Pop-tarts

Yesterday I made pop-tarts ok fine toaster pastries?  Now seriously which one of you actually refers to the wal-mart brand as toaster pastries?  That's what I thought, as I was saying I made pop-tarts yesterday.  I had the sweetest little helper!  She loves being in the kitchen with me, and I love encouraging her appreciation for cooking and baking.  And how stinkin cute is she in that apron?!

First we mixed our dough...just a little tip, it is extremely greasy at first (with 8tbsp of butter who is surprised?) but if you continue to knead it will come together nicely.

roll the dough between 2 layers of parchment paper.

Use a pizza cutter or something similar to cut your dough into roughly 2x4 rectangles and move them to a baking sheet lined with parchment.

Spoon filling onto each rectangle and cover with another crimping the edges together

One satisfied little girl taking her snack on the road!

For the filling Alexa requested plums, but they were not ripe so we opted for nectarines instead.  I have to admit I wasn't optimistic as the filling was rather tart even after we added some honey & sugar, but when Alexa tasted the final product she liked it.  I simply sliced the nectarines, added a little butter, honey & sugar and cooked them down on the stove for a little over an hour.  I started this the day before while I was baking bread, muffins, and tortillas.  It was great to just pull it out of the fridge when it was time to fill the pop-tarts.

Pop-tart recipe:

• 3 cups freshly milled flour
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup honey
• 8 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
• seedless jam or other filling

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
2. In a large bowl, place the flour and salt, and whisk to combine well. Add the melted butter, honey, vanilla and milk, and mix to combine. The dough will be thick and a bit greasy. Knead the dough until it is smooth. It should hold together well.
3. Turn the dough out onto a large sheet of unbleached parchment paper, and cover with another sheet of parchment. Roll into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick (the thickness of a nickel). With a pastry cutter or sharp knife, slice into 2-inch-by-4-inch rectangles. Gather, reroll and cut the scraps into rectangles.
4. Spread about 1 tablespoon of filling on top of half of the rectangles in an even layer, stopping about 1/4 inch from the edges. Cover each with another rectangle, and press along the edges to seal.
5. Transfer the tarts carefully to the prepared baking sheets and bake, rotating once, until very lightly golden brown all over, and a bit darker around the edges (about 16 minutes).
6. Allow to cool completely on the baking sheet. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 to 4 days. They can be toasted before serving, just like the original.
7. Freeze leftovers. Defrost in the toaster oven.