Homemade "Pop-Tarts"

So, I just discovered Pinterest.  I realize I am probably the last person on Earth to have figured out this social pin board site, and like everyone else, I love it.  There are tons of great decorating, recipe, and design ideas on there, and I can waste a good amount of time browsing them.  (You know -- the free time I have when I have finished reading everyone's Facebook updates.)

Anyway, one of the ideas that I came across was "homemade Pop-Tarts."  This amuses me to no end.  Now, I consider Pop-Tarts to be one of the major food groups (along with macaroni and cheese, Oreos, and Pepsi), but I know perfectly well that a Pop-Tart is just a pre-fab substitute for an actual breakfast pastry.  However, we are so conditioned (even those of us who have had to mostly swear off Pop-Tarts in our effort to avoid HFCS) by marketing that we barely take notice of "homemade breakfast pastry."  "Homemade Pop-Tart," on the other hand, gets our attention.

I looked at a few recipes online, and the commonality was the use of pie crust to wrap a filling of choice, usually jam.  I tried to make brown sugar cinnamon flavor.  Mine did not turn out picture-perfect, as you can see, which caused me some pause about whether I wanted to share these on the blog.  However, they were seriously yummy, and you can decide for yourself whether your result needs to be photogenic before attempting the project.

Homemade Breakfast Pastries
1 Pie Crust
1 stick organic butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg

Roll out your pie crust (Mr. FC&G made one of his sweetened versions for this) and cut into long rectangles.  Place these on a cookie sheet.

Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and spices, and place about a tablespoon of the mixture on the dough rectangle about a third of the way from an end and spread, leaving about two-thirds of the length without filling.  Fold the rectangle over and crimp the edges.  (This is where mine failed, so I got a fair amount of seepage.)  You can substitute homemade fruit jam in this step if you want fruit flavor.  I imagine you could also use fresh fruit cut into small pieces or fruit you froze over the summer and thawed for this project.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until pie crust is baked.  You can dress them with a simple drizzle icing, but the brown sugar cinnamon version really didn't need it.

The Analysis

Fast:  Certainly not faster than opening a cardboard box, which is really part of the reason that Pop-Tarts have crept into our lives.  This is a good weekend project.

Cheap:  Pop-Tarts are pretty cheap, so I don't know if these come in less expensive.  But they certainly aren't expensive overall to make.

Good:  Here's the benefit!  These are flaky and buttery and really good either warm from the oven or cold from the countertop (if you manage to have leftovers to store).  More important, you control the ingredients, so you won't be adding HFCS, and you can use organic butter and other natural ingredients.