homemade pumpkin pop tarts w/ buttermilk glaze

"crack tarts" that's really what these should be called as they are hard to put down and walk away from. These were just lovely to make. They lasted a mere day in the house--record breaking. I will admit they were time consuming, but oh so worth the effort. In reality what perfect tasting pastry isn't very time consuming? The expressions on people's faces when they bit into them for the first time--oh how I wish I could just bottle that up. My favorite part? Those crispy, buttery, sugary edges! Whoa Nelly those are addicting. One could easily just make "edges", sell them and make millions. You know?



I have to say I am not good at measuring out the dough into rectangles. You need a ruler and stuff for that. Did I follow it? Of course not! I had to go my own dysfunctional way. But they still came out mighty fine. Other notes: of course I did some changes, you'll see them in colored parenthesis. The original recipe comes from King Arthur, I think. Always keep that dough nice and cold.






Pumpkin pie pop tarts with buttermilk glaze
Adapted from joy the baker & king arthur flour
print recipe

For the Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes (I used a cheese grater)
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 large egg, beaten (for brushing the dough)

For the Filling:
3/4 cup pureed pumpkin
1 large egg (plus 1 large egg yolk)
(1 ts cornstarch)
1/8 ts ground cloves (I omitted)
1/4 ts ground ginger (I omitted)
1/2 ts cinnamon (I used 1 full teaspoon)
(Dash or 2 of pumpkin pie seasoning)
1/4 ts salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Buttermilk Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/8 (plus or minus depending on thick or thin you want glaze) cup buttermilk
Dash or 3 of cinnamon
Dash or 2 of sea salt

For the crust:
I like to use a cheese grater on my butter, keep it in the freezer until ready to use. In a small bowl, beat the egg and milk together. In a food processor, whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Add in the cold butter, pulse until you have nice crumbles. Pulse in the beaten egg with milk until just mixed—no overmixing! Lightly dust a clean counter with flour and knead the dough on the floured counter for a few turns until it really starts to come together. Divide the dough in two, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

While the dough is chilling, prepare the filling:
In a bowl mix all of the ingredients, well. Store in fridge till ready to use.

Assembly:
This next part is where you need to pay attention; I was horrible at this. Get your baking pans ready (2 – 3 pans) by lining with parchment paper, set aside. On a well floured work surface, press dough into a 3x5-inch rectangle, roll the dough out to about 1/8-inch thickness. The dough should be slightly larger than 9x12-inches. Trim dough with a pizza cutter, creating a rectangle that is 9-inches tall and 12-inches long. Using the pizza cutter, cut each side into thirds, creating 9 squares. Place dough squares in the fridge while you roll out the second piece of dough in the same way.

Brush one set of 9 squares with beaten egg. This will act as the glue for the top layer of dough. Spoon about one tablespoon of pie filling into the center of each brushed dough square. Top with a piece of dough and use a floured fork to crimp the sides closed. Use the tines of the fork to create vent holes in each tart. Recipe from dawn finicane of vanillakitchen.blogspot.com Place the pan in the fridge to let it get firm again; you don’t want to bake these with warm dough, they won’t crisp up. Keep in fridge at least 30 minutes. When ready to bake preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes or until the tops and edges are nice and golden brown. Cool tarts on wire racks. You can let them cool before glazing or not, I didn’t wait. But if you glaze them straight away, you do need to let the glaze harden before serving.

For the buttermilk glaze:
Make sure to sift the powdered sugar, you don’t want any lumps in the glaze. Mix all the glaze ingredients really well and apply with a spoon over the racks. Let glaze dry on the tarts before devouring.