Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Pop Tarts?!

It's winter vacation, which means lots of family time and kid-friendly projects.  One of our cooking projects was this little treat, whole wheat pop-tarts.  I based it off a recipe found here.  Start by making the dough:
Whole Wheat Pastry Dough
1 C whole wheat
1/2 C white flour
2 t sugar
1/2 t salt
½ c. cold buttery spread (like earth's balance,) sliced
4-5 Tbsp. cold non-dairy milk

In large bowl, stir together flours, sugar, and salt. Cut in slices of butter using a pastry cutter (or fork, if you have to, I've always used this whisk I have that has a flat bottom) until the largest pieces resemble peas. It’s important that you don’t touch the crust with your bare hands, no matter how tempting that mixing option might be. You want the butter to stay as cold as possible and your hands will warm it up and make the crust less flaky. Pour the milk over the mixture, one tablespoon at a time, just until moistened enough to hold the dough together. Use a fork to stir the dough after you’ve added each tablespoon of milk. Quickly form the crust into a ball. Refrigerate until ready to use


Then roll out,  Cut into equal parts (good luck) spread all fruit jam in the middle, leaving 1/2 inch border.  Put another piece of dough on top and then crimp edges together with a fork.  


Bake at 400 degrees for 13-15 minutes. Don't under cook.  Wait until it puffs up pretty good and gets golden brown.  This batch of pastry dough makes enough for one cookie sheet of pop-tarts.  I doubled the batch and made Pearl Pie with the rest.

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