Breakfast Turnovers

A few posts ago, I promised I’d tell you what I did with the rest of my puff pastry. I’m sorry it took me so long! I used 1/3 of the puff pastry to make some breakfast turnovers for Jeff. If you like eggs in the morning but seem to be unable to put in the time (and wash the dishes!) they require, you would love these. I usually make a double recipe, freeze the turnovers on a baking sheet, then slip each one into its own individual baggie and pop the baggies in the freezer. The morning you want to eat a turnover, all you have to do is pull the turnover out of the bag, place it on a baking sheet, and bake it off.

Because puff pastry is so rich, I modified the original recipe a bit to lighten up the filling. You could easily swap the sausage for any breakfast meat or include any vegetables you like. In this picture, I used sauteed onions and mushrooms.

Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Turnovers
Serves 4

1 tsp. butter
½ cup chopped frozen spinach, thawed
8 oz. chicken sausage (any flavor), casings removed
salt and pepper
6 egg whites, 3 whole eggs
3 oz. cream cheese, cut into chunks, at room temperature
1 sheet packaged frozen puff pastry, thawed

Preheat oven to 400ºF. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the butter over medium heat until melted, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the spinach and cook, stirring, about 2 minutes. Add the sausage, salt and pepper to taste and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until lightly golden, about 8 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat 6 egg whites and 2 whole eggs. Add the beaten  eggs to the sausage mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked but not dry, about 5 minutes. Transfer the sausage-egg mixture to a wide shallow bowl. Stir in the cream cheese until just combined. Let cool to room temperature. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry to a 16-inch-square. Cut into 4 equal squares. Divide the sausage-egg mixture evenly onto each square, just slightly off center. In a small bowl, beat the remaining egg with 1 tbsp. water. Brush the edges of each pastry square with the egg-water mixture and fold over to form 4 triangles, crimping the edges with the tines of a fork to seal. Brush the turnovers all over the tops and edges with egg-water mixture.

Transfer turnovers to a baking sheet and bake until golden, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving.

Adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray