Start Your Day with Love & a Yummy Homemade Pop-Tart!

Valentine’s Day breakfast is really a special event in my family. As a kid, my mother always had the breakfast table set with Valentine treats (at each place setting) and heart shaped biscuits! What a great memory and tradition that she has given our family. So this year, in honor of my fabulous mom, I am making my contribution to Valentine’s Day breakfast. It’s the year of the heart shaped pop-tart!

I don’t care how old you get, there is something about a pop-tart that is hard to resist. The best part of making your own? The handcrafted pop-tart is everything that a mass produced one wants to be and more! Yep! You will revel in the texture, flake and flavor of your homemade version. What’s more, you can use your imagine to create whatever flavor and shape your heart desires! What could be more fun than that?

If you have never made your own pop-tart before just know that you should plan ahead. If you are in a hurry then “yes,” I give you permission to use a pre-made pie dough. But, I guarantee you that you will not be sorry in taking the extra time and steps to make your own version from scratch. The recipe for this dough is not ordinary pie dough. It has it’s own special twist and yields an awesome crust. As with any dough, it requires patience to make, rest and roll the dough but, the pay off is huge! Before starting, I recommend reading the recipe all of the way through. In fact, this is an easy recipe to make ahead in it’s entirety or in stages. Pick what is right for you.

POP-TARTS

Pop-Tart Dough

Ingredients:

2 cups of All-Purpose Flour
2 Tablespoons White Granulated Sugar
1/4 teaspoon of Salt
1 1/2 sticks of cold butter, cut up into chunks
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:

1. In a food processor, blend your flour, sugar and salt together.

2. Add the cold butter and pulse until the butter is broken up into small pieces.

3. Add the sour cream and mix just until the dough starts to form. It will be a little crumbly. (See the picture below for reference.)

4. Take the dough out of the food processor and place on your counter. Use your hands to knead the dough together. You just want to form the dough into a cohesive ball shape. Do not over knead the dough.

5. Divide the dough in two and form two disks. Allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes. If you would prefer to roll out the dough later, then wrap it in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.

6. Roll out the rested dough approximately 1/2 inch thick. Fold the dough in to thirds (this is called a book fold).

7. Roll out dough again to 1/2 inch thickness. Fold the dough in to thirds (book fold).

8. Roll out dough again to 1/2 inch thickness. Fold the dough in to thirds (book fold).

9. Wrap up each dough in plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator for at least an 1 hour. If desired, the dough can be stored in the refrigerator to be rested overnight

Resting the dough means that you are allowing the gluten to relax. What does this mean? When you form a dough and knead it, the proteins in the flour mix with a liquid ingredients in the recipe and gluten develops. This gluten will give the dough structure. The more you knead or roll the dough the more you are developing the gluten! For example - have you ever tried rolling out pizza dough right after making it? Do you get frustrated that the dough doesn’t seem to want to stay rolled out but, rather it snaps back to the shape and size that you started with? This means that the dough has stretched it’s gluten quickly and needs to rest before rolling it out further. Resting is a very important part of dough so be sure to give all doughs a chance to rest.

10. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Using one disk at a time, roll out the dough to approximately 1/8 inch. Rolling thin is important because it takes two layers to be a pop-tart. Thin means you will have just the right amount of pastry in each bite! Allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. Resting overnight is fine - just wrap your rolled dough air-tight so that it can be used later.

I used Stonewall Kitchen’s Sour Cherry Jam! It’s incredibly delicious and they didn’t need to pay me to say that - although I just wish they would anyway.

11. Cut the dough into your desired shape. Don’t forget that you need two of the same shape to make one pop-tart. Don’t have the right size cutter? I cut a heart template out of paper and use an knife to cut my hearts.

12. Brush egg wash around the edges of your cut dough.

13. Place jam, Nutella or your choice of flavoring in the center of the dough and top with a like shape.

14. Seal the edges together by using a fork or similar type of tool. Make sure that you take the time to insure it is sealed so that it does not burst open during baking.

15. Egg wash the entire top of the pop-tart. Egg wash can be made by beating one large egg with 1 Tablespoon of water.

16. Use a fork to (very gently) “dock” the top by making imprints on the pop-tart. Next, take a paring knife and make 4 small incisions to allow the steam from the filling to escape. Place your tray of pop-tarts in the freezer while your oven heats to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. It is best to have the dough super cold prior to baking.

17. Bake at 350 until light golden brown. Although ovens vary. In my oven the pop-tarts took approximately 30 minutes to bake.

18. Remove from oven and allow to slightly cool (or completely cool) before glazing.

Pop-Tart Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar
6 Tablespoons of heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon on vanilla

Combine the ingredients. Add food coloring if desired. Use a knife or off-set spatula to spread the glaze over your pop-tart. Use sprinkles or decor as desired.