Leftover Jelly Bean Look-A-Like Pop-Tarts
makes 8 tarts
For the Pastry:
1 1/2 cups (about 7 1/2 ounces) flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
and cut into cubes
3 tablespoons cream
For Filling:
1 cup jelly beans
For the Icing:
1 cup (about 6 ounces)
Confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Rainbow sprinkles (optional)
Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set to the side. Combine flour and salt in large bowl. Add butter and blend with fork, pastry cutter, or hands. Blend until the mixture is fairly coarse. Add cream, bit by bit, gently mixing the dough after each addition, until the dough is forms a ball.
Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle, about 1/8-inch thick. Cut out rectangles approximately the size of index cards (3- by 5-inches), or smaller if you prefer a more modest portion. Make sure you have an even number of cutouts.
Place jelly beans in neat rows along half of the rectangles, forming color patterns How many beans fit on your pastry rectangles will vary depending on the brand. Be sure to leave about half an inch empty on all sides of pastry.
Place remaining rectangles of dough on top of the ones with jelly beans. Crimp all four edges by hand or with a fork to ensure your filling won't ooze out. Poke a few holes in the top to allow steam to escape.
Place the tarts on prepared baking sheet, and bake until light golden on the edges, 7 to 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
While the tarts cool, prepare your icing; combine the confectioners sugar with the cream. After the tarts have cooled, drizzle icing on top. Garnish with sprinkles if desired.
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April celebrates some bazar days. On the 14th is National Pecan Day. So we couldn't pass this one up and the following recipe is not only healthy, but you can make it on the 14th to celebrate.
Pecan-Berry Coffee Cake
This scrumptious coffee cake recipe has a crumbly pecan topping and is speckled with blueberries or raspberries. You’ll never guess there’s apple in the berry coffee cake: it replaces some of the butter found in most coffee cakes and adds a decidedly sweet taste and moist crumb. This is a great recipe to serve at brunch and can be made the day before.
1 cup all-purpose flour or white
whole-wheat flour, plus 1 1/2
teaspoons, divided
3 tablespoons cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, softened
3 tablespoons canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup low-fat milk
3 tablespoons lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups blueberries or\ raspberries, fresh or frozen (not
thawed)
3/4 cup finely chopped peeled
apple
TOPPING
2 tablespoons cold butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch-square pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides. Lightly coat the foil with cooking spray.
To prepare cake: Whisk 1 cup flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Beat softened butter and oil in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides. Add 3/4 cup sugar and beat on medium-high until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, milk, lemon zest and vanilla and beat on medium-high until smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed just until incorporated.
Place berries and apple in a small bowl, sprinkle with the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons flour and toss very gently to coat. Sprinkle the fruit over the batter and very gently fold in until just combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top.
To prepare topping: Combine cold butter and 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl. With two knives or a pastry blender, cut them together until the butter is in small pieces and uniform crumbles form. Add pecans and toss until evenly incorporated. Sprinkle the topping over the batter.
Bake the cake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the nuts are a deep brown, 50 to 55 minutes.
Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 2 hours. Lift it out of the pan, using the edges of the foil, onto a cutting board, and cut into 16 squares. Use a spatula to lift the cake from the foil.
The good thing about this recipe, it can be made ahead of time and frozen.
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Another day we can celebrate in April is National Peanut butter and Jelly Day. We added a little twist to the standard sandwich and grilled it. What a difference. Enjoy, it warm and gooey.
Choose your favorite peanut butter and flavor of jelly. It doesn't matter. Place bread slices on a work surface and spread peanut butter on 1 slice of bread and jam on the other; set aside.
Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium heat until foaming. Add the slices of bread filling-side up and cook until the bottoms are golden brown and filling is warmed through, about 6 minutes.
Using a flat spatula, flip 1 slice of bread onto the other to close the sandwich. Transfer to plate and serve immediately.