Ube macapuno turnovers

Lately, I've been on an ube kick. From ube filled rolls to polvoron to pan de sal. I just love ube.  Recently, I bought some ube halaya (purple yam pudding) from Valerio's at Seafood City.

I also bought a jar of macapuno strings (freak  or "mutant"coconut; yes, that's what it's really called) for this first attempt at this dessert...


According to what I've read, macapuno coconuts are considered "mutants" or "freak" coconuts because they don't have the regular kind of meat or juice within. Instead, the meat is gelatinous and jelly like. Macapuno is used in desserts. I liked having it as one of the ingredients for halo-halo.

Ube macapuno Turnovers

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of 10 thawed square puff pastry sheets (I used the Indo-European brand from Vine Ripe Market/3.99 a package)
• Ube halaya ($5.99 at Valerio's in Seafood City)
• 1 jar of macapuno strings (you will only use a tiny bit of this which can also be found at Seafood City in the canned fruits section)
• 1 egg yolk beaten
• *OPTIONAL - Belgian pearl sugar (I ordered mine online from amazon.com; I first saw and tasted this type of sugar when we had choquettes at 
St. Honore Boulangerie in Portland, Oregon.

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 F.
• Lay out your puff pastry sheets on parchment paper on the baking sheet
• Spoon out some ube and place in middle of the square.
• Spoon out some macapuno strings and place near the ube.
• Seal edges with beaten egg yolk and press down with fork tines.
• Brush tops with the remaining egg yolk.
• *Optional - press some Belgian pearl sugar crystals on top of each pastry
• Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes

*To double the portion of the turnovers, I cut the squares diagonally and made "mini" turnovers. It was a bit awkward filling and sealing them. I had a tendency to overstuff them which made it difficult to seal. Bert helped me out with this part of the process but sealing the turnovers for me.

The turnovers came out pretty nicely. The pearl sugar gave it a crunchy and sweet topping which I liked.

The turnovers probably would have tasted better fresh out of the oven, but still, not bad for a first attempt. Bert enjoyed his warmed up in the toaster oven the next day.

For another cool twist on an ube dessert, please see Marvin of Burnt Lumpia's post on Homemade Ube Pop Tarts  in which he also makes his own ube glaze! I was bummed that Seafood City did not have Ube extract, but they had pandan, banana, and langka (pulls hair). It's not that they ran out, they just didn't have it at all. I may have to find mine online, dagnabbit.