything you make from it--an tart, croissants, danishes or turnovers, for instance--is sure to be a crowd-pleaser. 

Someone please remind me next January or February to make a few extra batches of this dough and store it in the freezer.  Please. 

Why?  Because when cherry season hits (late May through June) it's just too darn hot to spend hours in the kitchen folding dough and waiting for it to rise and chill.  (And on the weekends when it isn't too hot, it's too nice outside to be stuck in the house babysitting a batch of dough.)  But when cherry season hits, I definitely want a couple batches on Danish Pastry dough at the ready so that I can make Cherry Turnovers or Blueberry Turnovers or Chocolate Croissants or...

I pulled my last batch of Danish Pastry Dough out of the freezer after picking some cherries at my mom's house recently, because Jason wanted cherry turnovers.  Cherry pitting is hard work, but you'll be glad to know that this recipe requires less than one basket of cherries, so it's not too bad.  If fact, once you've pitted those cherries and made the dough, you're almost finished.  And as I mentioned before, people tend to go nuts over fresh-from-the-oven buttery pastries with pockets of freshly picked, sweet, summery fruit.

Cherry Turnovers
Makes 8 turnovers.

one recipe Danish Pastry Dough
one heaping cup pitted cherries, quartered (This is approximately equal to one pint cherries, minus the stems and pits and minus the handful of cherries that one must use as "tastes" while pitting the rest.)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
pinch of kosher salt
all-purpose flour for rolling

 Preheat oven to 400F.  Line two rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper.

Gently combine quartered cherries, sugar, cornstarch and salt.  Let sit a few minutes.

Roll chilled pastry dough into a large rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Get the rectangle as big as you can get it without it tearing.  I usually end up with something about eight or ten inches by 16 or 18 inches.  Using a pizza cutter or a sharp knife cut the rectangle into eight 5" squares.  If need be, roll each square gently after cutting to maximize surface area.  If butter seeps through while rolling, sprinkle the exposed butter with flour just enough flour to cover. 

Picture each square divided in half diagonally.  One by one, place one heaping tablespoon of cherry filling on one half of each square.  Use your finger to wet the edge of the square with just a little water, then fold the other side of the square over the filling, forming a triangle.  Seal the edges by pressing down with the times of a fork.

Set filled turnovers on parchment-lined baking sheets and let rest at room temperature 15 minutes.

Bake turnovers 15-20 minutes, rotating baking sheets halfway through, until golden brown.  Let sit at least 10 minutes before serving.