Strawerry Pop-Tarts

-yes, i made these and yes they are just a good as they look-

ahhh pop-tarts. who can deny themselves of a fresh out of the wrapper treat like this? i dare so no-one. no matter how food snobby i become i will always have a soft spot in my heart for a Kellogg's unfrosted strawberry pop-tart - ugh its terrible, vending machines across the city taunt me so. but alas i am actually a grown-up and i don't allow myself the constant indulgence of these strangely made "pastries". so when i finally accomplished strawberry jam, well the logical next step is of-course to make some homemade pop-tarts. oh yeah, that's what i said: homemade pop-tarts.

these. are. awesome. you won't be fooling anyone into believing these little guys are kellogg's concoctions (but really, why the heck would you try and replicate that faux pastry-ness? gross - just take a walk to the vending machine or a really big one, like wal-mart) they are more like strudels - remember those frozen treats? the exact line from Pilsbury is, get this: "start your day with a convenient, bakery-fresh treat". ha! since when was the toaster / microwave a baker?and better yet is the "do it yourself icing", people let me be clear on this: squeezing a plastic bag of liquid sugar onto a reheated frozen treat is not do-it-yourself. but i admit many a high school breakfasts consisted of those oddly gooey sugar pops and not just one i would eat like 4, wow. mmm healthy way to start your day, no wonder i still don't know how to write very well.

so back to me. i used my standard pie crust, filled it with the wonderfully perfect strawberry jam from easter and whipped together a stiff royal icing. that was that - nothing difficult and actually a do-it-yourself treat. we munched down on these guys as an after dinner treat; which is what the they are America - dessert not breakfast.

STRAWBERRY POP-TARTS

1/2 recipe pie crust - find mine here

1-2 tbs strawberry jam (or whatever you please)

1 egg lightly beaten

*preheat oven to 400F, line baking sheet with parchment

*after refrigerating the pie dough roll out to a 1/8" thick rectangle, cut the odd edges off as needed

*evenly cut out 5" - 6" squares from the rolled out dough

*place 1 heaping tsp of jam on the centers of half of the squares

*brush the edges of the squares with the beaten egg, place a dough square on top and pinch with fork thongs to seal.

*place the filled pastries on the prepared sheet and brush with egg wash

*bake for 16-19 minutes until golden, not too browned though

*let cool completely before icing (recipe below)

ICING

*1/2c - 3/4c powdered sugar

*2-3 tsp milk (more if needed)

*few drops of vanilla

*whisk together the ingredients adding more sugar or milk as needed to get a thick icing.

*drizzle the icing over your cooled pastries and enjoy

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

until today i had never ever taste rhubarb in any shape of form. really i had never held one in my hand, much less seen a rhubarb until a couple of days ago when i got it from the grocery. growing up i always knew the pie existed, but never had i seen one as far down as louisiana, or if i did i didn't know it. so ever since moving to NYC a bit over 4 years ago i've been intrigued with all this spring noise over rhubarb. i mean its everywhere at this time of year - and so are strawberries. so i guess it makes perfect sense.

surprisingly when i was chatting with my parents this afternoon (yes simultaneously over one single line, making so i can't fully understand either; but non-the-less enjoyable) my father perked up in that special "i remember those" way when i mentioned i just took a strawberry rhubarb pie out of the oven. huh. so these pies must exist somewhere outside of its native north east. imagine that - food being available to various regions throughout the country.

anyways, like i mentioned: this pie has been in the making since 2005 (sad i know) and totally worth all its cracked up to be (i am aware that is a cheesy phrase, but i am tired). i put the hearts on for josh (ahhhh); he's coming home tomorrow from CT. did i mention i was tired?

STRAWBERRY RHUBARB PIE

CRUST:

2 1/4c flour

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

4 oz butter, cubed

4 oz shortening, cubed

6 tbs ice cold water

*sift together the flour, sugar and salt

*cut in the butter and shortening with your hands until pea size crumble

*pour in water, mix with wooden spoon. add more water if needed but you don't want it to be too wet

*form dough into two balls, cover in plastic and chill in frig for at least 30 -45 minutes

*roll out one of the balls and line the bottom of a 9" pan with the dough, put back in frig

*roll out the other ball and cut into 14 even strips, take chilling pan out of frig

*pour filling into chilled pie pan

*lattice your dough in alternation sequence, brush a beaten egg evenly over the dough

*cook at 400F for 20 minutes

*reduce heat to 350F and cook for 1 hour 15 minutes or until bubble and thick

FILLING:

3 1/2 c rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1/2" slices

3 1/2c strawberries, quartered

1/2 c golden brown sugar, packed

1/2 c sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4c cornstarch

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

*combine all the ingredients in a bowl, toss to combine and let sit for 10 minutes

Strawberry and White Chocolate Ganache French Macarons

strawberries are everywhere in NYC these days - or at least the places i go. namely fruit carts, grocery and wine stores, oh and the occasional clothing boutique. oh what the life. hm. anyways as you know weekends are when i shake all of the baking off my brain. so last weekend i ended up with an extra egg white just sitting in the frig. and it sat there all week. aging and aging as the days went by. so i knew i had to turn that ripe old egg white in to macarons.

it rained all day long on yesterday. it was london over here: no sun, chilly, all drizzle and fog. so being idiotic and stubborn i got my mind set on making them yesterday. i was going to do it damnit! yeah, i think i have warned you about this before but just don't even think about making these when the humidity is anything above 60% definitely not 100% like i chose to do. its a waste of your time. to my defense; it was late and i didn't notice that i had started raining again. non-the-less it didn't happen.

as mention above i may sometimes be a bit stubborn. in other words i now have to produce macarons this weekend in order to correct this wrong i have done. so i woke up, monitored the humidity and went to work.

back to strawberries. they are everywhere so they are on my mind, but i just finished my two boxes for the week and i definitely didn't feel like forking over any more $$$. i remembered that i had some dried shriveled strawberries in the cupboard (i had a thing about them over a year ago). enter the coffee grinder! grind them into a powder and there you go - a way to infuse flavor into this supersensitive batter. then i remembered i have a block of white chocolate that i should try and use. i say try because i hate hate hate white chocolate, but i does go with strawberries and everyone else i know adores it. so we get white chocolate ganache. i have to say i tasted one and it was pretty darned good, white chocolate and all.

STRAWBERRY & WHITE CHOCOLATE GANCHE MACARONS

STRAWBERRY MACARONS

1/2c almond flour

1c powdered sugar

1 tbs strawberry powder

2 egg whites (at room temp)

1/4 tbs sugar

*preheat oven to 375F, line pan w/ parchment

*sift together the almond flour, powdered sugar and strawberry powder

*in a separate bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form

*add in sugar and beat until stiff and shiny

*gentle fold in the egg white with the powdered sugar mixture

*pipe into 1 1/2" rounds onto prepared pan and cook for 15 minutes

*let cool before removing from pan

WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE

3 1/2 oz white chocolate, finely chopped

1/4c whipping cream

1/2 oz butter, cubed

*heat the cream in a sauce pan until bubbles form

*take off heat and add the chocolate, let sit for a minute then stir to smooth

*add the butter and stir to combine

*let cool to thicken before using

Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

growing up i would bake a lot, mostly fudge and cookies. but when it came to cakes i always opted for the box mix and the icing in a plastic tub. a. plastic. tub. granted i was about 8 years old so you can't blame me really. there was one in particular that really grosses me out now that i am older. that would be the neon yellow lemon cake with neon greenish lemon icing i would deliver to my grandfather's house every sunday afternoon (after his pancake breakfast - yes i am a pancake queen). ick. i can smell the fake sour lemon chemicals now. but he loved it so i kept dishing it out. oh the shame.

so when i first met josh i tried to tame down my crazy food fanatics in a feeble attempt to appear normal. somehow we got on the subject of cake and i think i blurted out something about loving strawberry cake - which i do. what woman doesn't remember screaming for "pink" cake for their birthday? it could have been any flavor as long as it was pink and frilly. like my grandfather and his electric lemon cake; i would gobble down my hot pink box mix strawberry cake and plastic tub icing every time. so like a the good mother she is, my mom would always provide.

back to josh. in an effort to make it appear as if he did a bit of baking himself josh took my fly-by nostalgic love for strawberry cake to heart and got down to the corner bodega to get a box of duncan hines strawberry cake and that adoring tub of greasy icing. very cute, i admit. but um, gross. i was excited just to relive all those southern spring birthdays and unfortunately, i have to admit i ate more that one piece.

that was the absolute only thing josh has ever baked for me - or possibly ever baked. remarkably i think about that little event more often than any normal person would. and i finally dawned on me the other day that i absolutely had to make a real homemade strawberry cake and real american buttercream icing. so i searched and searched and evidently this is a bit of a southern treat and like most southern treats it cleverly utilizes some kind of prepackaged mix. i fought it for a while then decided that i would have to make a small nod to my southern roots and allow a half pack of jello. the rest is all fresh baby! and really these are perfect. we were both really excited when these came out of the oven, you just can't help but smile when you take a bite.

STRAWBERRY CUPCAKES

1c sugar

1.5 oz strawberry jello mix

4oz butter

2 eggs

1 1/4c flour

3 tbs cornstarch

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2c milk, room temp

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4c fresh strawberry puree

*preheat oven to 350 F, line your cupcake pan

* sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and baking soda

* cream the butter, add the sugar and jello mix. cream to light and fluffy

* beat in eggs one at a time

* add in 1/3 of the flour mix, beat to combine

* add in 1/2 of the milk, beat to combine - repeat until all the flour and milk is gone ending on the flour

* stir in the strawberry puree and vanilla

* spoon into your pan, cook 20 minutes

Classic American Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

4oz butter

3 1/2 - 4c powdered sugar

1/4c milk

1 tsp vanilla

* cream the butter to light and fluffy

* sift in half of the powdered sugar. add in milk as needed to allow mixture to come together

* continue adding sugar and milk until desired consistence

* beat in the vanilla