July ABC challenge: blueberry Pop-Tarts

This month, the challenge is a pie or tart.

My goal here is to replicate commercial Kellogg's Pop-Tarts, not make flaky hand pies. (I like Pop-Tarts, but I don't like supporting the use of palm oil, which is an ingredient.)  The biggest challenge is the pastry-- theirs is like a soft shortbread cookie, not too rich, but salty and not sweet at all.

I had meant to try an oil pastry and throw in a little cream cheese for richness.  I researched various recipes, which I've saved at the end of this post for future experimentation.  This time, though, it was just butter and cream cheese, but using less than the recipe called for.  I didn't want it too rich or too delicate; on the other hand, does fat helps keep the pastry shortbread-like and not too firm?  I'm not sure.

For the pastry, I made half the original recipe*, with a few modifications, shown in italics and strikeout.  Here's what I used:

Crust
1¼ cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 2-2½ tablespoons unsalted butter
4 2 tablespoons cream cheese
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1-2 3-5 teaspoons ice water

Filling (about 1 cup)   
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup sweetened, dried wild blueberries (Trader Joe's product)
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar

When mixing the dough ingredients, the fat should be in very small particles, like bread crumbs, in order to produce a mealy, not flaky, crust. Chill for an hour; allow to warm on counter before rolling out.  (It shouldn't crack too much when rolled.)

Defrost the berries and reserve the juice. Stir the cornstarch into the reserved juice, making sure it's well blended.  In a small pan, stir together both kinds of berries, the juice mixture, and the sugar and cook over medium low heat until the berries have softened.  Using an immersion blender, blend the berry mixture until fairly homogeneous and all the big pieces have been broken up, then continue to cook at a low bubble for about 3-4 minutes.  It should be about the consistency of a good pea soup.  Allow to cool, then refrigerate.  (The mixture was just firm enough that it didn't run, but not gummy.)

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Roll out the dough very thinly to about an 10 x 8-inch rectangle (see revision), trimming if necessary, and cut into 4-6 equal pieces.  Place two bottom pieces of dough on the baking sheet and wet about ¼" around the edges with water.  Spread a very thin layer of jam on each piece up to about ½" from the edge.  (Seriously, this needs to be quite thin, as it will spread under the weight of the top piece.)  Dock the two top pieces of dough with the tip of a knife, making clear holes all the way through.  Make sure the edges of the bottoms are sticky; wet again with water if necessary, then carefully place the top dough pieces, aligning the edges.  Using the butt of a paring knife handle, make firm indentations close together around about ¼" of the outside of the edges to seal.  Bake at 350F (see revision); check at 10 minutes if the dough was less than ⅛" thick and at 15 minutes if it was thicker. (I baked them for about 18 minutes.) The dough should be firm and dry, and just barely beginning to turn golden on the edges. This is the point to remove them if you want to finish them later in the toaster. Continue baking another few minutes until golden brown for a finished pastry. Cool on a rack.

  
 

Par baked for later toasting

Out of the toaster

  

 

*Half the original recipe should have been enough for 1 9-inch pie crust, but it would have to have been rolled VERY thinly.  I think I would want half again as much dough for a pie.  (Possibly my fat reductions made the difference.) 

I rolled the dough to about ⅛" thick, but it should have been thinner. It should be ⅛" thick after it bakes, during which it will puff. So rather than 2 pastries, this quantity of dough might produce 3. The dough was very easy to work with, so it would probably handle well even when thin.

Revisions: I was really pleased with these, but I'm not done tinkering with the recipe. The dough was soft but not crisp-- too bendable. That was probably because it wasn't fully baked, or it might be the recipe. I think baking them more slowly at a lower temperature so they bake all the way through but aren't browned might be a trick. And rolling much thinner--- for this amount of dough, maybe a 12" x 12" square cut into 6 pieces, maybe even thinner than that.

Conclusion: Delicious, and a good start. Filling was pretty much perfect, but the dough needs some work. The key take away is that the pastry has to be fully cooked in the oven because the toaster only toasts the outside--- it doesn't finish baking it. 

Recipe:  Easy Cream Cheese Pie Crust via Kitchn

Other recipes to try: 

oil crust via Cozy Peach Kitchen
flaky all-butter crust (and method) via Inspired Taste
3-ingredient cream cheese crust via allrecipes
complex cream cheese crust via Rose Levy Beranbaum for epicurious
no liquid cream cheese crust via Southern Kitchen