vegan pop-tarts! (hand pies for you classy folk)

good morning, all!

this recipe is a keeper-- one of my all-time favorites ever. these came out so, so much better than i thought they would. on top of that, they are extremely customizable, reheat beautifully, and, most importantly, taste a LOT like the OG pop tarts while being infinitely healthier!!

i made these pop tarts the night before my graduation so that my family and i could have a nice, special breakfast that day without wasting time making it that morning. the first thing i thought to make to commemorate the end of my high school career was something that would remind me of things i loved as a child. even up to a few years ago i would grab a packet of cinnamon sugar pop tarts from the cafeteria and wolf them down as a snack between classes. the problem was, of course, that pop tarts are sickeningly sweet and full of preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, and other junk. these pop tarts have a list of ingredients you can actually pronounce, as well as many different options for fillings, toppings, and pastry customizations.

**this size recipe yielded about 15 pop tarts of varying sizes for me. i like to use cookie cutters to make different shapes, but if you cut them out in rectangular shapes, it should still make around 15 tarts. i made about 4 tarts from each filling flavor; take that as you may and multiply it to however many tarts you would like to make of each flavor!

without further ado, here's the recipe!

INGREDIENTS-

dough:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour

• 1 cup white AP flour

• 3/4 cup almond flour

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 2 Tbsp raw organic cane sugar

• 1 1/2 cups solid, chilled coconut oil

• 3/4 cup cold (ice) water

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• optional 1 Tbsp big granule sugar to sprinkle on top for added sweetness

filling (strawberry):

• 1/2 cup frozen (or fresh) strawberries

• 2-3 Tbsp water

• 1-2 tsp lemon juice (to taste)

• 1/2 Tbsp Arrowroot starch

filling (blackberry):

• 1/2 cup frozen (or fresh) blackberries

• 2-3 Tbsp water

• 1/2 Tbsp Arrowroot starch

filling (chocolate peanut butter):

• 2 Tbsp of your favorite goopy peanut butter (i use Costco all natural PB)

• 1 Tbsp raw cacao powder

• 1-2 Tbsp your favorite sticky sweetener (i omitted this because i like bitter chocolate but if you do not like dark chocolate, then i highly recommend using it!!)

filling (brown sugar cinnamon):

• 1 cup of dates

• 1-2 Tbsp water (based on how dry your dates are)

• 1 Tbsp cinnamon

• small pinch of salt

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

instructions:

1. measure out coconut oil and place in refrigerator to chill until firm. place flours, salt, and 2 Tbsp sugar to a food processor. pulse until combined, homogeneous, and smooth. take coconut oil from fridge and add to food processor in smaller chunks, then pulse until the dough looks like vaguely wet sand.

2. add vanilla extract to the measurement of cold water and whisk to combine. while pulsing, being to pour the vanilla water into the dough. only pulse until just barely combined; do NOT over-mix or the gluten will overdevelop and the crust will not come out flakey and delicious!

3. remove the dough from the processor and form into a collected ball, then wrap in plastic wrap and place into the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes but preferably an hour or more.

4. begin making your fillings! to make the fruit jelly fillings, add the fruit to a small saucepan and make a starch slurry by combining the Arrowroot starch and water (and, for the strawberry filling, the lemon juice). cook down for about 10 minutes til very soft and use the back of a spoon to smush around until smooth(ish). for chocolate peanut butter filling, simply whisk ingredients together in a small bowl til smooth. taste to see if you want more sweetener or chocolate. for the brown sugar cinnamon filling, add all ingredients to a food processor or high speed blender and blend til completely smooth and thick and creamy. the idea for all of these is that they are thick enough so that they will not seep out of the pastry but not so thickened that they are gummy.

5. once that is completed, clean up a space on your counter or on a large cutting board to roll out the dough upon. line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set them aside. immediately after removing the dough from the fridge, begin preheating your oven to 400 degrees F.

6. lightly flour your clean surface, and flour your rolling pin. split the dough in half and return one half to the fridge to stay cool as you roll out the other half. roll the dough out until it is about 1/4 inch thick. cut out your pop-tart shapes using cookie cutters, biscuit cutters, the lid of a mason jar, or even by tracing something rectangular like a spatula. this is the fun part! be creative. continue to reuse the dough that is leftover after you cut out your pop tarts.

7. once you finish cutting out your shapes from this first half of the dough, place half of them onto your baking sheet. place about 1/2-1 Tbsp of filling onto these halves, then place a matching half upon each one. use a fork to pinch the edges closed, then dock the top of the crust in order to allow steam to escape. at this point, i sprinkled the top of my pop tarts with granular sugar so that they would appeal more to my non-vegan, sweets-loving family, but it is unnecessary if you do not prefer using refined sugars.

8. bake 18-20 minutes until golden and crusty on top. repeat with other half of the dough while this half bakes. enjoy!!

my family tends to cut things into pieces so we can try a bit of each flavor...