Friday, January 16, 2009

Strawberry Mascarpone "Pop Tarts"

You guys in the food blog world (and in my life in general) are truly awesome. Thank you for being so honest in your answers to my questions yesterday. I really appreciate it and want to send you all a virtual hug! I'm so happy that the working week is almost over and the real fun can begin. Do you have any fun plans for this long weekend? I'm putting on my dancing shoes tonight and will hopefully dance the night away (or, at least until I get tired around 11)! I'm kinda glad I had so many of these pop tarty things. That way I can dance them off tonight! I'm sure you have seen these around the blogosphere lately. I found them on Purple Foodie who found them on Chez Pim who has step-by-step pictures! It's kind of one of those ideas that makes you smack yourself on the head and ask "why didn't I think of that?". They are so easy and since I made them mini, they were really cute. I mean, who doesn't love food in miniature versions (remember those baby bundts?). I used Martha's pie dough recipe, halved of course, and mixed it by hand because I like less dishes to clean up. Plus, as I have mentioned before, there is something comforting about cutting buter into flour by hand. Last weekend I picked up some strawberry preserves at the farmers market and I thought a touch of sweetened mascarpone would go well in these and it did!! My lovely stand mixer (man, I love bragging about that thing now that I have one), made simple work of creaming together the cheese and a bit of sugar. You can change these up so many ways. How many combination do you think you could come up with? The possibilities are endless.



Strawberry Mascarpone "Pop Tarts"
(Step-by-step instructions on Chez Pim)

Pie crust (recipe follows, from Martha)
Strawberry preserves
Mascarpone cheese
Sugar
Raw sugar
1 egg

For the dough:
1 1/4 cups flour
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon water
2-4 tablespoons ice water

In a food processor or by hand, mix flour with salt and sugar. Add chilled butter, cut into small pieces.

Pulse or blend until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces remaining.

Add 2 tablespoons ice water; pulse or mix until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed. (If needed, add up to 2 tablespoons more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.) Do not overmix.

Turn out onto a work surface; knead once or twice, until dough comes together. Chill.

To make the filing:

Cream together one container of mascarpone with 1 tablespoon of sugar until well combined. Spoon a small amount of jam over the dough and spoon a small amount of mascarpone over the jam.

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24 comments:

Unknown said...

ooh my, what a great idea! how about nutella in those bad boys ;-)

Alicia Foodycat said...

And then? Don't leave me in suspense! Do you bake them or can you really put them in the toaster?

Erica said...

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm (should I continue on?) Have fun dancing tonight. Have a drink for me too ;)

Esi said...

Ooh, Nutella would be great!

Foodycat, click on the link!! But you bake them and they are sooooo awesome!

Thanks Erica!!!

Becka Robinson said...

Oh my gosh Esi! I'm so excited about these! Mr. Beagle and I love poptarts and they are so bad for us. LOL. Can't wait to try to make our own!

And I'm a HUGE nutella fan as well!

The Blonde Duck said...

Oh HOORAY! This looks so much better than the boxed version!

Are you going to make frosting to dip them in? Drooooollllllllll

The Duo Dishes said...

We really want homemade poptarts! Marscapone is so gourmet. :) A nutella and marshmallow combo would be the way to go.

The Food Librarian said...

Um, I'll meet you at the corner of... and bring some of these!!! :) These look so pretty perfect.

Diana said...

Oh wow! Those are brilliant (with a British accent)! Someone was eating Pop Tarts in our corporate meeting at work on Monday and I was a wee bit jealous. I should go to the next one with two of those babies and make the whole room jealous! :)

Hope you have fun dancing tonight! I'm going to be lame and stay in to watch Friday Night Lights!

Esi said...

Duo Dishes, ooooh LOVE the marshmallow idea. Especially since I have a ton left! Hmmmm...

Food Librarian, sure! Name the spot. I will meet you there :)

Diana, I love FNL!! One of my friends is on it and every time I see her, I'm like "how do you guys manage to make me laugh and cry so much every week?!" My DVR is set.

Reeni said...

I love pop-tarts!! These are a 1000 times better than store bought! The jam and mascarpone sounds awesome together. So does the nutella. YUM! Have fun tonight!

vanillasugarblog said...

oh lordy Esi this does look good. what would I put in the middle? you know me, anything with pb, chocolate and a bit of heat somewhere. lol
Have a giant cocktail for me, ok?

Hayley said...

I LOVE pop-tarts! These sound so delicious.

Heather said...

yum!!! how fun! these look 1 million times better than real pop tarts. mascarpone in ANYTHING makes me happy.

i am just trying to survive the cold this weekend :) my friend and i are getting together to cook tonight, though - should be fun :)

Anonymous said...

Dancing shoes? Good for you! I can't even remember the last time I danced. How sad is that? These look amazing, and since I'm a poptart fan, I don't see how I can avoid trying them. Mmmmmm.....

Teresa Cordero Cordell said...

Esi, these look delicious. I agree with you about cutting the butter into the flour by hand. That's how my grandmother taught me and that's how I do it to this day. The addition of the mascarpone to the tarts is brilliant. I also agree with making them miniature. People seem to feel less guilty eating smaller versions of a truly great dessert like yours if it's junior sized. Good job.

Sharon said...

I'm a kid at heart and LOVE pop tarts, but the random ingredients scare me. I need to make these as they look and sound amazing!!

Alicia Foodycat said...

d'oh! Of course... clicking link now!

Dee said...

Esi, do these freeze, would you know? This would be great for a school snack or breakfast for the kid. For big kids, lemon and ricotta would be pretty divine. Ooh, and sour cherry preserves. Drool.

Hope you had fun dancing :)

Andrea said...

Holly crap! I have a secret love of poptarts and Esi, you have outdone yourself with these! I cannot think of a better flavor combination!

Sara said...

Mmmm, this looks SO yummy and not too hard to make! I will have to give them a try...they look like the perfect breakfast pastry!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

I think this would make me a hero with my children for a day!
~ingrid

Shaheen said...

Oh Esi! You made the pop tarts - gosh strawberry and mascarpone sounds sinful! Yum Yum Yum! :D

Anonymous said...

Anything with mascarpone has got to be divine!