Cinnamon-Pear Pop Tarts

A home made version of the mass produced Kellogg's pastry. Because in this kitchen, we don't cross picket lines.

INGREDIENTS

For the Jam

I used the Taste of Home's recipe as a base, but that yields ~3 times as much jam as you'll need for these Pop Tarts. So I've done my best to downsize it for you here.

• 4 medium sized pears, peeled, cored, and diced (save the peels!)

• 2 cups granulated sugar

• dash of cinnamon

For the Dough

Based my pastry off of the incredible Lauren Ko's basic pie dough recipe in her book Pieometry.

• 350 g all-purpose flour (less one tbsp)

• 1 tbsp granulated sugar

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tbsp cinnamon

• 16 tbsp cold butter

• 3-5 tbsp ice cold water

For Egg Wash

• 1 large egg

• 1 tbsp water

For the Frosting

Followed Sally's Baking Addiction for the frosting.

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar

• 1 tbsp milk (I used oat)

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

For the Sprinkles

Learned how to candy fruit from Food 52's candied pear chips.

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 2 cups water

• saved pear peels from Jam

METHOD

Jam

You can make this ahead of time or while the dough cools.

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Peel, core, and dice the pears. Move the peels aside for use later if you are making the sprinkles.

In a large pot, combine the diced pears, sugar, and cinnamon and heat on high. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat and let simmer, stirring occasionally, for 2 hours or until thickened.

Remove jam from heat and let cool. Once close to room temperature, store in an air tight container and move to the refrigerator.

Dough

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Sift flour into a large bowl and mix in sugar, salt, and cinnamon until well combined.

Cut the cold butter into 1/2 inch cubes. Do your best to keep them cold. Use your hands (make sure you wash your hands beforehand) to rub the butter into flour mixture. It should make a sand-like consistency.

Get about 1/2 a cup of cold water and add in ice to keep it as cold as you can. Scoop two tablespoons of the water and add into the bowl. Work the water into the mixture, adding one tablespoon (or half tablespoon) at a time more water until it just makes a dough.

Shape the dough into a ball and wrap with plastic or beeswax wrap. Compress the ball into a disc and refrigerate for at least 3 hours (or overnight).

Naked Pastries

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Prepare a 9 1/2 x 13 inch baking sheet (or bigger) by lining with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C, Gas Number 4).

Once the pastry dough has cooled it's time to form the Pop Tarts. Split the disc into two halves and work one half at a time, returning the other half to the refrigerator to keep it chilled.

Roll out one half of the dough on a lightly floured surface into a large 9x12 inch rectangle. Having cut the disc in half, I like to lay the semi-sphere on the flat side, and roll it out from there, I find it makes getting to a rectangle easier than starting with a round edge.

Once the large rectangle is formed, use a pastry roller or some other cutting utensil (I think a butter knife would do just fine) to cut into 9 equal, smaller rectangles. Place these small rectangles on the prepared baking sheet. Put the sheet into the refrigerator and take out the remaining semi-sphere of dough.

Now would be a good time to prep the egg wash, since you'll be using it to seal to two sides.

Repeat the rolling and cutting steps above on the second half of the dough.

Pull out the rectangles on the baking sheet and the jam and get ready to prepare the pastries. There are two methods you can use here (1) match similarly sized rectangles with each other or (2) use the smaller rectangles as the bottom layer. Either one should work, I did a terrible job cutting so I even had to do some edge-cutting and patch-work.

Once you've figured out your layering and pairing, set the set of bottom layer rectangles on the baking sheet and spoon ~1 1/2 tbsp of jam onto the center of each one. Use a spoon or spatula to flatten the jam out into little rectangles. Make sure you leave room for the seal!

Using any appropriately small utensil or even your (freshly washed) finger spread the egg wash around the edges of each pastry bottom.

Lay the top pastry on the jammed bottom layers. Using a fork, press the edges together to seal.

Brush egg wash on the top of each sealed up pastry with a pastry brush. Using a toothpick or the tip of a knife, make 6-8 small punctures into the jam center of each pastry to allow steam to escape.

Place the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, rotating halfway through.

Once the pastries have reached a nice golden-brown, take them out of the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Then move them to a wire rack for further cooling.

Sprinkles

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While the pastries are baking put the water, sugar, and cinnamon into a pot and bring to a simmer to make the syrup for candying.

Once the sugar has completely dissolved, add in the pear skins. Turn off the heat, and let the skins soak up the syrup for 45 minutes.

When you take the pastries out of the oven per above, lower the temperature to 250°F (130°C, Gas Number 1/2).

Once the pear skins have absorbed the syrup take them out with a slotted spoon and place them in a single, non-overlapping layer on a baking sheet. Place them in the oven and let them dry out for about an hour, rotating and flipping the skins halfway through.

Once the skins have dried, take them out and cut them into teeny tiny pieces with a knife or food processor. Set aside.

Frosting

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Once the pastries have cooled completely and the sprinkles are ready, place the powdered sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, mixing to incorporate.

Add the milk and vanilla extract and whisk until a syrupy consistency is reached. If it feels too liquid, add a bit more powdered sugar, too dry, add more milk.

Pop Tarts

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Place something underneath the wire rack to catch any droppings.

Spoon the frosting onto each of the pastries, allowing it to drip down the sides.

Grab a pinch or two of the sprinkles and spill them onto the pastries as the frosting is still wet.

Wait 10 minutes to allow the frosting to solidify.

Serve!

The pop tarts can be saved in an refrigerated air-tight container for 3-4 days.