Cooking Group – first Task – Pop Tarts!

Hello!  We are going to try a virtual cooking group.  It’s easy – just make this recipe at home (or a version of it) and post your comments (and a picture, if you’d like).  [Or you can just post comments].

My husband has wanted to eat pop tarts for years, but for whatever reason, pop tarts aren’t kosher (I believe there are some kinds of pop tarts that are kosher, but I think they are the “healthy” ones, and really, who wants to eat the healthy pop tarts – I want the gooey, yummy chocolatey ones, if we can make them).

“Bon Appetit” earlier this year had posted a recipe for pop tarts with strawberry filling.

This is there picture (above).  What? No glaze?  Seriously, why say you’re making a pop tart.  And this is why the healthy pop tarts don’t count – without a glaze – why bother?  Buy something from Nature’s own, or some organic company.  If I am going to buy something from Pop Tarts, I am not looking for healthy.   You *need* a glaze.  So – another website – “Franish” put glaze on their pop tarts.  Here’s their picture:

Not only did they put glaze on – they put some fun colored sprinkles.  Which I have, if someone would like to borrow them rather than buying.  Devorah B. points out that you can make your own colored sugar – just add a drop or two of food coloring to a zip lock bag filled with sugar, shake, shake, shake –  and voila – colored sugar.

So, I thought I would “open up” the pop tart to all kinds of fillings, so if anyone tries new fillings, please post.  Also – clearly we can go beyond just glaze and sprinkles and put loads of other things for toppings.  I am going to try to make a chocolate filling – and I’ll post the recipe once I make it.  Also, I seem to recall seeing a smores pop tart – I’ll try that, too.

I’m going to make the pop tarts tomorrow (Monday) – if you get a chance to make them this week and post, that would be great fun.  Also, if you’re in Baltimore (or if you want to come to Baltimore to get a pop tart) – you can have one of our pop tarts – post a comment, and I’ll tell you how to pick it up.

I’m going to make my pop tarts pareve (non-dairy) so I’ll be using margarine (instead of the butter) and for *sure* I’ll be making a chocolate filling (I will also make the strawberry filling).

Here is the recipe from Bon Appetit:

Ingredients

Sorry for forgetting to include these directions – my comments are in brackets [].

Preparation

• Whisk 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour, coarse salt, and sugar in large bowl. Add butter. Using fingertips or back of fork or your cuisinart, blend in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water by tablespoonfuls, tossing until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball. Divide in half; shape each half into disk. Wrap in plastic [A sandwich bag works perfectly]. Chill at least 1 hour [I sped this time up by putting the dough in the freezer.  Also, if your kitchen is too warm, you’re going to have to keep putting the dough back in the freezer in between rolling some out]
• Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough on floured surface to about 13×11 inches. Trim to 12×10-inch rectangle, then cut into eight 5×3-inch rectangles. [You can use a 13×9 pan if you don’t have a ruler handy to help you get the right size – also the size in unimportant, really.  You are looking for both 2 rectangles to match because you are putting one on top of the other, but besides that, the actual size is up to you, presumably  real pop tarts are 5×3]
• Arrange 4 rectangles, spaced apart, on each sheet. Spoon 1 1/2 tablespoons preserves [or whatever filling you are using] in row down center of each rectangle. Top preserves with second dough rectangle. Using fingertips [to make it easier to seal, you can brush egg whites onto the sides prior to putting the filling in], gently press all edges of each tart to seal; press all edges with tines of fork to double-seal. Using toothpick, poke a few holes in center of top dough rectangle. Cover; freeze tarts on sheets at least 2 hours and up to 1 week.
• Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 375°F. Bake frozen tarts uncovered until golden, reversing sheets after 15 minutes, 25 to 30 minutes total (some preserves may leak out). Immediately transfer tarts to rack. Sift powdered sugar lightly over [use glaze, I say!!!!!!]. Serve warm or at room temperature with fresh berries.

For icing: use 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and add preferred liquid (milk, soy milk, water, orange juice, lemon juice) a teaspoon at a time until you have the consistency you want (a total of approximately 1.5 tablespoons).   For a chocolate frosting add 1-2 tablespoons of cocoa.  I will add more comments after I bake the pop tarts…….