Pastry
4 cups Unbleached Flour
2 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon salt
4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pats
2 large egg
4 tablespoons milk
1 large egg, to brush on dough
Filling
3/4 cup raspberry jam
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water
Icing
1.5 cup confectioners’ sugar
5 to 7 teaspoons water
Make dough: Combine flour, sugar, and salt in food processor. Pulse in butter until mixture is crumbly but still has bean sized lumps of butter still visible. Mix egg and milk, and add it to the dough, mixing just until everything comes together – it should still be slightly crumbly, dump onto lightly floured surface and need into cohesive ball of dough. Divide into 4, shaping each portion into a rectangle, smoothing edges. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour, or for up to 2 days.
Make filling: In a small saucepan, mix jam with cornstarch/water. Bring mixture to boil, and simmer, stirring, for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Assemble tarts: Remove dough from the refrigerator, and if it’s been chilling for longer than 1 hour, allow it to soften and become workable, about 15 to 30 minutes. Place one piece on a lightly floured work surface, and roll it into a rectangle about 1/8″ thick, large enough that you can trim it to an even rectangle. Set it aside. Roll second piece of dough just as you did the first. Beat egg, and brush it over entire surface of one rectangle of dough. Use a ravoli sized scallop edged cookie/biscuit cutter or whatever shape you want your pop tarts to be to cut shapes into the egg brushed rectangle of dough. Place a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of jam into center of each rectangle. Place second rectangle of dough atop first, using your fingertips to press firmly around each pocket of jam, sealing the dough well on all sides. Gently place tarts on a lightly greased or parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet, and refrigerate, covered, for 30 minutes. Roll out other 2 rectangles the same way. Make cute little slices with a very sharp knife into the top of each tart just before putting into a preheated 350 oven – do not cut into the filling tho or you’ll get tarts that look like this:
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven, and allow them to cool on pan on racks.
Combine confectioners’ sugar with 3 teaspoons of water, adding additional water if necessary to make a pourable glaze. Pour the glaze into a quart sized ziplock bag and snip the corner and squeeze decoratively onto the cooled tarts.
Makes about 60. This is a variation of a recipe I found at the King Arthur Flour website created by Joanne Chang of the Flour Bakery & Café in Boston, MA. Thank you Joanne, these are going to be a regular bake of mine!
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