The other weekend I was on kid duty and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try out this fun recipe.
Strawberry PopTarts
Ingredients
- 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour plus additional for shaping and rolling
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 4 tablespoons ice water
- 12 tablespoons strawberry preserves (preferably organic homemade)
- Powdered sugar
- Fresh strawberries
Recipe
Whisk 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour, coarse salt, and sugar in large bowl. Add butter. Using fingertips or back of fork, blend in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water by tablespoonfuls, tossing until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball. Divide in half; shape each half into disk. Wrap in plastic. Chill at least 1 hour.
Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough on floured surface to about 13x11 inches. Trim to 12x10-inch rectangle, then cut into eight 5x3-inch rectangles.
Arrange 4 rectangles, spaced apart, on each sheet. Spoon 1 1/2 tablespoons preserves in row down center of each rectangle. Top preserves with second dough rectangle. Using fingertips, gently press all edges of each tart to seal; press all edges with tines of fork to double-seal. Using toothpick, poke a few holes in center of top dough rectangle. Cover; freeze tarts on sheets at least 2 hours and up to 1 week.
Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 375°F. Bake frozen tarts uncovered until golden, reversing sheets after 15 minutes, 25 to 30 minutes total (some preserves may leak out). Immediately transfer tarts to rack. Sift powdered sugar lightly over. Serve warm or at room temperature with fresh berries.
I was wrong...for two reasons. After two nights sharing a bed with Bruce and Lee I was bruised, battered and exhausted. Secondly, this recipe was a lot of work with very little payoff.I had to borrow my nephew's stylin' wristband just to keep my hand on while whisking/forking the ingredients for batter, USE A MIXER! {unless some dough puncher out there knows a rule that prohibits this and can enlighten us.} Their sweet, sleepy smiles turned to frowns when I read out loud the step informing us that the batter needed to chill for an hour. A couple games of operation and way too many episodes of iCarly later we got to work.
And work it was! Rolling this out was like laying pavement (not that I've done that before but I found my internal dialogue was similar to that of a construction worker!) Then I blew it. I don't know what my issue with reading recipes is but I blame my exhaustion for this one...and it was a biggie. I somehow misread it to say freeze for 2 hours again. Leading to a symphony of moans and groans, mostly coming from me. So I wrap the rolled out dough and put it in the freezer for as close to two hours as I could stand or approximately 35 "is it time yets?".
The dough was now impossible to roll any thinner so we just cut and filled. We went with strawberry preserves and nutella. As shown below this huge process yielded 4 pop tarts, 3 normal sized and 1 pop tent! 4 fricken pop tarts!!!
The dough was now impossible to roll any thinner so we just cut and filled. We went with strawberry preserves and nutella. As shown below this huge process yielded 4 pop tarts, 3 normal sized and 1 pop tent! 4 fricken pop tarts!!!
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| A lot of love went into these little pockets. |
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| fancy forking |
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| edible door stops! |
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| we went through a gallon of milk washing these down! |
The light at the end of the tunnel!
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| cinnamon & sugar pie crisps! |
Maybe this recipe will be better
Serious Eats ~ Strawberry Pop Tarts
On the bright side I came up with an idea that may be fantastic which means I'm actually willing to relive this experience again. I was lucky enough this spring to check something off my bucket list...the Kentucky Derby.
While in Louiville we were wined and dined to the nines but my favorite meal was one we had in a little barbecue joint on Bardstown Rd. before heading to the airport.
Mark's Feedstore
This is where I tasted burgoo, a southern stew. Ever since then I have wanted to make a chicken burgoo pot pie. My thinking is if I'm going to try a burgoo pot pie, why not a burgoo "hot pocket" (nothing like Jim Gaffigan Hot Pockets!) All I would have to change from the above recipe aside from the filling is using salted butter and nixing the sugar and berries.
According to
Wikipedia ~ Burgoo
Burgoo is a spicy stew, similar to Irish or Mulligan stew, often served with cornbread or corn muffins.
Traditionally, burgoo was made using whatever meats and vegetables were available -- typically, venison, squirrel, opossum, raccoon or game birds, giving it its mocking name "roadkill soup".
Today, local Kentucky barbecue restaurants use a specific meat in their recipes, usually pork, chicken, or mutton, which, along with the spices used, creates a distinct flavor unique to each restaurant.
No standardized recipe exists, but it is a combination of at least three things. Today, the meat is usually one of or a combination of beef, pork, chicken, and mutton, often hickory-smoked, but other meats are seen occasionally -- the Hilltop Inn of Evansville, Indiana, as featured on Alton Brown's Feasting on Asphalt television series,[2] serves a variety made with squirrel meat. Vegetables such as lima beans, corn, okra, and potatoes have always been popular. A thickening agent of cornmeal, ground beans, whole wheat, or potato starch is all that most cookbook recipes use today, but it is traditional to add soup bones for taste and thickening.
The ingredients are combined in order of cooking time required, with meat usually going in first, vegetables second, and if necessary, thickening agents last. A good burgoo is said to be able to have a spoon stand up in it. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and other savory spices can be added much like in Cincinnati chili. Some varieties use cider vinegar, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or chili powder. These condiments are often made available for people to spice up their own bowl as well.
I believe I have found the recipe I want to use...I'll let you know how it goes.
Emeril Lagasse's
Emeril Lagasse Kentucky Burgoo
On the bright side I came up with an idea that may be fantastic which means I'm actually willing to relive this experience again. I was lucky enough this spring to check something off my bucket list...the Kentucky Derby.
While in Louiville we were wined and dined to the nines but my favorite meal was one we had in a little barbecue joint on Bardstown Rd. before heading to the airport.
Mark's Feedstore
This is where I tasted burgoo, a southern stew. Ever since then I have wanted to make a chicken burgoo pot pie. My thinking is if I'm going to try a burgoo pot pie, why not a burgoo "hot pocket" (nothing like Jim Gaffigan Hot Pockets!) All I would have to change from the above recipe aside from the filling is using salted butter and nixing the sugar and berries.
According to
Wikipedia ~ Burgoo
Burgoo is a spicy stew, similar to Irish or Mulligan stew, often served with cornbread or corn muffins.
Traditionally, burgoo was made using whatever meats and vegetables were available -- typically, venison, squirrel, opossum, raccoon or game birds, giving it its mocking name "roadkill soup".
Today, local Kentucky barbecue restaurants use a specific meat in their recipes, usually pork, chicken, or mutton, which, along with the spices used, creates a distinct flavor unique to each restaurant.
No standardized recipe exists, but it is a combination of at least three things. Today, the meat is usually one of or a combination of beef, pork, chicken, and mutton, often hickory-smoked, but other meats are seen occasionally -- the Hilltop Inn of Evansville, Indiana, as featured on Alton Brown's Feasting on Asphalt television series,[2] serves a variety made with squirrel meat. Vegetables such as lima beans, corn, okra, and potatoes have always been popular. A thickening agent of cornmeal, ground beans, whole wheat, or potato starch is all that most cookbook recipes use today, but it is traditional to add soup bones for taste and thickening.
The ingredients are combined in order of cooking time required, with meat usually going in first, vegetables second, and if necessary, thickening agents last. A good burgoo is said to be able to have a spoon stand up in it. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and other savory spices can be added much like in Cincinnati chili. Some varieties use cider vinegar, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or chili powder. These condiments are often made available for people to spice up their own bowl as well.
I believe I have found the recipe I want to use...I'll let you know how it goes.
Emeril Lagasse's
Emeril Lagasse Kentucky Burgoo
