Rosemary Blackberry Poptarts with Brown Sugar Icing

I planned to spend last Saturday afternoon baking pop tarts and then eating them while catching up on The Good Wife. But, when my friend Susan invited me over to bake them at her house, I couldn’t say no. My kitchen at home is pretty functional, but two people barely fit in it, so cooking at my apartment is almost never a social activity. The prospect of a huge (to me) open kitchen with an actual table in it, plenty of counter space, and a gas oven was too tempting to turn down. Plus, I can’t think of many better ways to spend my weekend than sitting around with friends, drinking wine and cooking tasty treats with an eager audience waiting to try them.

Having a group of taste testers ready to try these right out of the oven turned out to be fortunate, since I got a little experimental with my icing. You know that hard, sugary crust that seems to have been shellacked on top of store-bought pop tarts? For some reason, I got a little fixated on replicating that. An obvious way seemed to be royal icing, but there were two problems with this. I don’t love the aftertaste of the egg white in royal icing, and I also I really wanted to use brown sugar.  A quick internet search solved the egg white problem by subbing corn syrup, but I’ve yet to find powdered brown sugar anywhere. So….I made it, and I wound up with a beautiful, light brown powder that in my mind was sure to work.

I already told you that I freaking made my own powdered brown sugar, so maybe when I use the phrase “in my mind” that should be a clue that I was in fact not heading in the right direction with this, but instead nearing the borders of crazy town. I had deluded myself into thinking I could magically turn one ingredient into another, but of course my powdered brown sugar was never going to blend with the corn syrup into a paste the way regular powdered sugar would. This should have been obvious to me but I was still a little surprised when I wound up with a grainy, deep amber colored mixture that was nothing like what I had been picturing. Was it delicious? Oh yes. I mean the two main ingredients were sugar and more sugar, so how could it not be? But it was clearly so far off of what I had been imagining, and it was so ridiculously sweet* that I was hesitant to actually put it on the pop tarts.  I decided to go with it anyway and see what happened.

*This did not stop Susan’s boyfriend Mike from eating it by the spoonful before we stopped him. He may still get "the diabeetus".

 I spooned the glaze over my tarts and let them sit for about an hour until it hardened. Then we tried them. The pastry was flaky, the rosemary was a subtle background note to the jam filling, and the brown sugar? Well, it was definitely that extra punch of flavor I was looking for, plus a roundhouse kick to the teeth. It was good, and even better after a few more hours, but still not really necessary to the tarts.

 By the way, I’m still not caught up on the Good Wife. So, if Alicia won her election and then immediately ran off to celebrate on a desert island with Finn, I’m gonna be really happy about that but no spoilers please.

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Rosemary Blackberry Pop Tarts with Brown Sugar Icing

Tart dough and filling adapted from King Arthur Flour.  I added rosemary to the dough, and would highly recommend not following their instructions for assembly. I did, but it was problematic, and there is a much easier way that I outlined below.

Rosemary Tart Dough

2 cups (8 ½ oz) all purpose flour
1 tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
2 sticks (8 oz) cold, unsalted butter, cubed
1 large egg
2 tbs milk
1-2 tbs chopped fresh rosemary, depending on how much you like

Blackberry Filling

¾ cup blackberry jam 
1 tbs cornstarch or other thickening agent, mixed with 1 tbs cold water (I used tapioca flour)
1 large egg

Brown Sugar Icing

6 oz Powdered Sugar or Powdered Brown sugar (see note)
1 oz corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/4 tsp salt

1. Make tart dough: whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. With a pastry blender, two forks, or your fingers, mix in the butter until the mixture forms large pea-sized lumps that easily hold together when you squeeze it. Beat the egg and the milk together and add to the dough, mixing just until everything holds together.  Divide the dough into two, and shape the halves into rectangles.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 15 minutes or up to 2 days. Dough can also be made ahead of time and stored wrapped in plastic in the freezer until needed.
2. Make jam filling: mix the jam and cornstarch mixture in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 2 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool completely.
3. Make tarts: let chilled dough warm up until softened and workable, then roll out one half of the tart dough on a lightly floured surface into a rough 10”X13” rectangle, about 1/8” thick.  Using a 9"x13" baking pan or a ruler as a guide, cut out a 9"x12" rectangle.  Set dough scraps and the rectangle aside for later. 
4. Repeat step 3 with second half of the dough. After rolling, use a ruler and cut three lines in the dough lengthwise and widthwise so you end up with nine 3”x4” dough rectangles. Transfer the rectangles to a parchment lined baking sheet.
5. Whisk your egg and brush it lightly over the entire dough surface. This will act as the glue to hold your tarts together. Drop 1 heaping tablespoon of filling onto the center of each scored rectangle. Cut your first large 9"x12" rectangle into 3"x4" rectangles, and lay these over the filled squares. Press firmly around the filling in each square, sealing it in. Press the edges of each rectangle with your fingers to seal, then seal again with a fork.
6. Prick the top of each tart with a fork multiple times, so steam can escape while baking. Refrigerate tarts for 30 minutes.
7. While tarts are chilling, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Once tarts have chilled for 30 minutes, bake them for 25-35 minutes, until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
8. Ice tarts: mix together icing ingredients until incorporated. Spoon over each tart and let set.

Note:

• I made brown powdered sugar by this method. Crazy? Maybe, but also not really worth the extra effort. I just really wanted that brown sugar taste, and honestly I maybe got too much of it. You can use regular powdered sugar instead. Or, use your favorite brown sugar icing instead. Or, skip the frosting entirely and save on dental bills.

Naan Pizzas

Winner winner weeknight dinner!

Sometimes I'll get a sudden craving for pizza during the week, when I have more limited time for cooking. Or sometimes I know ahead of time that I want to make pizza during the week, but I don't have time over the weekend to whip up some dough. Or maybe I realized I'm out of flour and I'm just not in the mood to carry a new bag of it home from the grocery store.

Since I don't make a habit of keeping pizza dough in my freezer, all of these scenarios can present a problem. Do I order in a pizza or mix up some version of a quick pizza dough? Neither option is particularly great. Ordering a decent pizza almost always costs more that I really want to spend on dinner, or leaves me with so much leftover that I'm tired of the pizza before it's finished. Quick pizza doughs, in my experience, are usually kind of flavorless and boring, since the dough has no chance to develop any real flavor without yeast and fermentation time, and I end up with a pizza that tastes like I just spread toppings on a really bready cracker.

Of course, I could always stop by the grocery store on my way home and buy some pre-made dough, either the uncooked dough in a bag or the pre-cooked kind. The dough in a bag option is fine, but sometimes I don't want to wait for my dough to come to room temperature or maybe I just don't feel like getting my hands messy. And the pre-cooked options are almost always on the thicker side, which is not what I'm looking for when I eat pizza.

The solution came to me one day when I was grocery shopping and I looked at those pre-packaged naans you can usually find in the bread aisle, and I thought that maybe they would make an awesome thin crust pizza! And I was right! It totally does.  And the best part? Weeknight pizza can be as simple as opening a package of naan, spreading on your favorite toppings and melting it all under the broiler. It's a perfect way to use up leftover veggies or meat. They also happen to freeze really well, so you can make up a batch and have a supply of personal pizzas ready and waiting.

So pick out your favorite array of toppings and dinner is ready in 10 minutes!

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Naan Pizzas

There isn't much more to the recipe for these than open package, top, and melt, but below are two of my favorite topping combinations. One note is that since these have such a short cooking time, use already cooked vegetables and meat, otherwise they will end up under cooked. 

Pesto, mozzerella, broccolini, chili flake, and pine nuts. Spoon a thin layer of pesto over the naan, top with slices of fresh mozzarella and some diced, cooked broccolini, sprinkle with chili flakes and pine nuts and cook under the broiler until cheese is melted and everything toasts a bit.

Muenster, bacon, kale, and spicy honey. Place 3 slices of muenster cheese across the naan, sprinkle bacon on top and top with a layer of sauteed kale. Cook under the broiler until melted and golden, then drizzle with the honey. You can also use regular, non-spicy honey, just sprinkle some chili flakes on the pizza before baking to add a little heat.

NYC! (or that time I couldn't find Shake Shack)

I went to New York! It was a trip I've been trying to take for about two years now, so I'm still a little bit in disbelief that I actually went, but it's on Instagram so it definitely happened, right?   Also, there is proof in the fancy honey and the half-eaten chocolate bars I brought back with me. 

 As a lover/eater/cooker/blogger of food I unsurprisingly planned this trip as a four day food tour.  I somehow pared down my list to about 12 places, but even so, once I landed, I basically ate constantly for four days. It was amazing. I also got to spend time with friends I hardly ever get to see, which was so fun. My friend Ginny was especially amazing for letting me stay with her and for taking two days off of work to shepherd me around the city and finish all the food I was too full for. 

I landed Thursday and after scarfing down a bagel sandwich, we headed to the Brooklyn Bridge. We walked across it to Manhattan and almost immediately began a 45 minute search for a bathroom. After almost getting trapped in the bathroom of a Starbucks at Union Square we swung by the Strand, which was amazing, because books! For lunch, we decided to try Shake Shack, but instead learned a valuable lesson: does the little dot on Google maps have a fork and knife symbol? No? There will be no food for you there! So, instead of a burger I had broth for lunch. I tried both the ginger beef and the duck broths at Brodo, and given how poorly I was adapting to actual winter weather, it was exactly what I needed. After broth, we did a tour at the Tenement Museum. Turns out that tenement residents had beautiful exposed brick walls and I was jealous until I remembered the part where they didn't have indoor plumbing. For dinner, we headed down the street to Mission Cantina where I got to see a few friends. I tried bone marrow for the second time and hated it less. Progress! For dessert, we went to Babycakes. I was a little underwhelmed but they had a photo of the Golden Girls taped to the counter so I can't complain too much.

Friday morning started with a trip to Doughnut Plant and I discovered my new favorite breakfast of creme brulee in donut form. We had a Shake Shack sighting nearby but it was 10 am so it was closed of course. We headed to the MOMA which I somehow had never been to, and I was not disappointed. I played some kind of Chinese revolutionary Mario on a giant screen, listened to Bjork and saw the infamous swan dress in person, and ate cured meats and drank wine. We then headed out to Bushwick to Roberta's for a late lunch.  I had to laugh because the outside is just so unpromising, and inside, the pizza was so damn good! Then, as if we hadn’t done enough eating at that point, we headed back to Manhattan to Momofuku Milk Bar in SoHo, where I decided it was not too cold for cereal milk soft serve with corn flakes, and also got a slice of crack pie and some bagel bombs to go.  We then met up with another friend for drinks that turned into second dinner. If my mission was to consume all the food in New York, I was doing pretty well by that point.

Saturday was rainy but it turned out to be my favorite day. We waltzed right into a table at Russ & Daughters Café for my new new favorite breakfast, because apparently when the bars in your city stay open until 4 am, no one is awake at 9 am. We split three courses of latkes, bagels with salmon and toppings, and babka French toast. It was probably the most perfect way I could imagine spending a rainy morning. After eating, we decided to head around the corner to check out the original Russ & Daughters storefront and peek into Katz's Deli. It was still raining but we walked across town anyway to Murray's Cheese Shop (a.k.a. heaven) and an empty Greenwich Village. Then, we decided we hadn’t had our fill of fancy food shops, so we wandered up to Chelsea Market for a few samples before walking the Highline.  We basically had it to ourselves due to the weather, so we walked the length of it and then over to Eataly. We met up there with a friend for some wine and some much needed drying off.  Then, we decided that since we were so close, we could definitely manage Shake Shack for lunch. But oh wait! It was shut down for renovations. Denied for the third time. Instead we got Korean fried chicken wings at Turntable. Immediately upon finishing our wings, we headed over to Dirt Candy for an early dinner. Now I know what celery tastes like in ice cream and I want to eat it all the time! After dinner, we headed back over to Brooklyn to a Pi Day party where all the pie was from Four and Twenty Blackbirds, except of course for the McDonald's apple pies we brought as a gift for our hosts.  We try to be classy.  After the party, we headed home to eat crack pie and watch Beyond the Lights.  Then I obviously passed out from exhaustion and the subsequent sugar crash. That crack pie is no joke.

On Sunday, as you can see from the lack of photos, I was finally tired.  We started the day late with the Milk Bar bagel bombs, then trekked over to Baked for an even later second breakfast. Despite the freezing temps and the wind we explored Red Hook and some of the art galleries and shops there, then walked over to Pok Pok NY for lunch. After that, we headed to a bar in South Slope for a birthday celebration for Ginny, then we went home and binged on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt until I fell asleep.

On Monday, it was time to say "Troll the respawn, Jeremy!"* to New York. And of course, I finally found an open Shake Shack in JFK. At that point I was so irritated with them I almost boycotted in protest, but it smelled so good that I bought a breakfast sandwich. I guess I'll have to wait until next time to try the burgers. My list is already back up to about 20 places, so I'm sure it won't be long before the next trip!

*If you aren't watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, you definitely should be.