Pop tarts

Have I mentioned that my friends love me? Well, if they don’t they should… it’s just logic. The food from the cafeteria gets old, fast, and that’s when my boredom and love of real food kicks in. Since I don’t want to eat it all in one sitting (because yes, I could do that) I give the majority of what I make to my friends. And they’re more than happy to take it. So like I said, my friends should love me. Tonight especially, tonight I decided to make something that has definitely been done before but probably isn’t considered by many college students when the vending machine is so close by. But it was worth it… so worth it. I made homemade pop tarts. This recipe has been circulating around the internet for a while which means I’ve wanted to make them for just as long.

I finally got around to it tonight after the ingredients have been sitting in my fridge for about a week now. I don’t know why I put off making these for so long, but I shouldn’t have. I could have made five batches by now and I wouldn’t think twice about the ten pounds that I’d have gained. This recipe is so simple and quick that I guarantee you that anyone can make it as long as they have a cookie sheet to bake them on. Did I mention that they’re delicious? Because they are, they really, truly are. They’re warm, flaky, gooey and just all around delicious… what more could you want from a pop tart?

Here’s what you’ll need:

• One package of any premade croissant package
• Any filling you want. I used nutella, strawberry preserves and cinnamon sugar.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, or whatever the cooking instructions of your croissants say. Cover your baking sheets in parchment paper so that the dough doesn’t stick to the sheet and fall apart when you try to take it off. Next, open the package of croissant dough and break apart into squares (they’ll come in triangles so if you can try to keep two of the triangles together when you’re unrolling the dough). Use a rolling pin (or one liter soda bottle in my case) to roll out the dough and help seal together the perforations in the dough. This also spreads out the dough so that it doesn’t get too puffy or flaky and you have more surface area to spread the fillings in.

After that, cut the pieces of rolled dough into squares. If you’ve rolled out two triangles together just cut them in half. Then, apply the different fillings of your choice and fold in half. Use a fork to seal the edges of the pop tart closed and poke holes into the dough so that the air has a place to escape when its baking. Then place onto baking sheet.

When you’ve finished putting together all of the pop tarts place them in the oven and bake according to the directions on your croissant package. Take out of the oven when they’re golden brown and let cool for at least 5 minutes.

You can serve them right out of the oven or wait a while. They should stay for at least a day if you can keep them around for that long!