Toaster Pastries

I've been wanting to come up with my own recipe for Pop-Tarts for awhile now. Most recipes I found, just said "make or buy pie dough add filling and bake", oh gee that is so helpful, not. I'm actually going to give a pie dough recipe specifically designed for this application, plus give you filling suggestions, and frosting directions. Aren't I nice? Yeah, I know I am. I figure that the term "Pop-Tart" is probably has a copyright, so I simply call my creation toaster pastries.

Ingredients:
2 cups white flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup cold butter (cut into small pieces)
3/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup cold water (plus more if needed)
2 1/2 tsp salt
Filling & Frosting (suggestions and directions below)
Mix together the two flours and cut in the butter and the shortening until everything is well combined. Normally you would use a pastry cutter, but I don't have some, so I just attack it with a fork.

About to cut in the butter and shortening. 

The dough won't be very cohesive at this point, and that is where the water comes in. Mix in the water, a little at time, until the dough starts to stick together using more water if needed.

Some water added.

Smoosh the dough all together into a ball. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least one hour.

Wrapped dough ball.

I didn't mean for Juliet to be in the picture, but it's cute that it ended up like that. It helps to show how big of a ball of dough you will have, considering it's bigger than her head.

After the dough ball chills out for awhile, roll the dough out into a giant rectangle. You want to get the dough pretty thin, about 1/8 of an inch. You can either roll the whole ball out, or split it into two and roll out each half.  You are going to want to use a TON of flour when you are rolling it out, or it is going to stick, to the counter, and the rolling pin, so be careful. Cut the edges off to make an actual rectangle. Then cut that into small rectangles, they don't have to be perfect, just a good size to fit in a toaster.I suggest about 4x3 inches.

Ready to fill rectangles.

Now it is time to fill the pastries.  I have several suggestions for you.

Filling suggestions:
-Jam or Jelly
-Ganache-like chocolate filling
-Cherry syrup (Okay, most people don't have this, but my sister made some awhile ago, and gave me a jar, it made really awesome filling)
Brown sugar and cinnamon mixed with a butter.

I haven't tried the brown-sugar cinnamon filling yet, but I plan to next time I make my pastries. However, I did use all of the other suggestions. For the chocolate filling, I simply melted chocolate chips in a pan and added a few tablespoons of milk, whisking until smooth.

To fill your pastries, spoon on about 1 1/2 teaspoons of your chosen filling into the middle of one of your rectangles.

Spread the filling around, leaving a little room around the edges.

Take another dough square and place it on top, sealing the edges closed by making indentations around the outside, using a fork.

Look! Another action shot! I'm getting so good at remembering to take pictures that I have had two actions shots in my recent posts, I am so awesome! Place your pastries on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 20 min.

At this point you have the option of frosting,  which I totally suggest. You aren't going to want a traditional frosting for these, more like a glaze. To create the glaze mix 1 cup powdered sugar, with 1 teaspoon vanilla and about 1 TBS milk. Mix them really well, so there are no powdered sugar lumps. You want it thin but not too liquid-y. Adjust measurements as you see fit to get to the consistency you wish. If you want a chocolate glaze, add 1/8-1/4 cup (depending on your chocolate tolerance) and 1 TBS more milk.

Spread your glaze on the cooled pastries, adding sprinkles if desired. Let the frosting dry before storing. When you are ready to eat, either serve at room temperature, or pop in your toaster to heat up. If they aren't going to be eaten fairly quickly, I suggest storing them in a zip top bag in the freezer.

Finished toaster pastries.

I ended up with 13 toaster pastries from this recipe. 5 chocolate, 5 cherry, and 3 apricot. Like I said, next time I plan on trying a brown sugar and cinnamon filling. I will probably add cinnamon to the glaze for that one. They are a pretty good replication, so I don't think I will be buying those name brand tarts anytime soon.