Apple Cinnamon Pocket Pastries

I created these apple cinnamon pocket pastries in partnership with Melt organic.  All opinions are my own.

Sunday mornings around here are my favorite. They are the only day of the week that I get to unplug and the whole family gets to hang out in our jammies and just do nothing. We watch movies on the couch, construct sheet forts and pretty much just take the day to unwind from everything that happened the week before. It’s also the only day of the week that the family sits down together for a big breakfast. Throughout the week Judah eats breakfast at school, Kaia has cereal or fruit and my husband and I skip it altogether, so having one day that we all share a family breakfast is something we look forward to each week. My husband and I usually take turns doing the cooking, and even though I thoroughly enjoy it I am more than just a little tired of biscuits and waffles. They are delicious, but having them week after week gets old so I decided to switch things up with a better for you version of a popular sugar fueled breakfast pastry that I can feel good about serving to the whole family!

These pocket pastries are made with my favorite classic pie crust on the outside while the inside is stuffed with apples and cinnamon. While they aren’t quite as good for you as eating a bowl of fruit, I have found that swapping out my usual butter for MELT® Organic spread helps keep them in line with the smart ingredient choices that I like to stick to. MELT works really well in place of the butter – it is rich, creamy, high in Omega 3’s and made from “good fats” like Virgin Coconut and flaxseed oils. I love that each of their three flavor varieties are certified Organic an non GMO too!

I filled the pastries with Honeycrisp apples (my favorite ever) but the flavor possibilities are endless here – you can use strawberry, blueberry, cinnamon and sugar, even chocolate or peanut butter!  Yum, right?  Now let’s get to the recipe.  This will make around 9 2×3 inch pastries.  Here is what you need:

Apple Cinnamon Pocket Pastries

• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 cup MELT® Organic rich & creamy (chilled)
• 1/3 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp ice water
• 3-4 Honeycrisp apples
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• pastry cutter or fork
• Rolling pin
• baking sheet
• fork

The very first thing that you are going to do is prepare your dough.  It won’t take you long to mix up, but it will need to sit in the fridge for at least 20 minutes before you use it, so make sure to either give yourself plenty of time or make the dough the night before you need it.

To start your dough grab a large bowl and add flour and salt to it.  After that, add in cold MELT® spread one tablespoon at a time and mix it up with a pastry cutter or fork until you have a mealy texture.

Next, add in your ice water one tablespoon at a time and work it in until you have a dough that doesn’t stick to your hands.  I like to stay around 4 tablespoons of water, but how much you need to use will depend on a number of factors so make sure to add in *just* enough water to give you a nice workable dough.  Once your dough is formed roll it into a ball, wrap tightly with cling wrap and set in the fridge to chill for at least 20 minutes.

Once your dough is chilled enough go ahead and get your area ready and preheat your oven to 325 degrees. For this step you are going to need a cookie sheet, knife, apples, cinnamon, brown sugar and your dough. Make your filling by cutting up each apple into small squares and adding them to a small bowl with your cinnamon and brown sugar.  Stir thoroughly and then set that aside.

Now it’s time to assemble your pastries!  To do this divide your dough in half, roll it out, cut it into rectangles and arrange them on a baking sheet.  Make sure you aren’t rolling it out too thick or thin – I would say keep it under half a centimeter thick.

Next, put a small spoon full of apple filling in the center of each rectangle and then repeat your dough rolling/cutting step to add a top rectangle of dough to each one.  Press the sides together firmly and then mark around each pastry with a fork to make sure your sides are sealed.  Bake for 25 minutes or until they are a nice golden brown.  When they are ready they will look like this:

Now set them aside to cool completely.  You can stop at this step if you wish, but I’m going a little further and adding some homemade icing to mine.  If you choose to leave the icing off then you can serve these as is and they will be delicious, but if not then here is what you will need:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 4-5 tbsp cold milk
• 1 tbsp cinnamon

Just mix all three ingredients together thoroughly and then drizzle onto your pastries.  The icing will be a little runny but it will thicken and firm up in a few minutes.

Doesn’t that just look delicious?  They seriously taste amazing and the pastry has a light, buttery texture that just melts in your mouth!

I know I’m at photo overload right now but whoa.  Every.single.bite is like heaven.

My family adored these, and I’m happy to say they are now part of our regular Sunday morning rotation!  I love how flaky and pillowy they are, and using MELT® in place of butter really helped keep the texture soft without weighing them down.  Want to find MELT® for yourself?  Check the store finder here.  Happy baking!

MELT® Organic is a line of luscious, organic spreads made from healthy oils for butter lovers seeking a much healthier alternative, available in Rich & Creamy (original), Honey, and NEW Chocolate.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of MELT Organic. The opinions and text are all mine.