Commercial treats from childhood were so tasty; Ding-Dongs, Zingers, Hostess cupcakes, and Snowballs quickly come to mind as some of my childhood favorites. As kids, most of us did not have unlimited access to these goodies, and perhaps that is what made them so seemingly special. Today it seems like kids are eating more and more pre-packaged, artificially colored, and chemically mysterious ‘treats.’ My own kids have not had much of an opportunity to explore the commercial foods that are the norm today. Take a gander at the ingredient lists of some of these products and I would be surprised to find three natural ingredients in that long list. As conscious as most parents are to what their kids are consuming, I know that the childhood favorites that most kids enjoy are still appealing to their taste buds. So the request for Pop-Tarts came into our home recently. I must confess, this was probably my favorite of all the cruddy junky foods that I consumed as a kid. I can even recall my first Pop-Tart, much as my favorite meal at Spago or Fleur De Lys. My first Pop-Tart was at Camp Oakes. We had one day when our cabin earned a breakfast in bed. The cabin leader brought us chocolate Pop-Tarts, right out of the silver package, not even toasted! I didn’t want to deny the guys this treat, but decided to create our own version of this delight. Super easy to make a few batches and freeze. Use homemade jam or purchase a nice organic jam from one of our local growers.
Enjoy!
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 sticks of cold unsalted butter — cut into small chunks
4 tablespoons ice water
Whisk flour, salt and sugar to combine. Toss in butter chunks. Using your fingertips, blend butter into the flour mixture until it looks like coarse meal. Add ice water and mix to combine. Form into disk and then cut in half. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour. On a floured surface, roll out the dough. Using a cookie cutter, biscuit cutter, or even a pint glass, cut out an even number of rounds from your dough. Repeat with other disk. Arrange half of the circles on a prepared sheet pan (using parchment or a silicone pad). Spoon some jam onto each round. Top each jam round with remaining rounds. Using fingertips, gently press each round to seal tartlets. Using the tines of a fork, press tines into the tartlet to double seal. Poke a few holes into the center of each tart. Cover and freeze the tarts for at least 2 hours to 1 week.
To bake: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake uncovered frozen tarts until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Immediately transfer to a cooling rack. Sift powdered sugar on top if you feel like it!
Enjoy!
Strawberry jam
3 pints of strawberries
1/2 cup sugar (or to taste)
Place strawberries in a heavy sauce pan. Cook on low heat, stirring every 15 minutes or so. Keep on heat until the strawberries start to develop a jam-like consistency. This will take about 3 hours. Add sugar and dissolve, taste. Transfer to a container and refrigerate. Jam will last about 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Makes about 3 cups.
Andrea Charroin was a trained baker and pastry chef in San Francisco before she and her family moved to Redding 11 years ago. After falling in love with Redding’s downtown, Andrea and husband Westley opened a little pastry shop, Rene-Joule Patisserie, across from the Cascade Theatre. For the three years Rene-Joule was in business, it was renowned for making everything from scratch, using the best ingredients and keeping with a seasonal menu. To this day, Andrea is asked about her Marathon Bars, Orange Twists and sourdough bread.
Copyright 2009 Andrea R. Charroin. Visit her blog at bakerslove.typepad.com
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