Homemade Pop Tarts

Actual Pop Tart on the left, Alex Tart on the right.

I set myself a little baking challenge this week. I came across a recipe for homemade Pop Tarts on the Oh Comely website and I just couldn't resist. Pop Tarts are some sort of mythical beastie from my childhood. I remember them coming over from the US. I definitely remember those "OMG THEY WILL BURN YOUR FACE OFF!!" news reports. I never actually got to taste one though. Pesky allergies.

My friend Lisa donated a box of genuine American strawberry Pop Tarts for the purposes of this challenge (thanks, Lisa!) and I took one for the team and sampled a bit. Bleughhhh. I wasn't missing out all those years, was I?! Cardboardy, tasteless pastry and barely any filling. What was there didn't taste of strawberry or jam, it was just artificial and odd. Maybe icing and sprinkles (which I believe are the usual topping) would have improved the taste by sugarbombing it to death but I was not impressed.

Time to attempt my own.

Any sort of baking is hard in my ridiculously small kitchen. There's enough room for a fridge freezer, cooker, sink and some countertops but very little else. I would kill for a dishwasher. Simple recipes are the best kind though and I'm pleased to report that this one didn't require much in the way of ingredients or space. You just whiz up some pastry, cut some shapes, bung the filling in and chuck them in the oven.

I won't list the recipe here as the original is on Smitten Kitchen and the translated version with UK measurements is on Oh Comely. I will say a couple of things though:

- Be careful of the fat quantity when making the pastry - either it wasn't converted entirely correctly or my usual butter substitute acts very differently in this recipe because I had to add a crapload more flour in order to turn it into a workable dough.

- Don't do what I did about two weeks ago. In an effort to be tidy I turned out the baking cupboard and threw away loads of stuff. Cornflour? When was the last time I needed that? PAH! Then, you guessed it, this recipe says to mix a bit of cornflour with the jam and heat gently on the hob so that the filling has the right consistency. It wasn't the end of the world in this case as I used blackcurrant jam which was quite chunky but it would definitely have been better less runny!

- Don't burn your chin on molten cinnamon brown sugar goo. That's not big or clever.

It tastes lush though! Even better with a lavish dollop of icing.

Here's a nice comparison of the filling. Why have a thin scraping of artificial nastiness when you could have a delicious freshly baked concoction of cinnamon and brown sugar or warm blackcurrant jam? They're super quick and easy to make so I'll definitely be giving them another go. Love some of the filling suggestions on the original Smitten Kitchen recipe!

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Oh Comely

As proof of my world champion procrastinatory abilities, I have been meaning to write this blog post since I bought the first issue of the magazine back in...ooh, July? It's now up to issue 4 and I've only just got round to it. The shame of it all.

I am basically not a magazine sort of person. If I have a few pounds burning a hole in my purse I'd rather just buy a book/some sweets/something fun from a charity shop/a bath bomb from Lush. I never spend it on glossy magazines and especially not swanky fashion magazines which I just don't think are aimed at impoverished, unfashionable people like me.

I don't know quite why I picked up the first issue of Oh Comely in the first place. I can only put it down to the simplicity of the cover and the fact that the girl on the cover was refreshingly normal looking.

I remember reading the first issue and thinking that it reminded me far more of reading good blogs than it did magazines. It has a real sense of freshness, charm and quirk and covers so much interesting ground. Even when I'm not familiar with the subject of the articles, they're always well written. Because I am a musical pleb who would rather listen to Radio 4 or 5 than the latest indie group, the stuff about bands does tend to go rather over my head but that's not a major part of the magazine so it doesn't bother me. It's true of blogging though; I'm more than used to doing the computer equivalent of smiling and nodding when people write about music.

Luckily there are always plenty of fascinating articles to read and the illustrations and photography are always gorgeous too.

I even like the fashion shoots. They're beautiful and, shock horror, feature things that I might be able to afford and actually want to wear.

Lots of lovely giveaways in every issue too, hurrah! As further proof of my procrastination, if it were needed, I haven't entered a single one. Not even the Irregular Choice one. What's wrong with me?

Plus there's the odd smattering of recipes and simple crafty things. I've yet to actually attempt any of them but they certainly look good.

And a quiz on the inside back page! I don't know about you lot but I love a good quiz. According to the one in the current edition (not the one pictured above) my perfect book is Cold Comfort Farm. (I saw something narrrrrrrrrrrrsty in the woodshed...) Good choice - I like it muchly and am definitely due a reread.

Last night I had a big glass of wine and curled up on the bed to read the latest issue. Jolly good it was too.

(pj bottoms made by the amazing Char - aren't they fab?!)