Home-made Pop Tarts

 So this morning it's all about the home made pop tarts....  I had planned to tweak the recipe a bit more and then blog it.  However when my girls declared them better than store bought this morning I decided not to wait.  I must add this recipe is NOT approved by all three girls, but the one who didn't care for them doesn't like Pop Tarts at all.  She's more of a savory girl then a sweet... thus the breakfast pockets yesterday.

The ingredients you need - pie crust, jelly, jam or other filling, and a bit of flour or cornstarch.

 I made my fillings first.  I spooned a large spoonful of flour into each bowl and then topped it with my filling ingredient.  Strawberry Jelly, Red Raspberry jam, and applesauce with some cinnamon sprinkled on top.

Then I stirred them up... Now this is not a step you have to do, but I wanted a thicker filling then just the jelly and of course the applesauce can be a bit runny.

 Then I rolled out my pie crust as close to a rectangle as I could get it. I squared it off and cut it into 6 semi equal parts.  Then I plopped some filling in each section and spread it being sure to leave an outer edge free of filling for sealing purposes.

Next I beat an egg white and spread it over all the exposed pie crust.  Egg white acts like glue here, helping the crust stick together.  Then I lay another pie crust over top and press it together all around the edges of the filling.  Use your pizza cutter and cut it into the same sections you already divided.  Next comes the part where I made an error... I was out of parchment paper and decided that tin foil would work just as well.  Perhaps it would have if I had bothered to spray it down with oil.  I didn't.... You will see the error of my ways (or you may have last night) in a minute.  Regardless, Move each tart to the foil or paper lined tray (use the PAPER!! Or spray the tinfoil with cooking spray) then seal the edges with a fork (just like a pie crust).   Use the tines of your fork to prick holes all over the top of the filling.  You don't want the steam to make it into a pillow instead of a flat pop tart.  

Place them in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 20 minutes or until nicely browned (not too brown though cause you are going to toast them later).  Then remove them from the cookie sheet to a cooling rack

see what a lack of parchment paper, or oil spray will do?  It made it easy to sample last night though :)

Here are the finished Pop-Tarts...  I choose not to frost mine because we don't like super sweet things.  If you wanted to frost them you could mix together some confectioners sugar and some milk to make a glaze to frost them with.  If you want a hardened glaze (more like the traditional Pop Tart) stir in some corn syrup too.  Just search a sugar cookie frosting and you will find one to meet your needs.  
Now... my girls loved them toasted and untoasted this morning.  I do plan on trying my hand at a home made pie crust version because I would like to have more than 6 from a package of pie crusts.  Although my version allows me to control the sugar and the filling (by choosing no sugar added jelly etc) it doesn't save any money using the store bought pie crust.  I will post an update when I have one...