Sweet Potato Pineapple Turnovers (Old-Fashioned Family Recipe)
The natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes pairs beautifully with the tropical brightness of the pineapple, creating a unique filling that tastes like a warm hug. They are incredibly easy to make, but they taste like they came straight from an old-fashioned Southern bakery.”
If you’ve never tried the combination of sweet potato and tangy pineapple wrapped in a flaky, golden crust, you are truly missing out! Growing up, Grandma loved making these sweet potato and pineapple turnovers as a special weekend treat.
If you love retro family recipes that feature bright, tropical flavors, don’t miss Grandma’s Old-Fashioned Pineapple Orange Gelatin Mold for your next holiday spread!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Unique Flavor Profile: A delightful blend of earthy sweet potato and sweet, juicy pineapple that sets it apart from standard apple or cherry turnovers.
Perfectly Flaky Crust: Golden, crisp, and beautifully laminated to hold in every bit of that delicious filling.
Great for Leftovers: A wonderful way to use up leftover sweet potatoes from holiday dinners or Sunday meals!
Grandma’s Secrets for Flaky, No-Leak Turnovers
Making homemade turnovers is incredibly rewarding, but no one wants their filling bursting out all over the baking sheet! Grandma had a few simple rules to make sure her turnovers stayed perfectly sealed and beautifully flaky:
- Don’t Overfill: It’s tempting to pile on the sweet potato and pineapple mixture, but less is more. Grandma always said to place just a neat spoonful in the center so you have plenty of room to fold the pastry over without stretching it too thin.
- The Fork-Crimp Seal: To keep the filling locked inside, use a fork dipped in a little bit of flour to firmly press and crimp the edges together. This creates a tight seal and gives the turnovers that classic, beautiful rustic look.
- The Steam Vent: Don’t forget to cut one or two tiny slits in the top of each pastry before they go into the oven! This lets the steam escape from the hot pineapple juice so your turnovers stay crisp and flaky instead of getting soggy or bursting at the seams.
Sweet Potato Pineapple Turnovers (Old-Fashioned Family Recipe)
Equipment
- 1 pastry blender
- 1 pkg plastic wrap to wrap the pastry
- 1 medium bowl
- 1 wooden spoon
- 1 wooden cutting board
- 1 round cookie cutter
- 1 or 2 cookie sheet
- 1 teaspoon
- 1 fork
- 1 pastry brush
- 1 wire rack
Ingredients
Filling
- ½ cup mashed sweet potatoes
- ¼ cup crushed drained pineapple
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup flaked coconut
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 egg yolk
- Confectioners' sugar
Pastry
- 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
- 1 pkg 3 oz cream cheese
- ¼ lb margarine or butter
Instructions
- To make the pastry. Mix all pastry ingredients together with your fingertips or a pastry blender, until the mixture forms a ball. Then divide the dough in half, and wrap each one separately and let them chill for about 30 minutes.
- To make the filling. In a medium-size bowl, mix the sweet potatoes, sugar, salt, coconut, and pineapple.
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Now roll one portion of the dough at a time on a lightly floured pastry cloth or wooden board, until it reaches 1/8 inch thick. With a cookie cutter, cut the pastry into circles, about 3 inches round.
- Place a heaping teaspoonful of the filling on one side of each of the pastry circles. Then fold the pastry over the filling, and press the edges together with the fork. And place on the cookie sheets.
- Bear the egg yolk slightly with about 1 tsp of water. Brush each of the dessert turnovers with the egg yolk mixture. Bake them for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let them now cool on a wire rack. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.
Nutrition
These turnovers are best enjoyed warm, ideally with a hot cup of coffee or a tall glass of milk. It’s a recipe that always reminds me of cozy mornings at Grandma’s kitchen island, and I hope it brings a little bit of that same sweetness to your kitchen.
Have you ever paired sweet potato and pineapple together before? I’d love to know what you think! Please leave a comment down below and give this recipe a star rating—it means the world to me and helps keep Grandma’s recipes growing!
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