I try not to keep too much overly processed snack food in the house because if I did I’d be prime contestant material for “The Biggest Loser”. However, the Lieutenant has no such compunction. My worst eating days are when he brings home pop tarts; especially the delicious frosted cherry ones. I can put away six of those puppies at one sitting. What’s a girl to do? There has to be a guilt free way to eat pop tarts & I think I’ve figured it out…..make your own! Pop tarts are really just flat little pies – so , nothing to them!
I made two kinds of pop tarts: raspberry lime and pear cranberry. You can come up with your own combinations- its just a matter of boiling down the fruit with some sugar and corn starch. For the pastry, I used my old standby recipe, paige’s pie crust, and was able to make 9 pop tarts. I made a basic powdered sugar icing for the tops.
Pear cranberry Poptarts
Ingredients:
- 1 recipe pie dough
- 3 pears, cored, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 t. cornstarch
- 1/4 cup craisins
- 10 T. powdered sugar
- 2 T. plus or minus milk
- 1/2 t. cinnamon
Cooking Directions:
- Cook & stir constantly the pears, sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch together in a saucepan until thickened. Add craisins to taste, about 1/8 cup.
- Roll out the pastry dough and cut out 3 inch by 5 inch rectangles.
- Place a thin layer of pear filling in the middle of one pastry rectangle leaving a half inch border all around the edge. Cover with another rectangle and crimp edges to bind the two rectangles together.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool.
- Mix together the powdered sugar and milk. Add more sugar or milk as needed to get a nice thickly pourable consistency.
- Frost the cooled poptarts & sprinkle on leftover chopped up craisins.
Raspberry Lime Poptarts
Ingredients:
- 1 recipe pie dough
- 2 cups fresh raspberries
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 t. corn starch
- 2 limes juice & zest of
- 10 T. powdered sugar
Cooking Directions:
- Cook & stir constantly the raspberries, sugar, zest of one lime and cornstarch together in a saucepan until thickened.
- Roll out the pastry dough and cut out 3 inch by 5 inch rectangles.
- Place a thin layer of raspberry filling in the middle of one pastry rectangle leaving a half inch border all around the edge. Cover with another rectangle and crimp edges to bind the two rectangles together.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool.
- Mix together the powdered sugar and juice of two limes and zest of one lime. Add more sugar or juice as needed to get a nice thickly pourable consistency.
- Frost the cooled poptarts.