Saturday Morning Cartoons and Poptarts

Raise your hand if you grew up on Poptarts and Saturday morning cartoons?

 (I’m raising both arms and legs, currently).

Like I said in the My Story segment, I grew up on the standard processed foods pyramid. ((I believe Poptarts fell into the fruit and lean protein categories for my healthy childhood diet)).

But the other day, I was thinking about Poptarts and how I haven’t had one in years–for good reasons that I don’t need to list here because I think we as adults understand why they are marketed to children primarily.

 Kids will eat just about anything usually, including a cardboard-infused pastry injected with strawberry-flavored sugar. And don’t forget the sprinkles!

So this morning I am deciding to turn on “Inspector Gadget” and “Jem and the Holograms” and make myself a batch of my very own:

They kinda cracked in the heat but they still tasted delightful.

Homemade Strawberry “Poptarts” Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/4 c. Gluten Free (or regular) All Purpose Flour Mix
• 1 1/2 tsp xantham gum (omit if not using Gluten-Free flour)
• 2 sticks Earth Balance, chilled and cubed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 Tb ice water (you might need more)

Strwberry Filling

• 5 oz. strawberry jam (or flavor of choice)
• 1 Tb cornstarch

DIRECTIONS

1. Whisk together flour, xantham gum, salt and sugar in a bowl
2. With a pastry knife (of if you have a food processor–lucky! pulse) cut the butter into flour (welcome new bicep muscles!), cube at a time until crumbly and combined.
3. Slowly add the water until mixed in. You will want it to be some-what smooth in texture but not too sticky. Add a little more flour if too sticky (try 1 Tb at a time).
4. Smooth dough out into a ball with hands on floured surface. Divide it in half, flatten into an 8″ disk with your hands, cover with parchment paper and chill in the refrigerator for 60 minutes.
5. While the is chilling, time to make the filling (hey that rhymes!)
6. In a small sauce, pour the jam inside along with the cornstarch. Bring to a simmer for a few minutes until it starts to thickening, stirring often. Remove from the heat and allow to cool and thicken some more.
7. When you are ready to roll out the dough, start with one disc at a time (leaving the other in the fridge). Roll onto a floured parchment paper.

      8.  Cover the dough with another piece of parchment paper and roll the dough out with a rolling pin until it is a little more than 1/8″   thick.

      9.  Measure out a rectangle that is approx 10″ x 3″ (this doesn’t need to be exact, you just want enough dough to fold over).

    10.  Place a tablespoon of the fill on one side. With a metal spatula, carefully flip one side of the dough over and fold.

  11.  Close the edges with your fingers to start off and then finish it with a fork along the edges. Poke a few holes on top so it can breath. Sprinkle with raw sugar if you like.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until brown along the edges.

Don’t you love the progression of the photoshoot?

What is missing by the last shot? Hey, lay off me, I was starving!

Besides, did you see the ooey-gooey middle???

Even better than the original!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have Saturday morning cartoons to watch…