Inspiration hit me in the form of food today.
Long story short, I woke up determined to make some cute/fun munchies just for the sake of the photos, hoping it might taste good. Following a model from a friend of mine, I chose to start my munchie journey with the classic homemade pop-tarts.
My sisters have both tried their hands at this, along with more dinner foods and desserts like Apple Pie, so I thought I would give it a try. Having seen it done before, I wasn't too shaken up about the idea of baking something like this.
Not only did I do it, but I have a "What Worked and What Didn't" list built up in my head from this adventure. There were a few things that definitely didn't go as planned, and a few shockers for me, but overall, this was a pretty tasty process. So, here's my list, my comments, a few snide remarks, and a (small) list of "Here's What I Could Change Next Time."
What Worked: Ingredients
The ingredients were all things I naturally had laying around. Things like Apples, Sugar, Salt, and Flour are pretty much in every home. The only ingredient I needed to purchase was some brown sugar!
What Didn't Work: Ingredients
What the recipe calls for left me with quite a bit of excess food. I had almost the entire bowl of filling left when I ran out of dough.
What Worked: Prep
Once I got in the flow of prepping the different parts of the tarts (dough, filling, glaze) it was pretty easy to follow and didn't require a TON of consistent concentration. I am a newbie for sure when it comes to baking, so I needed some legroom for this part just in case bad things happened. (for example, if I stepped away from something steaming on the stove was it gonna explode?)
What Didn't Work: Prep
The timing was all off. I was naive enough to not read through the entire recipe before I started to prep, and it really caught me off guard. The dough takes 4 hours to cool, and the filling takes about an hour and a half to cool, in different increments. I wasn't aware of this, and not only did it change how I baked, but it also changed my plans for the whole day (major eye roll).
What Worked: Baking
After I finished prepping everything I really did just slap it on a pan and threw it in the oven. Turning the oven to 350 was the easiest part of the process. Just stuck those bad boys into the oven for 45 minutes until golden brown then THEY WERE READYYYYYY!
What Didn't Work: Baking
This was the last of the extended moments of time where I just had to wait, and I was a little tired by this point.
They turned out great though! I put a sugar coat on the top to add to the flavor, not that it really needed it though. Everyone liked them! It's a great breakfast, snack or dessert treat! Top these babies with some ice cream, and you're in business!
The recipe I used! https://www.bunsinmyoven.com/homemade-apple-pie-po...
Next time! If you want to follow this recipe as I did, here are some suggestions I have!
#1! Be ready to plan an activity or two while you're waiting for the dough to chill, timing is everything. #2. It's okay to use more flour when kneading the dough than the recipe calls for, it doesn't do anything but help you out. #3. You can totally make them bigger than what the recipe says. It's your food, so make it how you want it! #4. ALWAYS melt the glaze for the top, it will taste better hot... (trust a sister on that one).
