Homemade Pop Tarts

Remember the strawberry jam we made last week? Well, I have a lot left over, so I decided this would be a good time to make.......

Homemade Pop Tarts

Ideally, for these to be really homemade, you would need to make your own pastry crust. We did this in class last semester, so there is a good recipe on the website. However, since our time is limited, I decided to just have you bring a prepared crust and we will just make the pop tarts and you can make a homemade crust next time. I will make a crust in class so you can see the technique.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Open your pie crusts and roll them out onto a piece of parchment paper.
Trim the dough so that you get a square shape. Cut the dough into as many 5x3 rectangles as you can. Do this for both sheets of pie crust. You need to have an equal number.

Spread filling leaving a 1/2” border. Put another rectangle on top and use a fork to crimp it. Use the fork to make a few small ho...

Strawberry Jam Two Ways

STRAWBERRY JAM

5 cups crushed strawberries (about 5 lbs.)
1/4 cup bottled lemon juice (must be bottled)
6 tablespoons pectin
7 cups granulated sugar

Trim the berries and crush them. Do not use a food processor. Yes, it makes a difference.
You can't use fresh lemon juice because it has to have a certain acidity in order to be safe.
Yes, there is a lot of sugar in jam. It's not like you eat a ½ cup or anything. You can buy low-sugar pectin and you can make jam with honey, but this recipe is for beginners.
Combine strawberries and lemon juice in a 6- or 8-quart saucepan. Gradually stir in pectin. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, over high heat, stirring constantly.
Add entire measure of sugar, stirring to dissolve. Return mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary.
Ladle hot jam into jars and cool. After ...

Homemade Staples and Make-Ahead Mixes

Have you ever started to make a recipe and realized you didn't have any powdered sugar or started to make cookies and found you were out of brown sugar? I have a solution for that!

You can make these pantry staples and more from scratch very easily!

Here's how.....

Powdered Sugar
Put regular granulated sugar in a food processor and grind until the consistency you want. You can use this as-is right away. If you want to store the powdered sugar, add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch per 1 cup of sugar. Store in an air-tight container.

Brown Sugar
Put 1 cup of regular granulated sugar in the bowl of a mixer. Add 1 teaspoon of molasses and stir until completely mixed. There you go! Store in an air-tight container.

Baking Powder
Combine 1 part baking soda and 2 parts cream of tartar. Store in air-tight container. That's all there is to it!

Homemade “Velveeta” Read More...