Pop goes the tart!

The other day I was watching The Wedding Singer when I had a sudden craving for pop tarts. I didn't have any of the tasty pastries to satisfy my hunger, so I decided to make some.

I was on Stumbleupon.com a few days before my pop tart craving day when I stumbled upon a pop tart recipe. Now I didn't follow the directions, but I got the main idea and did my own thing. You can find the recipe at: http://bakememore.com/2009/02/15/sorry-kelloggs-these-pop-tarts-will-make-you-crumble/

I made a simple pie crust, and made some Boston Chocolate Cream Pie filling to make the filling of the pop tarts followed by a homemade chocolate glaze. The pie crust I used, I doubled but I have posted it below:


Pie Crust

1 1/4 C. Flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 C. Butter, Chilled & Diced (substitue 1/2 C. shortening)
3 tbsp. ice water

1. Whisk the flour and salt together.
2. Cut in the butter until it resembles a crumb like texture.
3. Add ice water to moisten.
4. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Now I thought that the recipe wasn't going to be enough, so I went ahead and doubled it. If you have too much in the end, that's okay, you can make mini pies!

The cream pie filling I am going to share is not as good as my mother's, but it is pretty darn close! It reminds me of the holidays when we would all get together as a family and eat until our pants burst... Well not really, but anyway, here it is:


Chocolate Cream Pie Filling

1. C. sugar
1/2 C. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
2 egg yolks
1/8 tsp. salt
2 C. scalded milk
2 squares of baking chocolate (substitute 3 tbsp cocoa powder and 1 tbsp butter per square)
1 tsp. butter

1. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate in the milk .
2. Mix in dry ingredients gradually. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring constantly until mixture thickens.
3. Mix in egg yolks one at a time, stirring after each one.
4. Cook for 3 minutes longer, then add vanilla.

So go back to the link I shared with you and follow the directions of adding the filling to the crust. Or you can use preserves, lemon filling, anything you want! The possibilities are endless.

The chocolate glaze I made is rather simple. I added a little bit of cocoa powder to about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, and about 1/2 tsp vanilla, and 1/4 tsp watrer. You can make it how you want. Without the chocolate, it is just a plain vanilla glaze, or you can make it maple, or even mint with either mint or maple extracts.

I hope you enjoy your homemade pop tarts!

Feel free to send me recipes to try or perfect. I will add them to my blog so be careful if you don't want me to unleash the secrets of your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother's chunky corn bread. Check back often to see what else I'm cookin' up!

Popcorn

I absolutely love popcorn! It is one of my favorite snacks. I decided I wanted to make popcorn balls-- a simple recipe I was taught in my culinary class. So as I'm making the sugar mixture to pour over the popcorn, I think to myself, "man I don't really wanna ball up all this popcorn into equal sized balls."

So I didn't.

Instead, I poured the mixture over the popcorn, let it cool for about 30 second, and broke it all apart. It in a sense made kettle corn. Nothing fancy, just sugar coated popcorn.... Mmmm!

Here's my recipe:

Sugar Coated Popcorn

2 C. White Sugar
1 1/2 C. Water
1/2 C. Light Corn Syrup
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
5 Quarts Popped Popcorn (I like Home-style popcorn)
1/2 tsp. Salt

Directions

Popcorn
1. Pop the popcorn
2. Put in an oven safe cooking pan.
3. Place in oven at 200 degrees F to keep it warm.

Sugar Coating
1. In a sauce pan combine the sugar, water, salt, and corn syrup.
2. Cook over medium heat to the hard crack stage(test this by placing a little bit of the mixture into cold water. If hardens almost instantly, it's ready.) or 290 degrees F (use a candy thermometer).
3. Stir in the vanilla.
4. When ready, slowly pour over the popped popcorn. Stir with a wooden spoon to coat each piece.
5. Let it cool for about 30 seconds. If not too hot, break apart the pieces and place into a dry bowl.
6. Enjoy with your favorite movie :)


I have learned also 1/4 tsp of peppermint extract tastes great on your popcorn! Try experimenting with your favorite flavors, but don't get crazy as it could ruin your sugar mixture.

If you want to make popcorn balls, rub butter on your hands, pour sugar onto popcorn, stir well, then grab a handful and roll into a ball. :)

Feel free to send me recipes to try or perfect. I will add them to my blog so be careful if you don't want me to unleash the secrets of your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother's chunky corn bread. Check back often to see what else I'm cookin' up!