Toaster Pastries: Fearless Friday #24

Heather says:

Does anyone ever notice how Thursday just seems to sneak up on a person? I mind my own business, but it seems to happen every seven days or so. This week I managed to squeeze in a quick Fearless Friday. I decided to try out making a homemade version of PopTarts™. Guess what? They are fabulous, absolutely butt ugly, but fabulous. I think with practice and tweaking the technique I’ll figure out how to make them pretty, but I don’t really care if they ever get there.

Fearless Fridays are a chance for cooks of any skill level to push their boundaries in the kitchen. We all have boundaries, whether it’s a food we don’t care for or a skill we’ve never attempted. Anyone is welcome to join in this carnival by sharing a link to their latest attempt at fearlessness (it doesn’t have to be from today, the carnival just runs on Fridays). This series isn’t about perfection, it’s about trying something new and knowing that sometimes we fail. So don’t worry, we want to hear about the flops just as much as the successful attempts. If you don’t have a blog, please share your adventure in the comments.

-Ugly- Toaster Pastries

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour + extra for dusting
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 6 TBSP room temperature coconut oil -I avoid shortening whenever possible, but you can use an equal amount here-
• 3/4 cup milk
• Egg wash = 1 egg + a few tsp cold water + beaten
• Filling = your favorite jam

Tools:

• Necessary
  bowl, fork, spoon or spatula, rolling pin, baking sheet
• Nice, but not necessary
  pastry blender, pastry brush, parchment paper

Directions:

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and kosher salt.

Use two forks, your clean hands, or a pastry blender to work the 6 TBSPs of coconut oil into the flour mixture. Keep working it in until thoroughly blended. Add the milk and use a spoon or spatula to mix thoroughly.  The dough will be very soft and a little sticky. That’s normal.

Generously sprinkle your work area with flour and turn the dough out of the bowl.

Knead the dough 10 – 15 times. To do so:

1. push the ball of dough with the heel of your hand
2. grasp the edge of the dough with your fingers
3. fold the dough over
4. turn 90 degrees
5. repeat

Divide the dough in half. Next time I make this, I’m going to wrap it and let it chill in the refrigerator while the oven preheats to 350F and I hunt down my rolling pin. -One would think it would be in the drawer where it’s supposed to be, but no, not ever.-

Roll 1/2 the dough into a narrow strip about 1/8th inch thick. Try to keep the rectangle somewhere between 3 – 4″ on the short side.

I managed to do that with the second half of the dough.

Once you have a rectangle, use a butter knife to cut it into smaller rectangles of approximately the same size. Shoot for an even number.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or just grease a baking sheet.

Transfer half the rectangles to the sheet.

Grab your favorite jam, use a clean fork to give it a good stir, this makes it easier to spread. Add a generous dollop of jam to the center of each rectangle already on the baking sheet. (The blackberry was great, the peach was lovely, but the pastry where I mixed the two was divine.) Spread the jam as evenly as possible, but leave about 1/2 inch from the sides to prevent leaking during baking.

Beat the egg with the 2 – 3 tsps of water in a small bowl to create your egg wash. Use a pastry brush or your fingers to line the edges of the jam laden pastries. Carefully transfer the other rectangles from your work area and use a fork to crimp the edges.  Poke each pastry a few times with the fork to create vents.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350F. They will be very pale, but done. Transfer the pastries to a wire rack to cool and store in an airtight container.

Toast just as you would any other toaster pastry. Enjoy the fact that you know every ingredient that created these ugly little marvesl.

In the future, I will be experimenting with the jam to pastry ratio and I will lightly sprinkle the tops with a coarse sugar before baking.