The Out of Box Experience Episode 2: Pop-Tarts

The Out of Box Experience Episode 2
 A miniseries of the best homemade versions of boxed food I have found.

Pop-Tarts

My version of a Strawberry Pop-Tart

Around here we are not afraid of butter! In fact I go through about 4 lbs a month. We don't buy the stuff in the tub, maybe one day I'll post why, in short, butter is healthier. 
These tarts are not health food just because they are homemade. They still have *gasp* plain sugar and plain old white flour-but...they don't have trans fats, HFCS, TBHQ, etc. Here's the link, see for yourself. Wow. Also note the serving size, calories and sugar content, it's shocking!
http://www.kelloggs.com/en_US/pop-tarts-frosted-strawberry-toaster-pastries.html

Cocoa Marshmallow Creme Fail

My toddler didn't even get any, because hubby and I ate them all! In our defense the chocolate filling I put together on the fly was a fail, so no one ate them, but the crust was good. They are just in need of a filling that will hold up to the baking process. I tried flavoring marshmallow creme with cocoa and vanilla, it tasted good, but it deflated when I baked it (should've thought of that).

I used strawberry preserves with the plain pie crust and that was delicious. The crust isn't sweet, so there's a good balance between the sweet strawberry and the crust. I recall eating Pop-tarts long ago and feeling sick afterward thanks to all the sugar. These won't give you the stomachache. For the glaze I used powdered sugar mixed with milk till I got the right consistency (I wanted to make it thick enough to not run off, but some did anyway :).  Make sure you put the sprinkles on right after the glaze or it will dry and your sprinkles will roll right off. You could also flavor/color the glaze if you wanted.

If you're looking for a healthier version, I am going to create one. Coming soon.

Butter Pie Crust Dough
(from Epicurious)

1.25 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted cold butter, cubed
3 T. ice water (possibly more)


Blend dry ingredients in a food processor. Add butter and pulse in until coarse meal forms. Add water, pulsing, just until moist clumps form. Gather dough into a ball, flatten into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate for an hour. Soften slightly at room temp before rolling.



Assembling Instructions:

1. Make dough/s and refrigerate, come back later.
2. Let dough sit on counter while you prep a surface to roll out the dough on. Get your trusty Pam spray can (or rolling pin), some flour for dusting, a ruler (if you care that much), baking sheets (no need to spray, this is butter dough!)
3. Roll the dough out in workable chunks to about 1/4 inch thick and cut to pop-tart size or use a cutter. I guessed using my bench scraper for the Pop-tart look-a-like and then used a little rubbermaid container as a cutter for the rest. You can reroll the scraps.
4. After all pieces are cut, lay them out and do a little math to ensure you have equal numbers for tops and bottoms. Spread filling on leaving space around the edges, add the top. Use fork tines to pinch it together. (*You could use egg white/water to seal the edges together before pinching, I didn't and the above shows what happened).

Bake at 350 until the pastry starts puffing up and looks done (*technical description*). This took about 10-15 minutes in my oven. I didn't have instructions from the recipe on this part so I winged it. I wanted them a little underdone so they could be toasted later, but later never happened :). Let them cool before glazing.

Store airtight. Plain crust recipe makes about 14 (complete) 2" square tarts. Each square has 124 calories.

Here's a link to the chocolate pie crust I used:
http://americanfood.about.com/od/desserts/r/Chocolate-Pie-Crust-Recipe.htm

If anyone figures out a filling for the chocolate or cinnamon versions I'd love to hear it!