Homemade Poptarts

It has been raining here, a lot lately.  It's not that surprising for Vancouver, but it is still keeping us indoors.  When the weather is miserable, I feel the need to bake.  However I did not want to go out to the store and buy ingredients, so I took out a couple of my favourite baking books.  After flipping through a couple, I came a cross homemade pop-tarts, in one of my favourite books.  "Flour" by Joanne Chang.

Pop-tarts were very much a treat in our house.  I don't think we had them very often and if we did they were for a snack not breakfast like in the commercials.  As we got older we were also allowed once in a while Pillsbury toaster strudel's.

When my husband and I were dating we bought some pop-tarts once, and I remember him giving me this strange look, because I did not toast mine.  Maybe it's because I had them as a snack as a kid, but I like them as is not warm.

This recipe reminds me more of a the toaster strudel then a pop-tart, mostly because of the flaky pastry, and because I do prefer these to be warm.

Homemade Pop-tarts by Joanne Chang

THE PASTRY

1 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose-flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup, cold unsalted butter, cut in to 12 pieces
2 egg yolks
3 tbsp cold milk

Using a stand mixer (with paddle attachment) mix together flour, sugar and salt for 10 to 15 seconds.  Scatter the butter over top.  Mix on low until the flour holds together when you clump it and lumps of butter the size of pecans are visible throughout.

In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks and milk until it is blended.  Add to the flour mixture all at once.  Mix on low for 30 seconds, or until dough barely comes together.  It will look more like a mess then dough.

Dump dough onto floured work surface, then gather it into a tight mound.  Using your palm and starting on one side of the mound, smear the dough bit by bit, starting at the top of the mound, until most of the butter chunks are smeared into the dough and the dough comes together.  Do this once or twice on each part of the mound, moving through the mound until the whole thing has been smeared into a cohesive dough with streaks of butter.

Gather up the dough, and wrap in plastic wrap and make into a disk.  Place in fridge for 4 hours.  You can also freeze this dough for a month.


 Pop-Tart

Dough
1 egg
1 cup raspberry or strawberry jam

Vanilla Glaze

1 cup icing (confectioner's) sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 to 3 tbsp water
Sprinkles



Heat oven to 350 degrees F

Take the dough out of the fridge and divide in half.  Press each half into a rectangle.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out each half into a 14 by 11 inch rectangle.  Using a paring knife, lightly score one rectangle into eight 3 1/2 by 5 1/2 half inch rectangles.

( I accidentally cut all the way through, it still worked out fine)

Brush top surface of scored rectangle with egg wash.  Spoon 2 tablespoons of jam in the middle of each rectangle.  Lay the second large dough directly on top of the first.  Use fingers to carefully press down around the jam.

Using a knife, pizza wheel or fluted roller, follow the score lines and cut layered dough into 8 rectangles

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until tops are golden.  Let cool on a wire rack for half an hour.

While pop-tarts are cooling, in a small bowl whisk sugar, vanilla and water to make a smooth pourable glaze. 

When the pop-tarts are cooled, brush tops with glaze and sprinkle.

Mother's Day Cake (Pink Lemonade Cake)

   For the last couple of Mother's Day (while my husband watches the kid's) I make myself a mother's day cake.  A cake that I alone want to try and don't care if the rest of my family, like or do not like.  
  
A couple of weeks before mothers day I had come across a tasty looking vanilla and caramel cake.  As Mother's Day approached and I started to look over the recipe, I started to get a little nervous.  The cake that I had chosen to make required a lot of ingredients and steps.  This normally does not bother me, but I did not feel like spending all of my day in the kitchen just some of it.  The next evening my husband and I were watching an episode of Paula Deen that we had taped, and I found my cake.  It was a nice and easy Pink Lemonade cake.  I went off to the store the next morning and bought my cake mix and pink lemonade, the rest of the ingredients I had at home already.

   The only hiccup I had with this cake, was me not really thinking things through when I bought the lemonade powder.  I bought the sugar free brand.  Don't buy the sugar free brand unless you want a really tart cake.  Thank goodness the icing was sweet enough to balance the tart.

Here it is,

PAULA DEEN"S PINK LEMONADE CAKE

Ingredients

Cake:
butter for coating pan
1 white cake mix, plus any additional ingredients the package directions call for
3 tablespoon pink lemonade drink powder
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Frosting:
1 lb confectioners sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoon frozen pink lemonade concentrate
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans and line the bottom with parchment paper or use a baking spray.
For the cake, in a large bowl, stir together the cake mix and lemonade powder (I added a little bit of water to help dissolve)  Prepare the cake batter according to the package directions, using any additional ingredients called for (eggs, milk, water, oil, etc…). Stir the lemon zest into the batter. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden and a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Carefully turn cakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
For the frosting, beat together the confectioners’ sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in the remaining ingredients until combined. I added a little bit of pink food gel, just to make it a bit more pink.
Transfer one cake to a cake stand or large platter. Using an offset spatula spread the top of the cake with a layer of frosting. Place the second cake on top of the first. Spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of both layers. 

MSCC: Orange Vanilla Bean Cupcake

Ok so I cheated a little bit. I did not make the candied orange topper.  They looked beautiful, but there just does not seem to be enough time in the day anymore. The rest of the cupcake though was nice and easy to make.  I really enjoyed this cupcake, but then I am a fan of vanilla and orange flavours.  I think when I make this cupcake again I will use a cake and pastry flour.  I found this cupcake a little dense especially the next day. I think cake and pastry flour would make it a little more on the soft and fluffy side.  That being said my family had no problem gobbling these up.  I will make them again and I will try the candies orange.  Thank you to cookin' with moxie for this months fabulous pick.  Please vist Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Club to see how the other bakers did.

Toopy and Binoo Cake

As I have mentioned in some previous blogs, my son wanted a Toopy and Binoo cake for his third birthday cake.  If you are not familiar with Toopy and Binoo, they are a Canadian TV show that are based on preschooler books written by Dominique Jolin (who is from Quebec).  They are huge in our house, but because they are Canadian, it has been a bit of a struggle to find any merchandise.  Thankfully in the last 6 months, I have seen some product appear online and just recently at Toy's R Us.  Nothing for cakes or birthday favours yet, or that I could find.

I did a lot of online searching for cake ideas, and decided to make a cake covered in fondant (marshmallow) and I enlarged and traced the characters below.

I did several tracings of the image so I could cut out key parts (for example Binoo, or Toopy's head).  I lay those cut out parts on to the rolled out fondant and used a knife to cut the outline.  A bit time consuming, but nothing compared to all the kneading I had to do, to dye the marshmallow fondant.  My arms were sore after all that.  To finish the cake off, I did a border with the left over mini marshmallows.  Toopy and Binoo love marshmallows as does my son.

I was extremely happy with the result, as was my son and his little friends.  Can't wait to to see what cake ideas he comes up with next year.

Easter Bunny Cake

My son's birthday is next weekend and the cake I am doing will be covered in Fondant.  Since I have never covered a cake in fondant I thought it would be a good idea to try it out first, and I had received this cute bunny cake pan for my birthday a couple of weeks ago.  The other thing I wanted to try was making marshmallow fondant.  I have used the store bought stuff before for embellishments, but the stuff tasted awful and was expensive.  Then I discovered marshmallow fondant.  How have I not heard of this before.  It was 3 ingredients and dead simple to make and it tastes better then the regular stuff.  Here is the recipe I used.

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces miniature marshmallows (4 cups not packed, or half of a 16-ounce bag)
• 1 pound powdered sugar (4 cups), plus extra for dusting
• 2 tbsp water
• Food coloring or flavored extracts, optional

Dust your counter or a large cutting board with powdered sugar. Put the marshmallows and the water in a large microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for a minute, until the marshmallows are puffy and have expanded.

Stir marshmallows with a rubber spatula until they are melted and smooth. If some unmelted marshmallow pieces remain, return to the microwave for 30 seconds, until the marshmallow mixture is smooth and free of lumps. If you want coloured or flavoured fondant, you can add several drops of food coloring or extracts at this point and stir until incorporated. 

Add powdered sugar and begin to stir with a spatula. Stir until the sugar begins to incorporate and it becomes stiff.

Scrape the marshmallow-sugar mixture out onto your work surface that has been covered in powder sugar. This is going to get messy. Dust your hands with powdered sugar, and begin to knead the fondant mixture like bread dough, working the sugar into the marshmallow with your hands.

Continue to knead the fondant until it is no longer sticky and smooth. Once the fondant is a smooth ball, it is ready to be used. You can now roll it out and shape it. To store, wrap well in cling wrap. Well-wrapped fondant can be stored in a cool room or in the refrigerator, and needs to be kneaded until supple before later use.

I also made some cute little baby chick cupcakes.

 



Club Baked: Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

I have to admit that these were a bit of a disaster for me.  I always seem to mess up on the easier recipes.  Everything was going well, until I reached the part of adding the buttermilk.  I was distracted by a massive baby and toddler fight that was happening right my feet.  All because my little one had pulled up on the step stool my older one was standing on.  Geesh.  Anyways I ended up adding a cup of milk and not half a cup.  Of course I did not figure it out until I had put them in the oven.  They baked up alright, but had no flavor at all.  Good thing I live in a house full of boys, add some frosting and some sprinkles and they are the best tasting thing ever :)

Thank to Andrea for hosting and I look forward to reading how the other bakers  turned out.  I will try these again, and next time only add the half cup.

Club Baked: Nutella Scones

Welcome to my first blog with Club Baked.  This is another baking book (Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito) that I received this past Christmas.  So far everything I have tried from this book has been a huge hit in our house, and it looks like I joined just in time to make the one recipe my husband has had his eye on.  He LOVES Nutella.  To the point that we actually don't keep it in the house, because he will eat a full container in a day.  I even hid the container when I brought it home so I would have enough to make this recipe.

The recipe was easy enough to make.  I was able to get it done during the day while my youngest was napping.  I decided to leave out the nuts so my baby was able to have a bit as well.  I also put more Nutella then asked for in the scone.  This made for a real mess when I flattened it into a round disk, but worth it in the end.  These scones were super tasty and made me wish I had some vanilla ice cream.

Instead  of using spoons to drizzle the Nutella on as they suggested in the book, I decided to use my squeeze tube that I use for decorating sugar cookies.  This way everyone was able to put on as little Nutella or in my my family's case as much Nutella as they wanted.  This was a great recipe and we will definitely be making these again.  Thank you to Lorraine at PhDcupcaker, for hosting. Make sure to check out her site for the recipe.  Also make sure to check out Club Baked to see how all the other bakers did.