Pop Tart Pains

Homemade Pop Tarts

I can't see Pop Tarts without thinking of Brian Regan. "Yeah, my doctor told me to eat more fruit, so, what better source than a thin layer in a strawberry frosted Pop-Tart....You can microwave a Pop-Tart that just blew me away, that you could do that. How long does it take to toast a Pop-Tart? A minute-and-a-half if you want it dark? People don't have that kind of time? Listen, if you need to zap fry your Pop-Tarts before you head out the door, you might wanna loosen up your schedule."

If you haven't heard his whole pop tart routine, you should go check it out. It's funny stuff. 

Anyway, I loved pop tarts as a kid and I still love pop tarts as an "adult" (I still feel weird calling myself an adult, I don't know why). I'd never even thought about making my own though. Christina emailed in her Pinstrosity when she followed a recipe she found for homemade Pop Tarts. 

The Original Pin

http://bakememore.com/2009/02/15/sorry-kelloggs-these-pop-tarts-will-make-you-crumble/

Christina says, "Simple enough, right? Pie crust, jelly, fold over and bake. WRONG."

The Pinstrosity

Christina tells us, "I followed the directions! I swear! My glaze tasted like SOAP. I felt bad for making my kids try it. ha! It was better after being ON the pop tart. But all the goods oozed out of them.:/ The kids still liked them but they sure weren't pretty and only had a slight taste of jelly. Yes, my kids love dough." 

I'm so glad to see there are other kids that love dough. I grew up on dough. I love dough. 

Just from reading the original blog post and looking at these pictures I have a few ideas for improvements, but I haven't had the chance to try them yet. I'll repost when I do test them out. But here's what I'll do in my first test: 

1. I love my pie crust recipe (ok, so it's really my mother's recipe), so I'd use it rather than a store bought refrigerated crust (some of them are good, but some of those taste like cardboard).
2. I've just had better luck with pies and such when I roll the dough out a little thicker than the recipe normally calls for. It makes the crust stronger and gives more substance. Maybe it'd help hold in the jelly better? 
3. I'd probably crimp/pinch the dough edges together rather than use the fork method, just in an effort to seal the edges better. I don't know if that'd make a difference or not. I'll have to report back on that. 
4. I'd probably stick with the 1 tsp of jelly/jam to start out with, but by Christina's results, that may be too much. That's just going to have to be trial and error. 
5. Then for the glaze: I'd add a little bit of vanilla extract to help with the flavor. Then I'd make the glaze really thick, so that as it baked and spread out, it wouldn't all run off the tart. 

So...without testing it yet, those are my first thoughts. Perhaps I can test this out tomorrow and report back, but today my time is way over booked. If any of you have any suggestions or tried and true methods, let us know!