Nutella pop tarts, my new love!

I made pop tarts! Yes, I’m serious. I made pop tarts. Even better… THEY’RE DELICIOUS!! My sister made me some the other morning while I was looking after her little ones, and I was hooked at first bite. After much consideration (a whole 2 days worth) I came to the conclusion that I should try to make these delicious little drops of heaven on my own, even though that is the one area in which I feel my cooking skills lack the most. Wretched pastries. I even took pictures along the way as proof. I’m going to share the recipe and pictures because, hey, if I can do it so can you!

You can use any pie crust as the dough, but I found one that I’m a big fan of. I read the recipe wrong as I was making it, and it just so happened that mistake turned into the flakiest, yummiest pastry dough I’ve ever had!

Pie/Pastry Dough
2 1/2 c. Flour
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. sugar
3 cubes (1 1/2 c) butter - cut into smaller bits and pieces
1/4 c. cold water
1/4 c. cold vodka

Wisk together flour, salt, and sugar. Add butter and 'cut in' with pastry blender (a fork or wire wisk will work also if you're without a pastry blender, however they don't get the desired effect as fast.) This mixture will go from looking like flour and butter, to chunky flour, to a coarse corn meal with the occational pea sized clump of butter. DON'T BLEND FURTHER THAN THIS. Pour the cold water and vodka over this mixture and spoon together with rubber spatula until there are no longer dry areas in the dough. (Yes, the vodka is necessary. It is moist and holds the dough together during preparation, but evaporates in the cooking process to give you the sought after flaky pastry.) There will still be "butter spots, " and that is ok. Put dough in air tight container (I use a gallon size plastic bag) and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes, up to two days. The dough should have the consistency of cold butter as you prepare to roll it out, if it is not firm enough, further refrigeration is necessary.

Sprinkle your counter with flour and coat your rolling pin with it as well so the dough will roll out smoothly. Roll dough until it is very thin (1/8 inch thick or less) and cut into rectangles with knife or pizza cutter.



Depending on how 'loaded' you want your pop tarts to be, dab anywhere from one to three tablespoons of your favorite jam, jelly or, my personal favorite, nutella on to the middle of one half of your rectangles.



Spread the filling around the half until its about 1/4 inch away from all edges.



Wet the outside edges of the dough with warm water (to help it stick shut) and fold the bare half over the filling so the edges line up and stick together. Crimp the edges with a fork to help them stay shut during the cooking process, as well as poke holes in the top of the pastry for ventilation.



Place on foil lined cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes, or until the edges are golden and dough is no longer shiny.



Mmmm... Nutella...



There you go... this is my first (and most likely last) cooking for dummies blog, enjoy!