Homemade pop tarts

It occurred to me today that my son has never had a pop tart. I blame the fact that ever since the kid has been able to eat solids, all he wants is oatmeal. I came up with the idea out of sheer boredom and I went out of my way to make the sprinkles too. After I was done, I realized that in the  amount of time I made this, I could have went to the store and bought a box, but there's a difference in taste and it's worth a try.

Preheat oven to 350F

Crust

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups unsalted cold butter, cubed
4 tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tbsp white sugar
4-6 tbsp cold water

Egg wash
1 egg
1 tbsp heavy cream
1 tbsp water

In a food processor, cut together the flour, butter, baking powder, salt and sugar until it becomes a corn meal texture. Add the corn syrup until thoroughly combined then add the water 1 tbsp at a time until the mixture forms a ball. Form into a flat circle, wrap with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes roll out, this dough will make 8-9 pop tarts. Measure 4.5 inches x 3 inches and 1/8 of an inch thin.

On one side of the rectangular dough, brush the edges with egg wash. Fill the middle with filling of choice. I made my own blueberry filling or you can use any jam you want. Just take 1/2 cup of jam + 1 tsp of water and 1 tsp of cornstarch. Put about 3 tsp of filling but don't overfill, make sure it's within the inside of the egg wash edge. Top with another rectangle and press the sides together making sure none of the filling is oozing out. Brush the top with the egg wash. Repeat the process until all crusts are filled.

Place in the oven for 14 minutes at 350F or until lightly brown on the top. Cool on the cooling rack and top with icing and sprinkles.

Blueberry filling:
1 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp cornstarch

Place all ingredients except for the cornstarch in a sauce pan. Bring the mixture to a boil or until the blueberries are soft. Using a blender or immersion blender, puree the mix then place back in the sauce pan. Take 1 tbsp of the puree out and add the cornstarch and mix until well blended. Add cornstarch mix back to the puree and let simmer for another minute or 2 in low heat or until it slightly boils. Let it cool completely in the fridge. It will thicken a bit almost jam like consistency.

Icing:

1 cup of powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
3-5 tbsp heavy cream

Combine the lemon juice, powdered sugar and vanilla in a bowl and add 1 tbsp at a time heavy cream. The consistency of the icing should be the same texture as store bought frosting, not as thin as glue or royal icing consistency. Add food color of choice

Sprinkles

1 - 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 egg white
1 tsp lemon juice
pinch of salt.
3 tsp of milk to thin out the frosting

Beat egg whites until frothy then add 1 cup of the powdered sugar. Add the lemon juice, salt and 3 tsp of milk. If the mixture is too thin, add more powdered sugar, if too thick, add more milk until it is royal icing consistency. It should flow like magma where when you lift up a spoon, the trail disappears in the icing again.

Divide into containers and use paste colors to dye into the colors you want. Place in piping bags and cut a very small slit at the tip of the piping bag.

Lay out wax or parchment paper and with a very steady hand, pipe very thin lines. Make sure no 2 lines touch each other. Leave alone for 16-24 hours. After letting it set, cut to size of jimmies of choice.

You can also just make small dots on the paper, let set for the same amount of time too. They're pretty easy to remove using an offset spatula or a knife.