Ever have those days when you’re just craving a Poptart-like breakfast pastry? And then you realize that as an almost-26 year old you really shouldn’t be ooing and ahhing over all of the varieties in that aisle, that maybe you should just be picking up your fruit and yogurt, and leaving the store as quickly as possible.
Yes. That happens to me almost every time that I am in the supermarket. I go up and down the aisle that has Oreos (obviously need to see if there are any new flavors!), and then peak at the Poptarts, thinking maybe it will be the day that I cave, the day when I buy Cinnamon Brown Sugar, S’more and Strawberry Poptarts.
It has yet to happen.
Then I made this wild discovery—I may be skilled enough to make my own Poptarts at home, I mean culinary school should have prepared me for this exact adult moment, am I right? And naturally I’m going to make something a little different, a combination that I am pretty sure I can’t find sitting in a box between the ever so delicious S’mores and Blueberry flavors.
Cue the nuts and spices.
First, making your own chai spice blend is ever so easy, read ingredients below, but I used some from Easy Indian that are so authentic and fragrant—highly recommend! Second, nuts are always optional, but unless you have allergies I really do not suggest omitting them. The added crunch and the toasted flavor really elevate the pastry as a whole, giving them just a few more taste points in my book.
Finally, the pie dough and assembly are what take the most time and have the most steps. Rolling, cutting, chilling, assembling, chilling, egg washing, chilling, baking. Can you tell that chilling the dough and the temperature is very important?! While they are not the most complicated, a bit of patience is required if you want to achieve the most flakey, most buttery, most yummy and most aesthetically pleasing pastry—which is why I have provided very detailed steps and photos, I suggest reading all of the steps before starting!
Literally perfect for ANY time of the day…which just means for me I need to run an extra mile or go to an extra spin class this week in order to feel slightly less bad about eating more of these Poptarts in a day than I probably have in my life!
dough ingredients
Flour—6.75 oz, or 1 ¼ C
Sugar—0.25 oz, or ½ TBL
Salt—½ tsp
Cinnamon—1 tsp
Butter, cold—4 oz, or 1 stick/8 TBL
Milk—2 oz, or ¼ C
Water, cold—1 oz, or ¼ C
process
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon.
Cut up the butter into hazelnut sized cubes and add to the flour mixture.
Using your hands, a pastry cutter or a fork, rub the butter into the flour mixture until combined.
Slowly add in your cold milk and water, kneading with your hands or a spatula until you have formed a dough ball.
Wrap tightly in plastic and chill until you are ready to use.
filling ingredients
Brown Sugar—4 oz, or ½ C
Chai Spices*—0.25 oz, or 1 TBL
Chopped Almonds, toasted—1.5 oz, or ¼ C
Milk—0.5 oz, or 1 TBL
Egg, beaten—1
process
In a bowl, combine the brown sugar, spices and chopped almonds.
*I used Easy Indian Chai Spice, but to make your own—2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp each of allspice, cardamom, cloves, ginger, black pepper!*
Add in the milk and mix to combine.
Your mixture should resemble slightly wet sand; this just helps it stay together when you are filling your pastry!
turnover assembly
Take your dough out of the refrigerator and put on a lightly floured work surface.
Roll your dough out until it is about ¼“ thick.
*To make sure that you get a nice and even dough when rolling, rotate 45˚ after every pass of your rolling pin, making sure that there is enough flour underneath and it is not sticking.*
Once you have rolled out your dough, using either a fluted pastry wheel or regular pizza cutter, cut out rectangles that are 3” x 1½”.
This should make about 6 sets.
Once you have finished cutting out the rectangles, place them on a baking sheet covered with either parchment or a Silpat in the refrigerator to chill.
Preheat your oven to 350˚ F.
You should have 6 bottoms and 6 tops—egg wash the bottoms completely, this will help your filling stay in place better.
Take about 2 TBL of the filling and place it in the middle of your bottom rectangle.
Egg wash the edges of the top pastry and place wash side down on your filling.
Crimp the edges with a fork so that the top and bottom pastry stick together.
Chill for about 5 minutes in the refrigerator.
When you are ready to bake, poke air holes in the top so that your pastry can vent, egg wash the top, and sprinkle coarse sugar on top.
Bake in your preheated oven for about 20 minutes, until golden brown.
Remove from the oven onto a cooling rack
Bon Appétit!