This is it! A recipe over a year in the making! While visiting his brother in D.C., Kyle stopped at a place, Ted’s Bulletin, famous for their homemade pop tarts. Their version of this treat boasts a flaky, buttery, almost shortbread-like crust. As for the filling, there was an assortment to choose from -brown sugar to salted caramel. Is your mind spinning yet? Kyle knew what his next culinary quest would be, to recreate the homemade pop tart in a gluten free version.
OK – the quest was a super slow one. A year-and-a-half went by and no gluten free pop tarts. All great masterpieces take time. Sometimes the right inspiration comes along and BLAM – you’ve got it! Well, Kyle came across a recipe for gluten free pastry dough on Epicurious. This allowed all the delicious memories of tasting that delicate homemade pop tart come rushing back to him.
The homemade pastries gave Kyle the opportunity to try out the GF Pastry Dough recipe, with a few minor adjustments. The oat flour was omitted (since there is still an open debate on whether gluten free oat flour is truly gluten free due to the cross contamination in processing facilities) and he substituted GF Cookie Dough Flour in its place.
An extra egg was also added to the dough. This held the dough together and made it much easier to roll out. When you get to the point of rolling out this dough be sure to constantly flip and flour the dough so that it does not tear or stick to your work surface.
The filling for these pastries can be any type of jam or preserves. Kyle used our Strawberry Thyme Jam. You can also use Nutella, caramel, cookie butter or any filling you wish. The world is your oyster, or, in this case, your pop tart. Who doesn’t want their world full of pop tarts?
A cream cheese glaze was used for the topping on the pastries. This isn’t totally necessary, but, I can tell you, this elevates this to gourmet pop tart status.
The creation of these pastries can be quite the production; however, it makes for a nice Sunday baking project.
The unbaked pastries can be frozen and baked as your pop tart cravings strike (um, everyday), so Kyle recommends making a double batch. You can then have GF pop tarts for weeks to come.
Using the GF Pastry Dough was a total game changer. Kyle was able to roll it out and cut it with the same ease as a traditional, gluten free pie crust recipe. All the other gluten free crusts Kyle has attempted have been extremely delicate and difficult to roll out, which can be quite maddening.
Kyle has already been brainstorming several more uses for the GF Pastry Dough. There are endless ways to use it in the future.
It will also make a delicious pie crust, just in time for pie season! The dough can be used to shape into tasty sugar cookies, and it can be used as a base for bar cookies.
So, you will need to keep an eye out for future recipes using the dough. Kyle has a savory pastry dough in development to be used for pot pies and empanadas. Gluten Free pastries for all occasions!
Pastry dough adapted from Epicurious.
Find the recipe for Gluten Free Cookie Dough flour here!
- Crust:
- 1¼ cups gluten-free cookie dough flour (4.25 ounces)
- ½ cup all-purpose gluten-free flour (2.75 ounces), plus more for dusting
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- ½ cup granulated sugar (3.5 ounces)
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled in freezer for 10 minutes
- 2 ounces cream cheese, cut into small pieces and chilled in freezer for 10 minutes
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Filling:
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup fruit jam (I used the homemade Strawberry Thyme)
- Cream Cheese Glaze:
- Glaze:
- 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Dash of salt
- 1 tablespoon milk
- Pulse cookie dough flour, gluten-free flour, xanthan gum, sugar, salt, and baking soda in the bowl of a food processor until combined. Add butter and cream cheese and pulse just until they form pea-sized pieces. Add eggs and vanilla and process until the dough just begins to hold together, about 10 seconds.
- Turn out mixture onto a work surface and push together to form a rough ball. Knead a few times to combine, then divide dough in half and flatten into 2 disks with smooth edges. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very firm, at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
- To prepare toaster pastries, remove dough from the refrigerator. Roll each piece of dough on a floured surface until it forms a 9 x 12-inch rectangle (the dough will be about ⅛-inch thick). I found that it helps to flip and flour the dough after every 2 to 3 rolling motion - this helps to prevent the dough from sticking to your work surface and/or falling apart. Slice each large rectangle into 9 smaller rectangles (they will form 3 x 4-inch rectangles). Beat the remaining egg and, using a pastry brush, brush the egg over 9 of the rectangles (these will be the bottom halves of the toaster pastries). Smear 1 tablespoon of jam on each of the egg-wash-glazed dough rectangles, leaving a ½-inch border around the edges. Top each of these rectangles with an unused rectangle of dough. Press along the edges of each toaster pastry then seal the edges with the tines of a fork. Poke the tops of each pastry a few times with a fork, this will allow steam to escape while they bake.
- Transfer all the pastries to a parchment-lined baking sheet (a fish spatula help greatly with transferring these delicate beauties) and refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up. While the pastries chill, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake pastries (at this point I transfer half of them to a second, parchment-lined baking sheet) for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through baking. Once the pastries are golden brown, remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 to 15 minutes.
- While the pastries cool, prepare the cream cheese glaze. Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, vanilla and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the milk and beat until smooth.
- Spread glaze on toaster pastries and eat warm or at room temperature.
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