Monday, May 4, 2009

Lemon Curd and Pop Tarts

I love lemon.  Anything made with lemon will soon turn into my favorite thing.  I love lemon cakes, tarts, muffins, pies and now even Pop Tarts!!!  For our monthly Pot Luck I made another Limón cello Cheesecake but this time I made a delicious Lemon Curd to go on top.  There was a ton of lemon curd left over but I just knew I would come up with a good use for it.

Then over the weekend we were in Costco and the girl’s saw some Pop Tarts and asked if they could have them.  Once I finished laughing and told them no I realized that they had given me a great idea!!!  I would use some leftover Lemon Curd to make them Homemade Pop Tarts. 

P1010291

Fresh Lemon Curd (Meeta at What’s For Lunch, Honey? with a lot more info on making lemon curd!)

Ingredients
Printable version of recipe here.(link directly to Meeta’s site)

4 organic lemon, zest and juice
110g unsalted butter, cut into pieces (1/2 cup)
4 eggs, beaten
450g fine granulated sugar (2 1/4 cups)

Method

  1. Set a fine strainer over a medium bowl, then set aside.
  2. In a medium sized saucepan whisk together the grated lemon zest and juice, sugar and eggs until incorporated and the sugar has dissolved.
  3. Place the saucepan over medium heat and gently cook the mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon, until steaming. Make sure the curd does not boil. Stir frequently and continue to cook until the curd has thickened and the curd coats the back of the wooden spoon - approx 3-7 minutes.
  4. Take the curd off the heat and then add the butter, stirring to incorporate it to the curd. Pour the curd mixture through the prepared strainer to make sure there are no lumps in the lemon curd.
  5. Pour into warm sterile jars, cover and seal. Allow to come to room temperature, then refrigerate.

This lemon curd was simple and delicious and I will definitely be making it again.  It was perfect on top of the cheesecake as well as on bread and toast!!!

P1010321

Homemade Lemon Curd Pop Tarts (adapted from Bake Me More and several other blogs that she has mentioned!)

Ingredients:

  • Pie crust, refrigerated or your favorite homemade pie crust
  • lemon curd (or any jam or jelly you like)
  • Glaze or Egg Wash
  • Sparkling Sugar 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. (Laurel went by the temp setting on the box, the original recipe calls for 450.  I did what she did)

Unroll one of the pie crusts and square the edges. Cut into rectangles. Place 1 tsp of jam in the center of a rectangle and top with another piece of crust. Crimp all four edges. Repeat until all of the pie crust is used. I also took the rounded edges that I cut off and rolled them together to form more pop-tarts.

Bake the pop-tarts for about 7 - 8 minutes or until slightly brown. Once cool, pour glaze over and decorate with sugar. If you don’t want to add extra sugar with the glaze, you can use an egg wash on the tops  with some white sugar.

To Make the Glaze:

  • 1 cup powder sugar
  • milk to thin

Place powdered sugar in bowl. Pour milk slowly until it has a consistency of really thick syrup.  Drizzle over the cooled Pop Tarts.

These were so incredibly good.  I have no idea how they stack up against real Pop Tarts because I haven’t tasted them but these will be made again and again. 

As Always…

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

26 comments:

Megan said...

I love the sprinkles on top! My daughter would be in heaven if I made these for her. Heck, I'd be heaven if I made these for her! :)
I know they taste better then the store bought kind. I've tasted store bought. ;)

Patsyk said...

My kids WOULD LOVE these! I don't buy pop tarts either, much to my husband's disappointment!

Shelby said...

I love lemon curd!

Kat said...

Grand kids are coming the end of this month, I think I will make them these!

Maria said...

I love lemon too! I don't like pop tarts, but yours look wonderful!

RecipeGirl said...

Unfortunately, I DO like those evil pop tarts, but I don't buy them for my child either. He has had them before though LOL! I'm sure your version was MUCH better than the box kind. They look so cute!

lisaiscooking said...

I have to try making pop tarts! The lemon filling sounds great.

toontz said...

Oh. My. It is probably a good thing we do not live closer to one another, Judy. We would probably do each other in all in the name of Lemon Goodness. Lemon is absolutely one of my faves, too. Bookmarking this one for sure!

Elle said...

Judy--those are awesome! I don't think I'd have the patience to make pop tarts, but I'm sure they taste divine!

Anonymous said...

Lemon poptarts! I used to have a weakness for those things as a child, but I don't really eat them anymore. However, I still have a knee-weakening problem with anything lemon, so the two are combining to mean we are going to have some poptarts here very soon!

Thistlemoon said...

Wow Judy! That is so cool - I love how you had a solution to the girls wanting pop tarts - I bet these were way better anyway! I would eat them !

Brenda Campbell said...

You made homemade pop tarts?? Now I know you are a cooking god LOL I love pop tarts only could never figure out how to make them since they are sort of pricey sometimes. I love lemon and I love pop tarts... sounds like I am going to make some sometime soon! YUMMY!

Bob said...

You've never had real PopTarts? Well, I'd say you were missing out... but they aren't so great actually. But yours look unreal, I can't get enough lemon curd.

s. stockwell said...

What a clever, clever idea! adorable presentation too! best from Santa Barbara, s

kellypea said...

I'm a closet Pop Tart addict and love all things lemon, so yah. I'm there with these yummy morsels. Oh. My.

Qte said...

Hi, I just found your blog by chance and LOVED it! Keep up the good work :)
I love anything lemon and this lemon curd sounds so delicious to me. I will try it over the weekend, thanks for sharing. Also, please keep on sharing lemony recipes:) i love them and will also share them on my blog too. thanks.

Darius T. Williams said...

How smart is this idea? I love this!

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

My husband started making his own lemon curd last year, when a reader sent me her family's favorite recipe. Now, if I bring home a jar of storebought, even if it's good quality, it's never quite good enough for him!

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

My kids would love your pop tarts. They are so cute!

Maris said...

I love this idea! I bet they're so, so much tastier than the boxed versions.

Ivy said...

I have bookmarked Meeta's recipe but have not made it yet. I think now is the time to make it. Thank for for reminding me of it. The pop tarts look awesome.

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Judy so glad you liked the recipe. I love the idea of filling the curd in lemon tarts. I think i will be pinching it! hugs!

Sandy Smith said...

Gorgeous! I bet these would be a hit at a bake sale.

fav.or.it said...

Looks like a good snack or desert for the entire family - as my wife and I would definitely enjoy it and our 3-year old would like it if we threw some sprinkles on it as it was shown in the picture!
Mark Garso 2323

sent from: fav.or.it

Jude said...

Mmmm homemade pop tarts. Sounds like a fun thing to make :)

v said...

My daughter and I made these with some Trader Joe's lemon curd and some Smuckers' strawberry preserves. They were so good and incredibly easy. I'm sure we'll be making these again. Thanks for posting this.