More on the berry hit parade--we're still swimming in them around here! And berries, especially red and blue ones, make me think of July 4th which is a convenient little excuse for me to segue into these delightful breakfast treats. If you're looking for a fun way to liven up a relaxed July 4th weekend breakfast or brunch, these berry filled turnovers will definitely fit the patriotic bill!

I tend to fall into "the breakfast rut" pretty easily, you know, eggs and toast, cold cereal or oatmeal--I think most of us generally do, especially when we're busy. That's why, when it's a holiday, and we have some downtime, I like to change it up a bit and serve something for breakfast that's a little bit out of the ordinary. With these turnovers you get light flaky pastry and a gooey sweet fruity filling--definitely not on the menu for regular Monday through Fridays! 

These are not difficult to make but there are several steps involved. However, you can do almost everything the day before so that all that's left to do is pop them in the oven in the morning. You start by making the dough and this can even be done a few days in advance and kept chilled. Once the dough is firm enough, you cut out fairly large circles and chill them again, eventually brushing them with an egg wash

And filling them mounds of macerated extremely juicy fruit!!

Now comes the fun part. You fold the dough over so you get half moons and crimp the edges with a fork. If you're overzealous with the fruit (like I was--I just couldn't help myself), you may experience a little leakage, but who cares?! Nobody will be thinking about neatness after they take their first flaky fruity bite. Nor will they be thinking about it after their second or third or fourth!!! It's summer--give yourself a break!

The pastry is buttery and flaky and the fruit gets all melted and jammy-like! Adorably individual and portable! Definitely a crowd pleaser! Make these soon while all the great berries are still in season. I'm promise they'll have you whistling "Yankee Doodle Dandy" all day long, which I guess could be kind of annoying but for the upcoming weekend seems entirely perfect!

Strawberry Blueberry Turnovers

Makes 8 turnovers

One thing that makes this easier is to make the dough the day a day or two ahead of time so that all you have to do is put the turnovers together and you can do this the night before too, leave them to chill in the fridge and just pop into the oven in the morning for a special breakfast!

Prep Time for the dough: 15 minutes (plus at least 1 hour of chilling time); Prep Time for turnovers: 40 minutes (plus an hour for chilling before baking) Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients

For the Pastry dough

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt

• 1/2 cup ice water

• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar

• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

For the Turnovers

• 2 cups mixed fresh berries ( I used sliced strawberries and blueberries)

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

• 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

• 2 eggs, lightly beaten with a pinch of fine sea salt to make an egg wash

The Recipe

1.  To make the pasty dough:  Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside. 

2.  In a measuring cup, combine the water and vinegar and set aside.

3.  Toss the butter cubes gently in the flour mixture to coat them. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour, so that there are various sized pieces of butter, small and pea-like to larger clumps. Pour in half the water mixture and use a fork to stir the mixture together lightly so that the flour is evenly moistened and the dough is starting to come together. Keep adding the rest of the water slowly and tossing the mixture with a fork. The dough will still look a bit crumbly but if you grab a piece of it and press it with your hand, it should mostly hold together.

4.  Turn the dough out onto an unfloured board or counter and gather it into a tight mound. Use the heel of your hand to smear the dough a bit at a time, pushing it away from you and working your way down the dough to create flat layers of flour and butter. Use a bench scraper or a spatula to gather the dough back into a ball and repeat the whole process a couple more times. You'll still be able to see a few bigger pieces of butter--that's good. Cut the dough in half and flatten each half into a disk. Wrap well in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.

5.  To make the turnovers:  Remove the dough from the fridge. If it's very hard, let it sit out a bit until it softens enough that you can roll it out. Flour a board or counter and roll out one of the disks into a 10 inch square, about 1/8 inch thick. Using a 5 inch cookie cutter or a large bowl that measures about that, cut out 4 equal circles and transfer to a baking sheet. Cover and place in the fridge for about 20 minutes, repeating the whole process with the other dough half.

6.  Meanwhile prepare the filling. Place the berries in a medium bowl and toss with the sugar, salt, cornstarch, lemon zest and lemon juice and set aside.

7.  Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the dough circles from the fridge and brush the edges of each circle with the egg wash. Divide the filling evenly among the circles, leaving a 1/2 border around the edges. Fold over each circle to make a half circle and press down on the edges to seal them. Use a fork to crimp the edges and transfer to the lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour or overnight. Cover the egg wash and chill also.

8.  When ready to bake the turnovers, preheat oven to 425ºF. Remove the sheet from the fridge and lightly brush the tops of the turnovers with the egg wash. Use a small sharp knife to cut 3 small slits on the top of each of the turnovers. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the tops are golden and the filling is hot and bubbly. Let sit for about 10-15 minutes and serve.

Enjoy!

Note:  Recipe adapted from The Back in the Day Bakery Made with Love by Cheryl and Griffith Day.