After having homemade pop tart’s at Ted’s and telling all of you about it, I began to get questions about making them myself. If I had done so, what was the recipe, etc… the only problem was I hadn’t made them. Maybe I was waiting until I had a really good reason to impress someone and whip them up, but when Mariel asked me on facebook I new it was time. After over a week out of the kitchen I was itching in jump back in and bake; I told her I’d get to work and this past weekend I did.

Matt and I spent Sunday morning at church, then came home to sit in our backyard adirondack chairs drinking iced coffee and reading cookbooks. I perused Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Dinners : the essential family cookbook from cover to cover, which I love for both the ease in which he explains how to make the basics and the gorgeous photographs (he also has the cutest family ever-they’re in there). When I made it to the dessert section I was so won over by Jamie already that I decided to use the shortcrust pastry recipe he uses for several pies and tarts for my pop tarts.

Pop tarts combine two of my favorite things: pie crust and jam. They really are like a mini pie, and you could easily make pie pops out of them if you’re looking to put them on a stick and eat it like a lollipop. I decided to keep things simple, and make them in the familiar rectangular shape I knew and longed for my mom to buy back in my middle school years (I must have been junk food deprived as one year I asked for a bag of Doritos as part of my birthday gift).

I consulted a few other recipes but decided to stick with Jamie’s which calls for a mere 5T of butter. If you bake often, you’ll recognize that this is a “healthy” amount – not in the overly ambitious way Paula uses butter but in the athletic trying to stay fit way. I sometimes like to skimp a little on the butter but I just didn’t see how this would be enough. I should have trusted my instincts, as the finished product could have benefited from a tablespoon or two more (or three, make it a whole stick). However, they were still tasty and I would recommend them, but I’m going to give you the recipe as I think you should use it, with a stick of butter. Also, if you have a favorite pie crust recipe go ahead and use that instead! You really just need crust, filling, and the ability to put the two together and you have a very tasty pop tart.

the crust, here is Jamie’s recipe modified:

1 stick butter

1 c powdered sugar

small pinch salt

2 scant cups flour

zest of 1/2 lemon

2 egg yolks(use whites for sealing tarts)

2 T cold milk

Filling : I decided to use straight up jam I had made last summer (raspberry cherry) and it worked perfectly. I also used some chocolate almond butter on other tarts, and those were a bit dryer. If you used more butter that I did in the crust you probably would be fine, but if you use less butter the jam is the way to go. I didn’t thicken the jam as it was thick already, but I would check out Smitten Kitchen’s pop tart recipe for not only filling recipes but most likely better instruction than you’ll find here :)

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper

2. Either by hand (or in a food processor like me) cream butter, powdered sugar and salt. Next pulse in flour, lemon zest, and egg yolks. When it looks like coarse breadcrumbs add the milk.

2. Pat gently into a ball of dough and wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate for 1 hour. When ready, remove dough and roll out 1/4 the dough at a time on a lightly floured surface (I found it easier to work in smaller quantities.

3. When 1/8″ thick, trim edges and cut so that you have corresponding pieces (2 sides). Brush both sides with egg whites, spoon filling into center of dough and top with corresponding rectangle of and seal. Crimp edges with a fork, add some vents to the top of tarts so steam can escape and continue until dough is used.

4. bake tarts for 20-30 minutes until golden + enjoy!

… and there you have it. honestly one of the simplest things to make, as long as you don’t get too frustrated by the pastry dough (sometimes it’s crumblyness gets to me). As I mentioned check out Smitten Kitchen’s pop tarts for a more in depth recipe and I’ll try to update this next time I make them… since there will most definitely be a next time!