Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Heart Tarts

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Of course it’s necessary to share some heart shaped food today.

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I have very fond memories of eating brown sugar and cinnamon pop tarts before school as a kid.  Once I decided to try my hand at making my own pop tarts I knew what kind they would be.

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All you need to make these tarts is your favorite pie crust recipe, I adapted a pâte brisée from Martha, and a filling.  I chose brown sugar and cinnamon, but your favorite jam, nutella, or peanut or almond butter and chocolate chips are all great choices.

You can either leave these plain, brush them with an egg wash before baking, or top them with a simple glaze.  The egg wash makes them beautiful (the ones on the right below), but the glaze is super delicious.

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I cut these into hearts for Valentine’s Day, but you can also cut them into 2 by 3 inch rectangles.  Or use another shape if you like.

The end result is a flaky pastry that beats out a Pop Tart any day.  You can make a batch on the weekend and have them ready for a quick breakfast all week long.  You can reheat these in a 300°F oven or in a toaster oven.  I’d worry about a stand up toaster if you’ve glazed the pastries, or if any filling has leaked out, it might make a mess (and be a fire hazard) in the toaster.  But if your pastries are tightly sealed and unglazed, then you should be in good shape.

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Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Heart Tarts

Adapted from Martha’s Baking Handbook and Chow.com

Ingredients

For the pastry

  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 sticks of butter (cold and cut into pieces)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4-1/2 cup ice water

For the filling

  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1 egg

For the glaze

  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar (sifted)
  • 1/4 teaspoon  cinnamon
  • 4 teaspoons milk

Directions

For the pastry

  1. In a food processor combine flour, salt and sugar, and pulse to combine.
  2. Add in butter and pulse until coarse crumbs form.
  3. Add in egg and pulse to combine, then stream in 1/4 cup ice water and run the processor, adding more water if necessary, until dough just comes together.
  4. Turn out onto your work surface, pat into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour,

For the filling

  1. Whisk sugar, cinnamon and flour together in a small bowl.
  2. Whisk egg in a separate bowl.

For the glaze

Make this while the tarts are cooling

  1. Sift the powdered sugar and cinnamon into a bowl.
  2. Whisk in the milk until smooth.

Assembling the tarts

  1. Remove dough from the fridge.  If it has been more than 1 hour, let it warm up a bit before trying to roll it out.
  2. Sprinkle a clean work surface with flour, then roll your dough out to about 1/8 inch in thickness.  Cut out as many hearts as you can (my heart cutter is the size of my palm, about 4 inches across at the widest point) and set these onto a 2 parchment lined cookie sheets.  Re-roll the scraps and cut more hearts.  You should have 20-24 total hearts to make 10-12 tarts.  You can re-roll what remains if you need more hearts, or just bake the remaining scraps to snack on.
  3. Brush some of the beaten egg all over a heart, then spoon about 2 heaping teaspoons of the filling on the heart, leaving an edge all around.  Place another heart on top of the filling and press along the edges to seal.  Use a fork to crimp the edges tightly together.  Poke a few holes in the top of the tart to let steam escape during baking.  Brush with egg wash if desired.  Repeat with the remaining hearts.  You should have two cookie sheets with 5-6 tarts per sheet.
  4. Place the sheets in the freezer for 10 minutes, or in the fridge for 20 minutes.
  5. Remove and bake for 20-25 minutes, until just slightly golden brown.
  6. Let cool completely before drizzling glaze on to the tarts.