Strawberry-Nutella Pop Tarts from Kasey of Turntable Kitchen

What do our fellow bloggers, writers, and online friends eat, first thing in the morning? We are asking some friends to share their favorite morning nourishment with us. I will cook and eat it too, and bring you their thoughts on what to eat first thing in the morning.

Do the words “homemade pop tart” strike a chord within your soul? Kasey of Turntable Kitchen illuminates our minds and our bellies with this amazing recipe.

Kasey and her boyfriend Matthew are the authors of a really fun, San Francisco-based blog, Turntable Kitchen. Kasey brings us tasty recipes and Matthew writes about music to accompany that delish meal with. The combination of voices and interests make for a great read. This blog is more a chronicle of an interesting pair’s life than a specific ‘music’ or ‘food’ blog, and these two folks are worth paling around with, via their site.

About this breakfast Kasey says:

To me, a weekend breakfast is like taking a little vacation. You could get up and pour yourself a bowl of cereal or heat up some oatmeal like you do every other morning. Or, you could pretend that your house is in fact a country cottage where you can eat anything you like. At some point in your life, it may be a stick of butter with a side of Kit Kats and at another point, it could be decadent French Toast that you’d never allow yourself to eat (particularly just a few months after you made that New Year’s resolution to lose weight). At some point, it became acceptable to pay homage to our childhood favorite treats (Oreos, Girl Scout Cookies, pigs in a blanket and Pop Tarts). High-brow chefs started sharing recipes for these goodies in heavy cookbooks. In a recent issue of Saveur magazine, a chef shared a recipe for Broccoli with Cheetos. I don’t disagree.

I love breakfast so much that on my site, the ‘Breakfast/Brunch’ category is larger than the ‘Cookies’ and ‘Cakes.’ Perhaps that is because breakfast is the perfect food: it can be sweet or savory, wholesome or decadent. It can be eaten at any time of day (or night) and still be called ‘breakfast.’

A few weeks ago, I tried a homemade Pop Tart for the first time (prepared by the lovely Megan Gordon of her newly-minted Marge Bakery). I could not stop eating the darn thing. The thing is, it looked like a Pop Tart (all glazed and lightly sprinkled with colorful sugar) but it tasted SO MUCH BETTER. I wondered: if only I knew then what I know now: Pop Tart is really just a well-crafted name. The pastry behind the name is just a a doughy little pouch filled with fruity or chocolate-y goodness. And the homemade Pop Tart is something to pay tribute to.

I didn’t recreate Marge’s Pop Tart — though it is sure worth recreating. But I did make a Pop Tart that reminded me of a little mini pie. Filled with fresh strawberry preserves or Nutella, these pop tarts are what I call a perfectly vacation-worthy weekend breakfast food.

Now I’ve never met a toaster strudel I didn’t enjoy for odd reasons I can’t explain (shhh, don’t tell anyone). Was it the artificial frosting crust (that never melted, why is that?) and overly sweetened filling, not to mention the pasty crust that held my attention? I’m not sure . . . But I do know that after making these pop tarts Kasey brings us, my mind is permanently blown. These petite hand pies are one of the most delicious, tender, sweet little morsels to ever grace my oven. They will make your friends go nuts and you will hoard extras in your freezer evermore. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Kasey, I will die with an extra five pounds on me, made purely of your perfect pastries.

Strawberry–Nutella Pop Tarts
adapted from Macheesmo, makes about 8-10 Pop Tarts

2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
2 sticks of chilled, unsalted butter, diced
4 tablespoons of ice water
Best quality strawberry jam/preserves and Nutella, for filling
Powdered sugar for dusting

Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse until mixed. Add the butter and pulse until it is roughly the size of peas. Next, add the water, and process until the dough starts to form a ball. Split the dough into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to an hour. Roll out the dough into a rectangle on a lightly-floured surface until it is about a 1/4-inch thick. Cut the dough into evenly-shaped rectangles using a knife or a pizza cutter. Repeat with the second ball of dough. Line two baking sheets with foil and place the squares of dough down on them, about an inch apart.

Spread the preserves and/or Nutella (or both) in the center of each rectangle (I used about 1-2 tablespoons).
Top each rectangle with a second sheet of dough and seal the edges by gently pressing dough on the dough with a fork. Work your way around the entire tart with the fork, making sure the edges are sealed.
Prick each pop tart with a fork. Now, freeze the tarts for several hours. Bake them for about about 25-30 minutes, at 375 degrees F. Let the pop tarts cool slightly, before dusting them with powdered sugar. (you can make a glaze, but I like them lightly dusted with sugar).

Thanks Kasey for contributing to our Breakfast with a Blogger series!

• Visit Kasey and Matthew’s blog: Turntable Kitchen

Related: Joanne Chang’s Homemade Pop Tarts Cookbook Review & Recipe from Flour

(Images: Leela Cyd Ross, photo of Kasey & Matthew provided by Kasey)