Inspired by Jenny Han’s To All the Boy’s: PS I Still Love You, I’ve created Lara Jean’s Cherry Turnovers. These are adorable, but most importantly, they are flaky, sweet yet tart, and delicious!

PS I Still Love You

Last night, after binge watching PS I Still Love You again for the 10th time, I came across the scene where Lara Jean makes Cherry Turnovers for Peter on Valentine’s Day. I was so inspired by this that I had to make them. Also in celebration of the today’s release of the third and final film of the trilogy To All the Boy’s I’ve Loved Before, Always and Forever, I thought it would be very fitting. It’s also perfect timing, as Valentine’s Day is only two days away!

As a baker, this scene in the film is so nostalgic, comforting and aesthetically pleasing. They basically show you step by step how to recreate these cherry turnovers. Just from this scene I could tell that the dough was an all butter pie crust, and the filling was made from reducing cherries.

How To Make Cherry Turnovers

Turnovers are essentially a mini pie, but way cuter. It takes a lot less time for these to bake versus a traditional pie and they’re perfect to give as gifts as they are already individual sized. Who wants to receive a slice of cherry pie, when you can get these adorable cherry turnovers instead?

All Butter Pie Crust

This is an all butter pie crust that comes together in minutes. I stick to all butter because it tastes good and I always have butter at home. You can do this by hand, or in a food processor and both turn out perfect. I decide what to use depending on how many dishes I want to do haha.

There are a few tips in making a good pie crust. The most important tip is that you keep the butter cold and with lumps in the dough. Little pieces of butter throughout the dough is what gives you that classic flaky pie crust. You can achieve this by not overworking the dough and placing it in the freezer when it starts to melt.

Another tip, but more like secret ingredient is the addition of Apple Cider Vinegar. I learned this from Food Wishes who says the addition of apple cider vinegar prevents the formation of gluten, creating a flaky crust. Though I don’t really know the science behind this, it has worked well for me and I always use this trick.

Cherry Pie Filling

I have a confession to make here – I cheated and used store bought cherry pie filling. I can already imagine you behind the screen judging me. “Why would you make your own pie crust but then buy store bought filling?”. The answer is because of where I live!! I live in Alberta, Canada, and in February it is COLD. I am telling you it is -30 Degrees Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit for you American folks). Which means there is NO FRESH CHERRIES HERE. I found a bag of cherries at the grocery store, imported from the US, at a steal of $9 per pound. I’m not joking, it would have costed me around $15CAD for a bag of bland cherries.

A can of cherry pie filling roughly comes to $4 CAD, which really felt like the most reasonable option. I bought a no name brand but really regretted and wish I had splurged the extra $1 for E.D. Smith’s Cherry Pie Filling. Regardless, these cherry turnovers still turned out delicious, but I know when cherries are in season I will be rushing to the grocery store. In the meanwhile if you have access to fresh cherries please use those instead and try this recipe by Sally’s Baking Addiction for her homemade Cherry Pie Filling.

The benefit of store bought cherry filling is that it comes together in no time. Technically you could use the stuff right out of the can, but I recommend you add some extra ingredients to add more flavour. Lara Jean uses lemon juice but I decided to try orange zest and juice instead and it turned out great. You can always use lemon though.

Assembling Cherry Turnovers

This is my favourite part in making these cherry turnovers. I don’t know why but assembling these cherry turnovers made me so happy and it made me feel like I was a part of the film (cheesy I know).

Roll out the chilled pie dough to 1/8 inch thickness and cut into little rectangles. I cut mine quite small – 2 inches by 6 inches. The cherry turnovers in PS I Still Love you look bigger, around 3-4 inches by 8 inches so adjust as you like. If you want to make them bigger, then I highly recommend you double the pie crust so you will get more turnovers.

Use a small cookie scoop to help you portion out even amounts of filling. Before placing the top piece of the dough, make sure you cut out 3 horizontal slits on on the top. It is so much harder to do after you’ve put them on top. Use egg wash to help stick the top and bottom together.

Lastly, this isn’t in the movie but I always love adding this to my pies. I sprinkled on some raw sugar on the tops of the turnovers, after brushing them with egg wash. It looks so pretty and adds extra texture and sweetness. Of course this is optional and you can skip this if you like.

I hope you give this a recipe a try. One because it’s super cute to recreate things out of your favourite movie. And more importantly because these are delicious and are a perfect snack or gift!

Lara Jean’s Cherry Turnovers

Recipe by DariaCourse: Turnovers, Pies, Desserts

Servings

10

Turnovers

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

25

minutes

Total time

1

hour 

40

minutes

Inspired by To All the Boy’s I’ve Loved Before, these are Lara Jean’s Cherry Turnovers that she makes for Peter on Valentine’s Day! Easy and only requires 15 min of actual prep.

Ingredients

• Pie Dough

• ½ Cup (115g) Unsalted Butter

• 1 Cup (150g) All Purpose Flour

• 1/4 Cup (30g) Powdered Sugar

• 1/4 Tsp Kosher Salt

• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

• 1 Tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

• 3-4 Tbsp Cold Water

• Cherry Pie Filling

• 540 mL Can Cherry Pie Filling*

• 1/8 Cup Packed Brown Sugar *

• Zest from 1/2 an Orange (or sub Lemon)

• 1 Tbsp Fresh Orange Juice (or sub Lemon)

• Pinch of Salt

• Egg Wash: 1 Egg, 1 Tbsp Water

• Optional: Raw Sugar

Directions

• Pie Dough
• Cut butter into small pieces and place into a large bowl. Add flour, sugar and salt. Place the entire bowl into the freezer for 15 min for butter to firm up.
• Remove from freezer. Using your hands, a pastry cutter, or food processor you want to break up your butter into lumps with the dry ingredients. When using your hands, rub the butter with the dry ingredients between your thumb and index finger. Repeat until most of the butter is broken up into smaller pieces. The pieces do not need to be even. Do not overwork or your butter will melt. The pieces of butter throughout the dough give you that flaky crust!
  *If using a food processor, process butter and dry ingredients a few times until you get pea size pieces of butter* 
• Add apple cider vinegar. This also contributes to a flaky dough and you won’t taste it in your crust 
• Add vanilla extract. Add 2 tbsp of cold water and into the dough. Slowly continue adding water, 1 tsp at a time until you can form a shaggy dough. 
• Bring the dough together into one disc. Cover with wrap and let it chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. In the meanwhile you can assemble your pie filling.
• Cherry Pie Filling
• In a bowl, place cherry pie filling, brown sugar, orange zest, orange juice, and a pinch of salt. Combine and set aside.
  * This makes enough for two portions, but this was the smallest can of cherry pie filling I could find. You could always double the dough and make more and freeze these turnovers unbaked and bake at a later time 
• Assemble
• Remove chilled pie dough. On a clean surface, dust a few tbsp of flour. Place pie dough on the floured surface, and add more flour on the top. With a rolling pin, roll to around 1/8 inch thickness or as thick as you like. Try not to overwork the dough, as you leave the dough out and continue to manipulate it, the butter will start to melt. If it gets too soft, place it in the freezer for 10 minutes at a time to firm up. 
• Use a bench scraper or knife, cut the pie dough into rectangles. I made mine smaller, around 2 inches by 6 inches. In the movie, it looks like Lara Jean made hers 3-4 inches by 8 inches. Cut to your desired size.
• Dust off extra flour and place the bottom piece of pie dough on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. 
• Using a small cookie scoop (1 Tbsp), scoop cherry pie filling in the middle. Try to get mostly the cherry pieces. Repeat with all. With the top pieces, cut 3 horizontal slits through the dough. 
• Make egg wash: Beat one egg with 1 tbsp of water. Brush edges of bottom pie doughs with egg wash. Place top pieces on. Seal the edges by taking a fork and pushing on the edges to create a seal. If the filling seeps out no worries!
• Brush tops with egg wash. Optional – it’s not in the movie but I love the extra crunch and sweetness. After brushing with egg wash, top with a sprinkle of raw sugar.
• Place entire tray into the freezer for 15 min to firm up the butter once again before baking. In the meanwhile preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
• Bake at 400 Farenheit for 20-25 min until tops are golden brown. Let cool completely!

Notes

• In this recipe, I use store bought cherry pie filling and spice it up. The smallest size I found was 540mL, which makes double than the dough. If you can find a smaller can, use that instead. Also depending on how sweet your cherry pie filling is, you may need to adjust your brown sugar.
• If you have fresh cherries, use them instead! You can make a simple cherry compote but boiling and reducing freshly pitted cherries, sugar, lemon juice and zest, salt and cornstarch. There are tons of recipes online but I always trust Sally’s Baking Addiction. Here’s her Cherry Pie Filling.

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