Blackberry Liqueur Turnovers: Part 1

Feb
29

2008

Blackberry Liqueur Turnovers: Part 1

Some of the tastiest pastries you can make from the leftover strainings from blackberry liqueur are blackberry liqueur turnovers. They are very easy to make and they go over very big at parties and gatherings.

Two of the ingredients in the blackberry liqueur recipe is lemon zest and lemon juice. The strainings will contain small amounts of macerated lemon zest. Lemon is a very harmonious flavor with the blackberries. The lemon flavor is enhanced in this recipe by adding a lemon sugar glaze over the baked turnovers. That is one quality that makes this recipe special.

Blackberry Liqueur Turnovers

Save the straining mash from blackberry liqueur in a Mason jar.

Berry Filling Ingredients:

2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
1 1/4 cups strained blackberry mash from liqueur batch
dash of salt
3/8 cup water
4 teaspoons corn starch
4 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup sugar

Berry Filling Preparation:

Mix the water, 2 cups fresh berries, salt and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes. Crush the berries with a wooden spoon while stirring. The berries should be softening and the liquid berry colored.
Whisk corn starch into the mixture. Make sure it is fully dissolved. Cook until mixture darkens and clarifies (until the lightness of the corn starch goes away).
Add butter, and stir until melted.
Remove from heat and add the berry mash from the liqueur batch. Stir until all is coated with the glaze.
Chill until consistency of berry preserves — spreadable.

Lemon Glaze Ingredients:

4 tablespoons evaporated milk
2 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 cups confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)

Lemon Glaze Preparation:

Mix the evaporated milk and lemon juice in a small measuring cup (like 1/4 cup) and heat over flame until heated — not boiling, then gradually add to the sugar a few drops at a time until it is the proper consistency. Add a few drops of water at a time to thin, or add more powdered sugar to thicken. Set aside until after baking.

Turnover Crust — Use prepared pie crust rolls — 9 in dia., 2 to a box. Roll them out with a rolling pin until they are about 13 inches in diameter. Slice into 4 quarters. Then spread about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the berry filling over half of the slice, leaving about 1/2 inch margin around the edges. Fold the crust in half so it is in the shape of a pie wedge, then use the handle of the wooden spoon to crimp the edges. Then poke holes with a fork.

Preheat oven to 400°. Place turnovers on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the crust is light brown around the edges. Remove from oven and spread the sugar glaze with a brush.

Makes about 32 – 36 turnovers

Part I – Making the Filling

Shown below is a shot of the ingredients used in this recipe: sugar, corn starch, butter and blackberries. In this example I will be making a half-batch — in other words I divided the amounts of all the ingredients in half. I am using two boxes of pie crusts. There are 2 pie crusts per box. This half-batch will make 16 turnovers.

Start by adding the blackberries, sugar and water in a saucepan.

Cook over a medium flame, crushing the berries with a wooden spoon.

After a few minutes, whisk the corn starch into the mixture. Stir thoroughly until all the the corn starch is dissolved and the mixture clarifies (the corn starch is no longer white).