Apple-Cranberry Turnovers

This is the dessert that I made for our recent birthday boy. He loves apple pie and he loved these, too. They are super yummy. The apple mixture can be made a few days ahead and refrigerated. Assemble and bake right before eating. Enjoy!

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4 inch slices
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
heaping 1/2 t. cinnamon
1 T. butter
1 t. cornstarch dissolved in 1 T. cold water
6 sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed
canola oil

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the apples, cranberries, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is tender, about 10 minutes. Combine the cornstarch and cold water (My favorite way to do this is in a baby food sized jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake it hard to avoid any clumps of cornstarch.) and stir it into the apple mixture. Cook a few more minutes until the juices thicken. Set aside to cool.

Lay a sheet of phyllo dough on a cutting board and brush with some oil. Repeat 2 more times with 2 more sheets of phyllo dough. Cut the dough crossways into 4 rectangles. (I used a pizza cutter to make the cuts — worked great!) Place some of the apple mixture near the end of the rectangles and then fold them up to form triangle shaped pockets. Place on greased cookie sheet and brush with a little additional oil. Repeat with the remaining 3 sheets of phyllo dough and the apple mixture. Sprinkle the triangles with a light dusting of white sugar and bake for 20-25 minutes or until nicely browned.

Serve warm with ice cream.