Pop Tarts and Political Silliness

Well, isn't this an interesting primary season?  I am constantly amazed by the snippets I hear about current candidates, incumbent included.  It doesn't seem to me like anyone seriously WANTS the job of leading the nation any more.  Where does that put us, I wonder.  Well with these thoughts in mind here is a wonderful article from Alternet suggesting the question, "Who would Jesus vote for?"  

While you peruse the article you can also dwell on the concept of homemade pop tarts! Here is the process:

Start with your favorite double crust pie pie crust recipe (in this case I used whole wheat pie crust leftover from Christmas)

  Roll it out to a large rectangle. (I chose approximately 20" x 12" to yield one 4x6" pop tart for each of five family members)  Make the filling. Today I made maple brown sugar cinnamon, last night it was rose petal paste!  You just need to make this part up.  I mixed about 1/2 cup of brown sugar with just enough maple syrup to moisten it and a few good hearty shakes of cinnamon.  

When the dough is fully rolled out mark it and divide your filling between the spaces on the lower half of the dough.  Pat the filling down.

 The next step is to fold over the top half of the dough, brush off excess flour and press it down between the piles of filling.  Here's where I made a near fatal mistake. Because today I was using whole wheat dough which had been refrigerated, I should have brushed the edges with water (including the edges between pop tarts) to help the dough stick together better.  Last night this was not a problem, but later you'll see what happened today.

 With a sharp knife cut between the pastries and using a fork press the edges together to seal.  Then make shallow slices through the top layer of pastry for vents.

 Pop the tarts into the oven which has been preheated to 375 degrees.

 While the tarts bake make your frosting if you want some.  I mixed together softened butter with maple syrup (only about a tablespoon of each, it doesn't take much icing to cover these babies.)  Add enough powdered sugar (and a few shakes of cinnamon) to make a somewhat loose icing, I added a little homemade vanilla as well!

Keep checking the pastries in the oven. They will only need about ten minutes maximum to bake. Pull those babies out of the oven!  Here's where tragedy struck for me.  The non-wetted seams leaked while the pastries were in the oven. 

 Get the tarts on to a cooling rack, ice and enjoy!

 Have a wonderful day!