Handmade Blueberry Pop Tarts

Method

1. 1

   A day ahead: puff pastry. Remove ½ cup of flour from the bag of flour and save as dusting flour. In a bowl, mix together the flour and salt until well combined.

2. 2

   A day ahead. Coarsely chop the chilled butter into 1½ inch pieces (no need to be precise, just make sure the pieces are around that size). Using the cut and rub method, rub the butter into the flour. Stop when the pieces are around 1-inch each. This will be much larger than what you would use while making a pie crust. Slowly incorporate the water until a dough ball forms (the dough should have a few pieces of dry flour at the bottom and be just slightly sticky).

3. 3

   A day ahead. On a heavily floured surface, roll the dough into a long rectangle about 2 by 1½ feet. Keep the surface very floured so the dough does not stick. Using a pastry brush, brush off any excess flour and begin folding. You will fold the short ends of the dough so they meet in the center of the dough and touch. Then fold one more time in half. You should have a long skinny rectangle. This is called a book fold.

4. 4

   A day ahead. Rotate your dough block 90 degrees and repeat the rolling and folding process 1 more time. Then chill the dough for 30 minutes. Remove from the fridge, and complete the book fold process two more times (4 folds in total). Wrap in plastic and rest in your refrigerator overnight.

5. 5

   To make the filling. Preheat your oven to 375F. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together the blueberries, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and cornstarch. Cook until the mixture has thickened, about 5-7 minutes. Spread out onto a sheet tray or baking dish and refrigerate while we start working with our dough (this helps the filling cool more quickly).

6. 6

   Pull out your dough and slice off ¼.* Roll the sliced ¼ of the dough out to a rectangle that is approximately 18” x 24”. Cut out smaller rectangles that are approximately 4.25”x 5.5” (you can use the recipe folded into quarters as your guide). Brush the edges of the rectangles with egg wash.

7. 7

   Fill half of the rectangles with a couple tablespoons of the filling. Top with the other half of the dough rectangles. Crimp the edges with a fork. Slice a few vents in the top of the dough.

8. 8

   Brush the top of the pastry with egg wash. If the dough is warm, chill in your freezer for 10 minutes. Bake until both the top and bottom are golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.

9. 9

   To make the icing. In a medium bowl, whisk together two cups of the powdered sugar and two tablespoons of the blueberry filling to form a paste. Thin as needed with water to reach your desired consistency.

10. 10

    To assemble. Allow the cooked poptarts to cool for a few minutes before drizzling with the icing. Though you’ll want to dig right in, the filling is like lava out of the oven and will burn you!! Resist for a few extra minutes, then enjoy every last bite!!