Pumpkin Pancakes

The weather has been cooler here, which is a rarity for August.  With the cooler weather, it put BP and I in the mood for fall things.  And for BP that means pumpkin.  The man loves pumpkin, and I love making pumpkin anything for him.  The man has been craving pancakes lately, and one of our text conversations was about him picking up some pumpkin at the store and that we were going to have some pumpkin pancakes over the weekend.  I was looking to redeem myself for the first pumpkin pancakes I made for him months ago.  Let's just say they weren't so good.  I mean I didn't even post about them on here so that should tell you how not good they were.  But he sweetly ate them all up anyways.  That's love :)  The bar had been set pretty low, so I was looking to really have these bad boys be the ones that I make over and over again. 

Saturday morning rolled around and it was breakfast time.  Really it was a two-fer for me, making pumpkin pancakes and serving BP breakfast in bed.  I love making him breakfast in bed.  For a while we were on a good roll with it and then we hit a dry patch due to us being busy.  So I looked at BP Saturday morning and asked if he was hungry and if he wanted breakfast in bed.  He got the most adorable look on his face and a huge smile and said 'OK, I'll be right here waiting'. 

Down I went to make what turned out to be some amazing pancakes.  These bad boys are a triple threat: easy, quick and damn tasty. 

nom nom nom

Coffee: check.  Pancakes: check.  Syrup: check.  Off I went upstairs to deliver breakfast in bed to the love of my life.  I opened the door to the bedroom and there was the cutest thing ever - BP sitting up, huge smile on his face, anxiously waiting for me.  Couldn't get any better.  These bad boys didn't last long by either of us.  Extremely tasty.  I highly recommend these.  So next time you're in the mood for a fall treat, these will be perfect.

Pumpkin Pancakes

makes 6 servings

 

 

2 1/3 cups Bisquick mix

1/3 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1 1/4 cups milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2 eggs

 

1. Heat griddle or skillet over medium heat.  In medium bowl, stir all ingredients together until well blended.  
2. Take a tbsp butter and melt it on hot pan.  Pour slightly less than 1/4 cup batter onto hot surface.  Cook until edges are dry; flip and cook until other sides are golden brown.  Top with syrup.  

Apple Pie

Any chance I get to bake for BP I'm all over it, and you can say the same thing about BP's Dad.  He doesn't ask me to make him a lot of things, so when he throws out a request I make sure that it gets made.  His birthday is two days before mine, and since I will be in Florida for work at training over his birthday and mine, BP's dad was going to get his birthday pie early.  Sunday rolled around and it was time to make the pie.  I had an afternoon chock full of baking and I couldn't be happier.  Jello Cake for BP and myself, Apple Pie for BP's dad.

I'm all about making pies - it's not something I get a chance to do a lot and am still trying to master it.  Warning - this does take time.  I made the dough from scratch, and if that's not your thing, then go for the premade dough.  But I love things that take a long time.  It gives me a chance to really put all my love and effort into it.  I wanted this pie to be awesome.  BP's dad is an amazing man, I love hanging out with him, and even when we have what I like to call "hot date night with BP and BP's dad".  I look forward to those nights for they are filled with great conversations and tons of laughter. 

This pie was a great labor of love for me.  The smell of it baking in the oven was amazing.  BP and his dad were eager to try it. 

Ba-zing!!

This pie came out awesome!! When it was time to have dessert after Sunday night dinner, I got to serve BP's dad a piece of his pie while BP and I had Jello Cake.  Not even a minute after BP's dad had tried the pie, he came over to me and thanked me for the pie and said it was amazing.  The smile on my face was priceless.  I was so happy he liked it. 

Last night during my text conversation with BP, he said that his dad LOVED the pie.  And BP had a piece himself and said it was amazing.  I told him that he can tell his dad I will make this pie for him whenever he wants it.  I was so happy and excited that he liked it.  I wanted this pie to be perfect for him and it was - couldn't ask for anything more :)

Apple Pie

makes one 9" pie

 

Ingredients
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out dough Pie Crust
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream
3 pounds assorted apples (such as Macoun, Granny Smith, Cortland, Jonagold, and Empire)
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Pie Crust

1 cup (about 2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pie plate

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out dough

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

 

1. Cut each stick of butter into eight pieces, and refrigerate until needed. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl, and mix to combine and let chill for 30 minutes.

2. Add the chilled butter. Using a pastry blender, incorporate the butter into the flour mixture; the mixture should resemble coarse meal with small pieces of butter, the size of small peas, remaining visible.

3. Drizzle 2 tablespoons ice water over the flour-butter mixture, and blend. Repeat with an additional 2 tablespoons water. At this point, you may have to add more water: When a handful of dough squeezed together just holds its shape, you've added enough; if the dough crumbles, continue incorporating water, 1 tablespoon at a time, checking the consistency after each additional tablespoon.

4. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface. Divide into two equal pieces, and place on two separate sheets of plastic wrap. Flatten, and form two disks. Wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

5. Lightly dust a clean, dry work surface with flour. Place the chilled dough in the center of the work surface, and dust the dough as well as the rolling pin with flour. Position the rolling pin on the center of the disk, and begin rolling the dough away from you. Give the disk a quarter turn, and roll again. Continue turning and rolling until you have an even 1/8-inch thickness. Turning the dough as you roll will prevent it from sticking to the work surface. A dry pastry brush is handy to remove any excess flour during and after the rolling process.

6. Lightly butter the pie plate. To minimize stretching when moving the dough, roll it around the pin, lift up, and unroll over the buttered pie plate. Using your fingers, gently pat the dough into place. Trim any excess dough with a paring knife or kitchen shears, leaving a 1-inch overhang; then fold dough under to reinforce the edge.

PIE
　
1. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one disk of pie crust to a 1/8-inch-thick circle, about 13 inches in diameter. Drape dough over a 9-inch pie pan. Transfer pan to refrigerator, and chill 30 minutes.

2.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Whisk together the egg yolk and cream; set aside.

3. In a large bowl, toss together the apples, lemon juice, granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt; place in chilled bottom crust. Dot with butter.

4. Roll out the remaining disk of pie crust as in step one. Brush the rim of the bottom crust with the egg wash. Place second piece of dough on top, and trim so 1 inch overhangs. Tuck the dough under, and crimp the edges with a fork or your fingers. Transfer pie to the refrigerator, and chill until firm, about 15 minutes.

5. Remove pie from the refrigerator, brush with the egg wash, and sprinkle generously with sugar. Cut four vents in the top, allowing the steam to escape.
6. Bake until crust begins to turn light brown, about 25 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees, and bake until golden brown and the juices are bubbling, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.





Jello Cake

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted - I apologize for that.  Things have been busy to say the least.  Finally things calmed down and BP put in a request.   Shocking I know, I never say no when he asks me to make him something.  But this one was a special request - something his mom used to make for him all the time.  The pressure was on.  I wanted this cake to live up to his memory of when his mom used to make it.  I had never heard of this, but looked it up online and it seemed really easy. 

I checked and double checked with BP about which recipe to make.  I had to make sure it was the right one.  I wanted to make BP proud with this cake, and to honor his mom through it as well.  She raised such an amazing and loving man.  I wish I could tell her that, and thank her for him.

 This is the easiest thing to make - and it may sound strange, but trust me, it's tasty.  While I was making this cake (and letting it cool and set up), I also got to make BP's dad an Apple Pie - his request.  How could I say no to that?! But we will get into the pie in another post.  Back to the cake. 

Simple - make the cake, let it cool a little, poke some holes and pour jello over the top of it, let it cool in the fridge for a while and then top off with a layer of pudding (I had to have BP make this for me since me and instant pudding don't mix), let it set some more and then finish off with cool whip.  It is a little labor intensive, well not really just a lot of steps, but totally worth it.  And it's a light dessert - not heavy at all.  Perfect summer dessert. 

I'm sure at this point you're wondering what this hot mess of a cake looks like.  All the pictures I saw of it before hand had me so worried that it wouldn't turn out the same way.  Sometimes my perfectionist way gets the best of me.  I wanted this thing to be perfect.

Ba-zing!!

Jackpot! Looked just like all the pictures I saw.  I was so relieved.  Ok - I did have a minor panic when I cut the first piece and tried to get it out of the pan.......

what a hot mess!

.....I took this piece for myself, I couldn't bear handing this over to BP.  Time for him to try it out was upon me.  He was waiting anxiously for it - and soon I saw that smile I love so much come across his face.  He turned and looked at me and I asked if it was just as he remembered it - he said yes and gave me a kiss.  Relief flooded over me and I happily tried out my hot mess of a piece.  Even if it wasn't in one piece, it was amazingly delicious. 

Jello Cake

makes one 13x9 cake

 

1 18oz box white cake mix

ingredients called for on cake mix box

1 3oz box strawberry Jell-O gelatin (or any flavor - we used black cherry)

1 3/4 cups boiling water

(1) 3 1/2 oz box instant vanilla pudding

1 tub Cool Whip

 

1. Bake cake according to box directions.  Let cool awhile. 
2. Dissolve jello in boiling water.  Poke holes all over cake with fork.  Pour jello evenly over cake.  Refrigerate at least a couple hours.
3. Prepare pudding as directed on package and let chill for awhile. 
4. Spread pudding evenly over cake and chill. 
5. Spread Cool Whip over top of cake and serve.  Garnish with fresh fruit if desired. 

Peanut Butter Fudge

Where to begin......sadly my injury that I thought I was done with has reared it's ugly head.  More than a year since my last surgery it started to slowly show itself again.  I stupidly ignored it and just thought it would go away.  Boy was I ever wrong.  Last week it really got painful, and I ended up back in my heavy duty brace and running on very little sleep due to the pain waking me up in the middle of the night.  I refuse to let this stop me or get me down.  Found a good doctor and now I'm just waiting until my appointment to see what's going on in there.  So for now Aleeve is my new best friend and I'm functioning on a less than normal amount of sleep and a lot of coffee.

I wasn't planning on baking this weekend, but when BP and I were going over to a friends house for dinner and some sports watching, we both knew I would be making something easy and quick, and with what we had in the house.  Out came my expandable folder of recipes and I found this gem.  I showed it to BP and he said 'that's a winner'.  Off I went to make the fudge.  And anyone can make this.  The hardest part is melting the butter and peanut butter together.  From start to finish I was done in 5 minutes - and that included doing the dishes.  BP couldn't believe how quick it took. 

nom nom nom

Time to go and BP and I cut up the fudge - and of course had to try a piece.  You know, gotta make sure that it's good before we bring it somewhere.  BP tried a piece and looked at me and the look on his face I knew he liked it.  Now I'm warning you, cut this into small pieces.  It is really rich, but extremely tasty.  You will be amazed that something this quick tastes this good.  And it will be your go to for anything dessert wise needed in a quick fix.  Off we went to enjoy a great night - and the fudge was a hit. 

Peanut Butter Fudge

 

 

2 sticks butter

1 cup peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 cup - 1 cup chopped peanuts

 

In a medium saucepan (or microwave safe bowl if you don't feel like using your stove), melt together butter and peanut butter and mix until smooth.  Remove from heat and add vanilla extract and confectioners sugar.  Mix until combined.  Spread evenly into foil lined 8" pan and press chopped peanuts into top of fudge.  Chill until firm 

Chocolate Blackout Cake

This cake has been on my list to make for over a month now.  So when one of my co-workers had a birthday, this was the perfect excuse to make it....even if we already celebrated her birthday.  Why not keep the celebration going? We talked about the cake and it was decided - continue the celebration and make the cake. I was excited, I mean a chocolate cake with chocolate pudding and a chocolate frosting.  Sounds amazing. 

This is best to be made in stages.  I made the pudding first - from scratch.  We all know my issues with instant pudding (yes - I really can't make it.....I know it's so easy but for the life of me I can't do it), so I knew that making pudding from scratch wasn't going to be an issue.  Pudding made and chilling in the fridge, all that's left is to make the cake, let it cool and then frost away. 

I know what you're thinking - that's A LOT of chocolate, but it all works well together and it's not overpowering.  I'm getting ahead of myself though.  It's time to assemble the cake.  Easy......or so I thought.  I take the cakes out of the tins and start layering.  Cake, pudding, cake, pudding and cake.  Then all of the sudden, pudding starts oozing out of the sides of the cake.  My heart sinks.  I frost the top of the cake and pudding is oozing out everywhere. 

whomp whomp

There was nothing I could do.....the damage had been done.  BP comes up and sees the cake and the look on my face and asks what's wrong.  My reply as I'm looking at this sad hot mess is "it doesn't look like the picture".  The perfectionist in me was so upset.  But I couldn't take the cake apart - pudding was EVERYWHERE.  BP sees this and pulls me in and gives me a hug and some kisses on the top of my head and tells me it's a waterfall cake and it will still taste amazing.  I made it look cooler than the picture I found online of it.  I had to give him credit, he made me laugh and smile and I knew even though it wasn't the prettiest thing it was going to be damn tasty. 

Into the fridge it went, and all I could hope for was that the pudding was going to firm up and the cake layers would stop sliding around.  (Note - when you make this, I suggest freezing the pudding after applying each layer for 10 minutes at a time so it sets up and won't ooze everywhere like mine did).  I went to bed and said a little prayer that when I woke up in the morning and opened the fridge that my cake would still be in one piece and not all over a shelf in BP's fridge.  Morning came and it was now or never.  I closed my eyes and held my breath as I opened the fridge.....it was still in one piece.  I let out a huge sigh of relief.  Now I just had to get it to work in one piece - normally not a challenge, but all of my baking stuff isn't at BP's yet, and all of my baked goods containers (except a cookie bin) are at my place.   So I held onto the plate the cake was on all the way to work.  And happily made it in one piece, cake unharmed.  

Everyone was excited to try it.  And once the first person went in for a piece it was on.  Sooooo good.   Perfect balance of chocolate throughout the whole thing.  And all of my co-workers loved it.  I even got to hand some out to some patients of ours and one of the responses was priceless.  He is an older gentleman, around the age of my grandfather, and he was a couple bites into it and looked at me and smiled.  Then he asked 'Are you married?' I replied no I'm not.  His next question 'Would you like to be?'  We all burst into laughter and my response was 'yes to my boyfriend someday'.  Being the cute older man that he is he smiled at me and said 'I hope he knows what he's got in you'.  I said he did, very much so.

The cake was almost half gone by the time I left work today - a sign of a hit.  So now I'm home, and really wanting a piece of cake.  Totally should of taken a piece home with me.  But I have a feeling I will be making this cake again. 

Chocolate Blackout Cake

makes one 3 layer cake

 

Chocolate Pudding:

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons cocoa (preferably Dutch processed)
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 4 ounces semi sweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups plus 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa (preferable Dutch processed)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup brewed coffee, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing:

• 8 ounces semi sweet chocolate
• 2 1/2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup hot brewed coffee
• 2 teaspoons corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 dozen chocolate wafer cookies

Directions

To make the Chocolate Pudding: Combine 1 cup milk with 2 tablespoons sugar in a small saucepan and bring to just under a boil.

In a mixing bowl, combine remaining sugar with salt, cocoa, and cornstarch. Whisk in remaining 1/2 cup unheated milk. Gradually whisk in hot milk and place entire mixture back into the saucepan. Heat, over medium heat, stirring, until mixture thickens and just starts to bubble.

Whisk in egg and egg yolk and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and whisk in chopped chocolate and butter. When both are melted, strain pudding through a fine-mesh strainer, and cool. Cover with plastic and reserve in refrigerator.

To make the Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter 2 (8-inch) cake pans and line with parchment. Butter the parchment and flour pans, shaking out the excess.

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Reserve.

In a mixer with a whip attachment, beat eggs and sugar until thick and lemon-colored. Beat in vegetable oil. Alternately add dry ingredients with buttermilk, scraping the bowl once or twice. Add the coffee and vanilla to form a thin batter. Divide between prepared cake pans.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cake comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Invert onto cooling racks, peel off paper and cool completely.

When cool, split each cake in half with a serrated slicing knife. Reserve 1 layer for another use. Spread bottom layer with half of the reserved Chocolate Pudding. Place second layer on top and spread with remaining pudding. Top with last cake layer.

To make the Icing: Over a double boiler, melt chocolate with butter. Remove from heat, whisk in brewed coffee, corn syrup, and vanilla. Place icing over an ice bath and chill, whisking often until the mixture is of soft but a spreadable consistency. Working quickly, ice the sides and top of cake.

In a food processor, pulse the cookies into crumbs. Press the crumbs onto sides and top of cake.

Serve cake at room temperature. If holding for more than 2 hours, store in refrigerator for up to 48 hours, but bring to room temperature before serving. 

Key Lime Pie

What a great long weekend.  BP and I had it planned out and it was full of fun and time with friends.  And of course I had to get some baking in as well.  BP's dad has recently moved in with him, and I can't say enough how happy it makes BP to have his dad there.  They are too cute when they are together, and his dad makes me laugh.  I love getting to know him better and enjoy having him around when I'm there.  BP had mentioned that his dad loves Key Lime Pie and could I make one for him.  My answer, of course!!  Any excuse to break out Big Red and bake. 

Saturday we went out and spent some time with friends and caught a movie.  Once that was done, BP went off to poker with the guys and I headed back to the house to bake it up......and I had to do most of it in stealth mode while BP's dad was in the next room.  Happily he had no idea what I was baking, he just knew I was baking.  The pie came together quickly, as do most pies.  The longest part is waiting for it to cool and set up.  So while it was cooling, I started away on some cookies for a BBQ we were going to.  Not just any cookie, S'mores Cookies.  

Now I've made these cookies tons of time in the past, and every time I make them people go crazy for them.  I was a little worried though because BP isn't that big on S'mores in general.  When I told him what I wanted to make for the BBQ, he just gave me a look like "OK Nugget, do your thing".  Oh ye of little faith.  Never doubt my baking skills :) 

Cookies baking away, BP and I were texting back and forth about his dad's pie.  We were like kids on Christmas Eve, getting impatient for it to be ready so I could give it to him.  But in the mean time, I was focused on cookies.  And when I texted BP this picture,

hello friends

his response was amusing.  "Those look interesting".  Oh he had no clue what he was in for.  I mean how can you NOT love a chocolate chip cookie with graham crackers, Hershey bars and mini marshmallows on top?!  I kept telling him how good they were and he asked if they were up to "whoopie pie standard".  All I could say was he would have to be the judge of that when he got home.  Time to get back to work on the pie....

Finally the pie was cooled and ready to top!!  I was so excited. 

so pretty.....ok not really but we can pretend

I had gone the whole time without BP's dad knowing what was going on.  I bring it out to him and tell him I made him a pie - he was so into what he was watching on tv he was like 'oh ok'.  I knew I threw him off from the movie and BP and I came to the same conclusion that he was so engrossed in the movie he wasn't fully paying attention.  But about 30 minutes later, he came downstairs, thanked me for the pie and told me it was delicious.  I couldn't stop beaming.  I wasn't sure if he really liked it, but the next day when BP and I got home from being out and about, the pie was almost gone.  I did a little happy dance in the kitchen.  I was thrilled that his dad loved it. 

Pie = hit.  Cookies?? Let's get back to the cookies and BP.......he got home Friday night and eyed the cookies.  I was eating one and asked if he wanted one.  He said no but he would have a bite of mine.  All it took was one bite.  He was hooked.  Time for the BBQ and I had packed up 2 tins worth of cookies to bring with us.  I turn around with the tins in my hands and the look on BP's face was horror.  "Let's hold up a second - we don't need to bring all of those with us.  Some of them need to stay here with us".  Now, we already had a tin going just for us.  He proceeded to take half of one tin and put it into ours.  You know, to make it through the week.  All I could think of while he was taking more cookies for us was I love this man. 

Weekend came to a close, pie was demolished, a few cookies left.  Amazing time with BP and friends. And S'mores cookies will be making another appearance, maybe for poker night at BP's house. 

Key Lime Pie

makes one 9" pie

 

1 1/4 cups graham-cracker crumbs

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup fresh Key-lime juice
1 tablespoon grated Key-lime rind
3/4 cup heavy cream, chilled

1. Heat oven to 375°. Combine graham-cracker crumbs, butter, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl, and mix well. Press into a buttered 8-inch pie plate, and bake 15 minutes, until lightly browned. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine condensed milk, egg yolks, lime juice, and rind. Pour into the prepared, cooled crust.
3. Lower oven to 325°. Return pie to oven, and bake approximately 15 to 17 minutes, until the center is set but still quivers when the pan is nudged.
4. Remove from oven, and let stand until cool.
5. Shortly before serving, whip cream until stiffened. Decorate pie with whipped cream, and serve at room temperature. 

Cinnamon Brown Sugar Pop Tarts

Time is flying by.  I can't believe it's already the middle of May.  Soon the warm weather will be here and I will be all about no bake items and ice cream.  While the weather is still (somewhat) cool I will be baking away.  Last weekend I made 2 family recipes for BP - Whoopie Pies and Jumbo Raisin Cookies.  Both were a hit.  BP told me that "there wasn't enough whoopie pies made".  I love when he loves things I bake, especially when they are family recipes. 

The week flew by, work is going amazing and I love my job and my coworkers.  Before I knew it, Friday was here and it was time to start our weekend off at one of our favorite places, Top Golf.  After a great night out with friends, it was time to relax and run some errands.  Wandering around Walmart, we stumbled onto a display of pop tarts.  BP made the comment of how he loves pop tarts, and me being the baking nerd that I am said that I have a recipe for those.  He got so excited.  I wasn't even going to bake this weekend, but the look on his face when I said I could make them was just too cute. 

Now, yes this does take some time.  You need to make the dough and let it chill.  You can do the minimum time required to chill the dough and it's still about 2 hours.  So if you want you can always break this up into two days or morning and evening of one day.  And something I love about these is that you can make them the size you want.  I tend to go for a medium size pop tart, this gets you a good number of treats and they are the perfect size. 

Ok - they aren't the prettiest things, but
damn tasty
 

Now, make sure you let them cool all the way before you frost them.  Then let the frosting set all the way - then comes the tough choice.  To toast or not to toast?!  Either way these pop tarts are amazingly delicious.  And the best part is, you can make the filling any flavor you want.  Your options are endless. 

nom nom nom

The time finally came to try them.  BP waited patiently for hours while they were baking and cooling and setting.  And one of his friends was over for dinner and to hang out and he finally got to try some of my baked goods that I make all the time.  Time to chow down - and they both loved them.  I'm a big fan of making things from scratch.  You can control the ingredients and lately I've been baking it up with the baking blends of sugar and brown sugar and you can't even taste the difference.  So if you are looking for a great recipe to tackle that isn't too hard, try this one out.  I mean we all love things from our childhood and this is something we all associate with childhood - so make a treat for the kid in you.  You wont regret it. 

Cinnamon Brown Sugar Pop Tarts

 

For the pastry:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small chunks

4 tablespoons ice water, plus more if needed

 

For the filling:

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 large egg, whisked with a tablespoon of water, to brush the pastries with

 

For the glaze:

3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

4 teaspoons milk, plus more as needed

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Preparation:

If you don't have a food processor, you can use your hands.  In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour and salt; pulse a couple times to combine the ingredients. Throw in the cold, diced butter, and pulse 10 more times or until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about the size of peas.

With machine running, add ice water through the opening on top of the lid, in a slow, steady stream, one tablespoon at a time,  just until dough holds together without being wet or sticky. It should form a ball and come away from the sides. It is very important to  not over process the dough. A way to test the dough is by squeezing a small amount of dough together; if it is still dry and doesn’t come together, add a bit more water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Divide the dough in half, and place each half on a piece of plastic wrap. Shape into disks and tightly wrap in plastic. Place the disks in the refrigerator and chill for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350°.

To assemble the toaster pastries: Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and allow it to thaw for a bit. This will help you roll out the dough, and make it easier to work with. Place one piece on a lightly floured work surface, and roll it into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Trim the sides of the dough so that it measures 9×12 inches in size. Repeat with the second piece of dough. Cut each piece of dough into thirds and then each third into thirds again. You should end up with 9 rectangular pieces, each measuring 3×4 inches. Using a ruler will make this process easier.

Beat the egg with a tablespoon of water and brush it over the entire surface of the first dough pieces. This will be the “bottom” of the tart; the egg will help glue the lid on. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling into the center of each rectangle, making sure to leave about 1/4 inch of space on the edge. Brush the second dough pieces with egg wash as well, and place a second rectangle of dough atop the first, using your fingertips to press firmly around the pocket of filling, sealing the dough well on all sides. Crimp the edges with a fork all around the edge of each rectangle. This will ensure the tarts do not open up during baking.

Gently place the tarts on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Prick the top of each tart five times with a skewer or tooth pick; this will allow the steam to escape, so that the tarts will become light and airy instead of flat pop-tarts. Brush the tops with extra egg wash. Refrigerate the tarts, uncovered, for about 30 minutes. This will allow the butter in the dough to chill and firm up causing a flakier crust.

Remove tarts from the fridge and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until they’re golden brown, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Let the tarts cool on the pan for about 5 minutes, and then transfer them to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely before glazing.

 

To make the glaze, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until it reaches a spreading consistency. It should be thick but not too thick. Use a butter knife or offset spatula to glaze each tart. Allow the glaze to harden before eating. Store them in an airtight container. To reheat, place in a350° oven and heat for 10 minutes. Or you can pop them in a toaster to warm them for a few seconds.