Apple turnovers or “Apple Maultaschen” is a traditional and historic German recipe. The specialty is rumored to have been invented by monks of the German monastery Maulbronn (located in Baden-Würtemberg) to conceal the fact that they were eating meat during lent. The monks hid the meat inside of the Maultaschen, believing that God couldn’t see it that way (This is reflected in the humorous alternative Swabian name “Goddammit” (which means roughly: “Little ones to cheat on the Lord”).
The fillings of these Maultaschen vary. You can add a meat filling or a sweet and fruity filling.
Maultaschen could also derive from the words “Maultatzen” or “Maultatschen” which is antiquated for a slap in the face. Thus the name could refer to the similarity between a swollen cheek and a “Maultaschen”. A cook book from 1794 contains several recipes for Maultaschen, but these are recipes for sweet desserts. It takes some time to make this dish and you should have some baking experience. This recipe is using potatoes for the dough. See the notes and tips. Happy Cooking!
Find here the recipe for the Bavarian Apple Maultaschen – It is different from this recipe.
Ingredients Apple Turnovers
2 eggs, 1 egg yolk, 15g salt, 200g flour, additional flour if necessary
6-7 medium size (1 kg) potatoes, in USA: Russet potatoes
6 tbsp flour
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
For the filling
1 tbsp cinnamon
3 tbsp sugar
100g butter
lemon juice
6 medium size apples (more on the sour side), peeled, and cut into small slices.
optional: raisins
powdered sugar
Cooking Instructions Apple Turnovers
– Boil potatoes the day before or let them cool off for at least 4-5 hours (this is very important!). If you make them the day before don’t place potatoes in the fridge. They shouldn’t be cold. Peel them when they are still warm.
– Next day grate potatoes and mash really fine. You also can use a potato press.
– Add flour, eggs and some salt to the grated potatoes and knead until you get a dough. Potatoes contain different starch amounts, so you might need more flour because the dough should not be sticky at all.
– Form the dough into a roll (diameter 5cm or 2 inches) and cut into 1 inch thick slices (12-14 pieces).
– On a wooden board sprinkle flour, flatten each piece first with the hand, then roll each piece into the size of your baking form, it needs to be pretty thin.
– Melt butter and spread over each piece of dough.
– Peel apples and cut them into small cubes or thin slices.
– Sprinkle with some lemon juice.
– Let them sit in the bowl for 5 minutes.
– If they are too wet drain them and keep the juice, we don’t want too much apple juice.
– On each piece of dough add some apples, sprinkle them with sugar.
– Option: Make a cinnamon-sugar mix and sprinkle it on apples.
– By using a spatula lift each piece of dough on one side so you can roll it. Press the sides gently so they are closed.
– Melt butter in a fire-proof form, place rolls tightly to each other.
– Brush melted butter on top of the rolls.
– Bake them for 45-60 minutes on 180 C or 350 F until the surface is golden-brown.
If you touch the turnovers they should feel like a fresh German roll crust. But inside they should be soft.
Serve them with vanilla sauce, vanilla ice cream, or whipped cream.
– Go to RECIPE: How to make Vanilla Sauce –
Tip
You can re-heat them again, they still taste delicious.
Notes:
Some add an egg to the potato dough, some say it is not needed.
You need a lot of lour in order to get the dough smooth and not sticky. It’s almost like a strudel dough which needs to be thin too.
Cut the apples roughly.
Add a tbsp of sour cream on top of the apples and also a handful of sugar.
After 30 minutes take the form out of the oven and add 3 tbsp sour cream on top. This creates a nice brown crust.
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