Better for you Pop Tarts

I love flaky pastry with fruit filling in the center. That brings to the subject of pop tarts and turnovers. I do like pop tarts but hate the sugar and calories that comes with the territory.

When I made some flaky pork pastry the other day, that is another post to come, I thought to myself why not reserve some of the flaky pastry dough and fill it with jam filling instead.

So the experiment went on and voila, it was a hit with the family. I especially love the fact that it has a nice baked flaky dough minus overly sweet aftertaste unlike the store bought pop tarts.

For the flaky dough, I refer to Aunt Lily's flaky dough recipe with a little twist. I find that her original recipe was difficult to work with as it tends to crumble easily ~ which explains why it is a flaky dough or maybe I am just not as good when it comes to chinese pastry making. So, I modified a little of her dough recipe and it turns out to be relatively easy to work with after. The key is using powdered sugar instead of regular granulated sugar and a little more water. Just don't go overboard with the water. You need enough to hold the dough together, no more and no less.

Better For You Pop Tarts
Ingredients
10 oz all purpose flour
3 oz butter
2 1/2 oz shortening
2 oz icing or powdered sugar
2 oz water (about 4 tbsp of water)

Filling
24 tsp of your favorite fruit jam, jelly or preserve

Glaze
1 large egg, beaten with a teaspoon of water
Powdered sugar for dusting, optional

Directions

Step 1: Combine all the ingredients for the dough except for water. Using a pastry cutter or your hand, cut in the butter and shortening into your flour mix till it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Step 2: Add 3 tablespoon of water to the crumb mix. Mix with your hand and make sure the dough feels moist enough. To test, take a small pinch of dough and roll it into a ball. Press at the center. If dough stays together without crumbling, it has enough water in it. Else, add another teaspoon of water till dough is moist enough. Gather the dough together. Squeeze dough into a tight ball as you will make a snowball. Wrap with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 30 mins.

Step 3: Once you are ready to work with the dough, divide the dough into 24 equal pieces.

Step 4: Place dough in between wax paper or cling wrap. Roll dough out into a circle, about 2-inch in diameter.

Step 5: Gently, peel the dough off wax paper onto the pakm of your hand. Place a teaspoon of fruit filling in the center.
Step 6: Fold into half-moon. Crimp the edges with the back of a fork.

Step 7: Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Step 8: Preheat oven to 350F or 176C. Glaze the dough with egg wash. Bake for 15 minutes will golden. Cool on wire rack, dust with powdered sugar (optional) and serve.

Note: The filling may ooze out during the baking process, Do not worry, there will be plenty of filling left in the pop tarts.