The Gourmet Mama

I’ve just died and gone to heaven. These delicious pastries are SO simple to make and they don’t carry nearly the quantity of guilt that store bought Pop Tarts do, with all their corn syrup and chemicals. Nope, these suckers are almost good for you!

If you have kids who thrive on “junk” food, then these Pop Tarts are ideal. They taste like the real thing and you can mix in a lot of good-for-you ingredients. The original recipe is found here.

Oh, and if you’re pie-crust-phobic like me, don’t worry, this crust is SO easy to make and the egg ensures it all sticks together no matter how many pies you’ve messed up in the past.

Homemade Pop Tarts

Makes 8

Pastry
1 c. white flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. (2 sticks) margarine or butter
1 Tblsp. sugar
1 pinch salt
2 Tblsp. milk
2 large eggs

Filling
3/4 c. jam of your choice (I used homemade strawberry jam)
1 Tblsp. cornstarch
2 Tblsp. water

Filling:
Mix the water and cornstarch. Put the jam into a small pot and stir in the cornstarch mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly and let bubble for a couple of minutes. If you feel it sticking, just turn off the heat and keep stirring for a minute. Set aside to cool.

Pastry:
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the butter and mix it in with your fingers until it breaks up into small, pea sized chunks.

Whisk one egg and milk together in a separate bowl and add to the pastry mix. Stir together until just mixed. You can chill it for up to two days at this point or continue.

Sprinkle your counter with plenty of flour and place HALF the pastry dough on it. I find it helps to shape it roughly into a rectangle. Then just roll it out to about 1/8 inch thick. It’s easy to see when you reach this because it won’t roll thinner without breaking. You want to have a good sized rectangle.

Use an index card cut to the size you want (I used just the index card) as a pattern to cut out rectangles from the dough.

In another bowl, whisk the remaining egg. Brush this over all the rectangles, then place half the rectangles egg side up on a baking sheet. Add a dollop of jam in the middle, press another piece of dough egg side down on top and use a fork to crimp the edges. You can also use the fork to poke holes in the top for steam to escape.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

I added a glaze which was 1 tsp. vanilla extract, 2 tsp. milk and enough icing sugar to make a thick syrupy glaze that I spread over the tops. It really gave it that special touch!