Real pop tarts are such a treat. We used to get them on the weekends at The Girl and the Goat Bakery when we lived in Chicago, so we were excited to find Foreign Cinema’s pop tarts in San Francisco. With their new cookbook, you can make their flaky signature brunch pop tarts filled with seasonal fruits at home, all year long. Choose the best preserves you can find or make your own jam with fruit from the farmer’s market. How good would these be with homemade pumpkin jam in the fall, strawberry preserves in the summer, and blood orange marmalade in the winter?
The following is an excerpt from Foreign Cinema Cookbook. This is our ode to the Pop-Tart, and one of our all-time most popular dishes. We vary the filling with the time of year, rotating among apple, rhubarb, apricot, cherry, wild blueberry, mango, pineapple, and other fruits. The filling is a highlight, so choose the best-quality preserves available. Once filled and pressed closed, and before they are brushed with egg wash, the tarts can be tightly wrapped and refrigerated for up to 36 hours or frozen for up to 2 weeks; thaw in the refrigerator overnight and proceed according to the recipe, letting them come to room temperature as the oven heats.
Fruit “Pop Tarts”
Ingredients
- 1 cup 125 g all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup 1 stick/115 g cold unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons ice water
- 1 cup 240 ml jam or preserves, homemade or store-bought, preferably made with organic fruit
- 1 egg whisked with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
- Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and add it to the bowl. Work the flour mixture and butter together with your hands until the butter is evenly distributed in small bits.
- Sprinkle the ice water evenly over the mixture, then work the dough vigorously with your hands until it is fairly smooth. (The dough can also be mixed in a food processor.)
- Press the dough into a disk, enclose it in plastic wrap, and let rest for 30 minutes or up to 1 day.
- While the dough rests, set a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Roll out the tart dough on a cold, lightly floured surface until it is about ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick. Cut out eight 3 by 5-inch (7.5 by 12-cm) rectangles from the dough, using a postcard or file card as a template.
- Use a bench scraper or large spatula to transfer 4 rectangles to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them evenly on the sheet. Spread 2 to 3 tablespoons of jam in the center of each pastry, then top them with the 4 remaining rectangles, lining them up evenly with the bottoms. Press the edges closed with a fork to tightly seal them all around.
- To bake, brush the tops with the egg wash, then bake until the tarts are golden brown, about 25 minutes. Sift confectioners’ sugar over the tops and serve immediately.
Excerpted from Foreign Cinema Cookbook © 2018 by Gayle Pirie and John Clark. Photography and excerpt reproduced with permission.