It Is Pop Tart Thursday!

"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24

If you have been with me for a while you know that I am not necessarily a morning person. That became very clear at the dawn of this new day when I realized that the dirty looking water that was pouring forth from my coffee maker was because I had put whole beans into the basket. Sigh. Somehow between age and my general disagreement with getting up at such an obscene hour, I managed to make even the mundane act of brewing coffee a source of amusement for all. I swear the sound of grinding beans was a song of mockery to my ears.

So on to the pop tarts that you have been waiting for!!!!! Homemade pop tarts first caught my eye on Pinterest. I know that Pinterest is a scary place for many. It took me a while to get used to it but now it is my go to place for all things homemaking, decorating, cooking, quotes, you name it. What is Pinterest? It basically is a web site where people who are super creative share with those of us who can barely glue two sticks together or who consider covering the table with a sheet as having decorated for a party.

Back to the pop tarts……… There are two recipes that I have used for the pop tarts and I like both of them equally. One is from Deb at the Smitten Kitchen and the other is from  Heidi at The Frugal Girls. Each recipe is a “from scratch” endeavor and a bit time consuming. But take heart. If you just don’t want to go down the “from scratch” road, there are some short cuts that will take make it a quick fix on a school morning. What better way to put a smile on your child’s face (or your sweetheart’s!) than to put a warm, freshly made pop tart in front of them!

I made the recipe using both pre made pie crust and a new gluten free pie crust dough for my precious gluten intolerant granddaughter. That is the nice thing about homemade. You can be as creative as you want! For the filling of these I used Simple Fruit Jam from Smuckers because it had only natural ingredients. I am looking forward to spring when the blueberries and strawberries are in season and I can use fresh fruits in the filling. You can use Nutella, peanut butter and jelly, cinnamon sugar, or chocolate just to name a few.

I used parchment paper on my cookie sheet because I knew they would leak and I didn't want to have to clean the cookie sheet. Baked on sugar is like cement. Just saying. With the parchment paper I don’t have to oil the cookie sheet either. (grocery stores sell parchment paper in the same aisle as the aluminum foil) Because I used the round pre made pie crust I cut it into squares and triangles. That way I didn't
have to handle the dough too much and make it tough. (The gluten free dough came in a tub and had to be rolled out.)

After I made the pop tarts I placed the cookie sheet into the refrigerator and then turned on the oven. That allows the pop tarts to firm up while the oven is preheating. I skip the egg glaze because we have some egg allergies in our family. They won’t come out shiny and they will leak a little more because they aren't sealed as tightly but I am not looking to win any awards. It took about 10 minutes to prepare them and 20 minutes in the oven so 30 minutes overall. (When I make them from scratch it takes quite a bit longer.)

Now I am not advocating eating pop tarts every morning. But every once in a while it is fun to surprise your family with something unexpected. And of course once everyone has gone about their day, you can sit down and enjoy one with a cup of coffee while doing your morning devotion!


©2014MichelleWelch, team member of Breath Of Life Women's Ministries
photography by Michelle Welch, all rights reserved (the picture of the squares and circles were ones my middle daughter made with her children)
“Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
http://thefrugalgirls.com/about
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/04/homemade-pop-tarts/