Apple-Pear Pockets

Eat these tasty treats cold or warm and the flavours will explode in your mouth, giving you the nice taste of cinnamon and the wonderful texture of almond. The pear and apple make them perfect.

Filling:
2 cups (500 ml) Granny Smith apples, diced
2 cups (500 ml) pears, diced
1 Tbsp (15 ml) butter
1/2 cup (125 ml) sultana raisins
1/2 cup (125 ml) almond slivers, toasted
2 Tbsp (30 ml) apple cider
1 Tbsp (15 ml) Rapadura sugar
1 tsp (5 ml) ground cinnamon
1 tsp (5 ml) cornstarch
1 Tbsp (15 ml) cold water

Pastry:
2 cups (500 ml) whole-wheat flour
Pinch sea salt
1/4 cup (60 ml) Rapadura sugar
1 Tbsp (15 ml) baking powder
3/4 cup (180 ml) butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup (125 ml) buttermilk
1 Tbsp (15 ml) butter, to grease baking sheet

In a small bowl, soak raisins in apple cider for half an hour then strain. Set aside the remaining apple cider. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a baking sheet with butter.

To prepare the filling, heat butter on low in a saucepan, add apples and pears; cook until soft. Add raisins, almonds, apple cider, Rapadura and cinnamon and stir slowly with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat and let cool until set. The liquid should be fully absorbed and fruit chunks soft.

To prepare the pastry, combine flour, salt, two tablespoons (30 ml) Rapadura and baking powder. Add cold butter and combine with your fingertips. Add buttermilk and work into a dough.

Roll out the dough and cut into two-inch by four-inch (five by 10 cm) rectangles. Place one heaping tablespoon of filling on each piece of dough, fold the dough over and pinch it closed.

Sprinkle each pocket with remaining Rapadura then place them on greased baking sheet and bake in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown. Makes 18 to 20 pockets.

Source: alive #218, December 2000