Frosted Strawberry Toaster Pastries
These Frosted Strawberry Toaster Pastries are a total throwback to
the days of Saturday morning cartoons!
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“Drat, double drat and triple drat!”
“Curses Foiled Again”
“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Wile E. Coyote, supergenius.”
I’ve loved cartoons ever since I can remember. But here’s the thing…my favorite cartoon characters are often the bad guys. Does that mean there is something wrong with me? I mean I always just felt bad for Dick Dastardly and Muttley. No matter how hard they tried, they always lost the race. (On a related note, Wacky Races is hands-down the best cartoon ever made. One of the teams was named the Arkansas Chugabug. If that’s not the best name ever, I don’t know what is! If I lived in Arkansas, you better believe that I’d call my car the Chugabug.)
And Wile E. Coyote. That poor guy could never quite catch the Road Runner. He kept coming so close, too…but then he’d never see that anvil falling from the sky. I hate when that happens. It’s usually happens to me on Mondays.
When we were young, my sister and I would wake up early on Saturday mornings and run downstairs to watch tv. We lived in downtown Charleston, SC, which meant our old house made a lot of noise. My sister and I had bedrooms up on the third floor, so we had to tiptoe past my parents’ bedroom to get down to the family room.
However, since it was an old house, the stairs creaked like crazy. (Visitors would swear they’d hear footsteps going up and down the stairs at night…but that’s a story for another time.) But my sister and I did our best to quietly sneak past our parents’ bedroom so that we could watch our Saturday morning cartoons. We had to pass through our long, galley-style kitchen on the way to the family room. My Mom soon learned that she could get an extra hour of sleep if she left breakfast snacks out on the kitchen counter for us to find.
Our favorite was powdered sugar doughnuts, but Pop-Tarts came in a close second. I always went for the brown sugar-cinnamon while my sister chose the frosted strawberry. (I can actually remember fighting with her at the grocery store over flavors of Pop Tarts. At the time, it seemed like a huge deal. Ah, the joys of being a kid, right?)
Inspired by my sister’s love of Pop-Tarts, I set about to make my own version at home. These Frosted Strawberry Toaster Pastries turned out surprisingly well. As I was making these, I realized that they are essentially just a double-crusted pie filled with strawberry jam. Oh, and then they are iced, too. Nothing like having a slice of pie for breakfast when you’re a kid, right?
While it is certainly much easier to just buy Pop-Tarts, I have to admit that these Frosted Strawberry Toaster Pastries were pretty fun to make. And they tasted pretty darn close to the real thing! The only difference is that I made mine a little too big. Next time, I’ll roll the dough out a bit more and make each pastry smaller. My wife and I ended up splitting each of these for dessert. After all, they’re pretty much pie masquerading as breakfast. Now I’m off to watch Wacky Races and eat Frosted Strawberry Toaster Pastries. Maybe Dick Dastardly will finally win a race!
What was your favorite childhood cartoon? Do you still watch it?
What is your favorite Pop Tart flavor?
Frosted Strawberry Toaster Pastries
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cold
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup strawberry jam
- 1 egg
For the Icing
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp milk
- colored sprinkles or sanding sugar to finish
Instructions
For the Dough
- Using a food processor, add the flour, salt and sugar to the bowl. Pulse several times until well mixed. (Note: You can also use a large bowl and a pastry cutter to make this dough.)
- Cut the butter into ½” cubes and add to the dry ingredients. Pulse 10-12 times, or until mixture resembles a coarse meal.
- Add water and pulse several times, or until mixture comes together.
- Turn dough out onto floured countertop and divide into two equal pieces. Shape each piece into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Place both disks in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
- On a well-floured countertop, roll out 1 disk into a 6” x 14” rectangle. Using a pastry wheel (to create fluted edges), cut out (4) 6”x3½” rectangles of dough.
- Spread 1 Tbsp of jam evenly across the tops of 2 pieces of dough, leaving a ½” border around the outside of the dough.
- Whisk the egg together with 1 tsp of water. Brush the edges of the dough with the egg mixture. (Note: Save the remaining egg mixture as it will be brushed on top of the pastries later.)
- Place the remaining 2 pieces of dough on top of the jam-filled pieces; press dough together around edges to seal. Place pastries on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining disk of dough.
- Place baking sheet in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Brush the tops of the pastries lightly with egg mixture. (Note: Not all of the egg mixture will be used; discard any remaining mixture.)
- Bake pastries for 25-28 minutes, or until golden brown in color. Let cool on pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack until fully cooled.
For the Icing
- In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and milk. Using an offset spatula, spread the icing evenly across top of the pasties. Decorate pastries with sprinkles or sanding sugar. Let icing harden completely before serving.
Frosted strawberry pop-tarts were always my favorite, so it’s no surprise that I’m nearly drooling over these! These look irresistibly flaky and rich. As for cartoons, my parents scheduled our piano lessons on Saturday mornings, so I actually never got to experience that staple of childhood entertainment!
Haha…I personally loved the brown sugar + cinnamon version. But once those were all gone, I’d steal some of my sister’s frosted strawberries ones…you know, just for fun. 🙂 And you know what? Those classic cartoons are all on DVD now. Who says you can’t make some pop tarts and go back and watch DVD cartoons. I do!
These strawberry toaster pastries look so pretty.Haha! You probably don´t like me saying your food looks pretty.. but it does!! 😉
Hey, I don’t mind you calling my food pretty! Although I prefer to think of it as handsome instead. 🙂 Thanks, Johlene!!
I love cartoons as well! and I can totally relate on getting up early on Saturdays just to watch cartoons! I can still remember the time when we got our first pop tarts! You have put a smile on my face David! this toaster pastries look yummy! I totally will do this with my girls. Thank you
Thank you so much, Gaila! I totally recognize that you can buy pop tarts at the store, but you know what…sometimes it’s fun to just play in the kitchen! 🙂 I hope you had an awesome weekend!
Haha – I chuckled all the way through this post, David! First off, nothing’s wrong with you – something sure is wrong with me cos I’ve never watched Wacky Races at any point in my life! I used to LOVE Tom & Jerry and was always kinda bummed Tom never got Jerry, because Jerry could be a pesky little thing – just like that Road Runner!
Now onto these homemade poptarts – dude, homemade is ALWAYS > store-bought and these look fantastic! And hey – nothing wrong with some breakfast pie from time to time eh?
Wait…you’ve never watched Wacky Races!?! You clearly need to just stop working, go home and turn it on. Ok, maybe you need to pick up the DVD on the way home, too. 🙂 It had all of the best characters in one show! I used to love Tom & Jerry too. Man, those were the classics!! (And cartoons are most definitely better when you have pie along with them, am I right??)
Hi David! These look nothing like commercial pop tarts! BTW, that’s a compliment! 🙂 I have always thought those boxed things are gross! Yours look delicious! I never let my kids have cereal with chocolate or marshmallows either (yes, I can hear it now – “mean mommy”). But they both grew up with pretty good eating habits. PS My all time favorite cartoon is The Roadrunner! You two have a wonderful weekend! 🙂
Haha…yeah, I was a little disappointed when these came out of the oven. But then I thought, you know what, it’s ok that they look homemade! 🙂 Laura and I have already started talking about teaching our future son some good eating habits right from the start. I hope you had an awesome weekend, Dorothy…thank you!
These look pretty fantastic David! Nothing like eating dessert for breakfast! 😀
Haha, I know, right? Somewhere in the process of making these, I realized that I was basically just making pie…and calling it breakfast! But, hey, that’s what weekend mornings are for: pie and cartoons! 🙂
I definitely had a moment of nostalgia as I read through your opening about cartoon characters! My favorite character would have to be Tweety, but Sylvester played such an integral role in that duo! The bad guys are what made those cartoons fun! These toaster pastries look wonderful, David!
Oooo…Tweety and Sylvester! Now there’s a classic combo…and I had forgotten about them. The bad guys were always my favorite. That probably reveals something about me…but I have no idea what. 🙂 Thanks, Lisa!
You made pop tarts?!?! Amazing! I personally prefer the fudge ones with the chocolate frosting. The second runner up is the strawberry frosted. Sorry to have to side with your sister! Anvils totally fall on my head every Monday!
Hmmm, I’ve never been much of a chocolate for breakfast kinda person. But I could go for the chocolate pop tarts for dessert! And I hope you avoided the anvils this morning. I certainly got hit with one, and I’m trying to crawl my way out of the anvil-shaped hole in the ground! 🙂
I was a deprived child….no cartoons and no toaster pastries! Luckily I can indulge all I want now! This homemade version looks so much better than those boxed ones! My kids would love these…..they are also deprived….although they do get to watch cartoons!
Hey, they make all of those classic cartoons on DVDs, Kathy. That means you should get in the kitchen, make some pie…uh, I mean toaster pastries…and watch some cartoons! 🙂
I liked Sylvester and Pepe Le Pew, but Wile E. Coyote for the win! Definitely my favorite, and like this breakfast pastry, a memorable favorite. No that we had these often, but I did enjoy them and strawberry was my favorite, then the cinnamon. Nice job on these, they look awesome.
I’d probably be lazy and spread the filling over one sheet and top with the other, then cut and crimp edges. #WolfPackPopTarts
I totally agree, Kevin…those guys were the best characters! I’m not gonna lie, I almost popped in a DVD of classic cartoons over the weekend. But then I decided to do some chores around the house instead…which was most definitely not as fun as watching cartoons! I hope you had an awesome weekend, though! 🙂
Every summer, I do blueberry crazy, and I’ve always wanted to do this with homemade blueberry pie filling. I gotta know, though, did you pop one of these into the toaster to warm it up later? They look fantastic. (Worth fighting over, IMHO.)
Oh, I definitely popped these bad boys into the toaster later on. Well, toaster oven. I’m not sure the glaze would have survived one of the classic toasters…I wonder what they put in the glaze for the store-bought ones to keep it from melting everywhere. Actually, check that, I probably don’t want to know the answer to that! Thanks, Jeff…and I hope you had a great weekend full of pie and cartoons! 🙂
Pie masquerading as breakfast sounds good to me! 🙂 My favorite pop tart flavor was cinnamon brown sugar. Yum!
Cinnamon brown sugar was totally the best! Thanks, Tamara…and here’s to Saturday morning cartoons and pie for breakfast! 🙂
LOL DAVE.
What channel were you watching growing up?! Haha, kidding I loved these two- Although I did used to wonder if I could jump off a cliff and land on two feet.
Now this recipe- You’ve just opened my eyes to this genius creation- Goodbye packaged boxed version!
Dude! Cartoons used to be so much better than they are today! I used to wonder if you could jump off the roof with an umbrella to float down to the ground. Apparently my Dad tried that when he was a kid. It doesn’t work. Now let’s eat some pop tarts and watch cartoons, mmmkay?