I MADE POP TARTS! Makes 6-8, mine are bigger and thicker than the originals, but still reckon on two per person ;-). Obviously these aren’t an everyday breakfast, but they’re a ‘what the hell why not’ breakfast…
Ingredients (makes 6-8).
200g flour
100g butter
5 tbsp cold water
6 tbsp jam
6 tbsp icing sugar (60g approx)
Another tbsp water
Sprinkles
First, make the pastry. Depending on how mobile you are/how well your hands and arms work, you can either melt the butter in a bowl in the microwave and mix it quickly into the flour to distribute evenly to form a breadcrumb mixture – but this will need to then go in the fridge for at least an hour to bring it back down to a workable temperature.
Or, cube the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips to form a fine breadcrumb consistency. This won’t need to be chilled as you haven’t heated the butter.
To make the pastry dough, add a tablespoon of water at a time and mix with a knife to combine until it just forms a dough. Flour your ledge and tip it out, halve it so you have a manageable amount to work with, and roll it out very thinly, about 2-3mm thin. I don’t have a rolling pin, so used my lemon juice bottle – as the song almost went, Any Bottle Will Do.
When the pastry is rolled out, cut into rectangles about 10cm x 15cm each. That’s a guess, by the way. Slightly bigger or slightly smaller is just fine too (in fact I want to make mini ones!!) Get as many rectangles as you can from your pastry, adding the cutoffs back to the rest of the pastry on the side.
Thinly spread jam on half of the rectangles, leaving a generous half inch space around the edges. Place a plain rectangle on top of a jammy one, and press together lightly. Trim the very edges with a sharp knife to neaten up.
Place very carefully on a pre-greased baking sheet. Repeat these steps until all of the pastry dough is used up.
Then bake in the centre of a preheated or fan oven at 180C for 12-15 minutes. Don’t worry if they feel slightly soft, they harden as they cool.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool for half an hour.
Make up the icing by mixing icing sugar and water in a small bowl, and spread on top of the cooled pop tart. Add sprinkles, leave to set, and enjoy!
They can be eaten cold, or warmed gently in the oven, or popped in the toaster briefly to warm through.
They will keep in an air tight container for 3 days, or can be frozen and cooked in the oven on a low heat to defrost and warm through.
Of course, you can make these any flavour you like… Next up, a tablespoon of cocoa powder in the pastry, and peanut butter inside… 🙂
Jack Monroe. Twitter: @MsJackMonroe
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/agirlcalledjack