I love Oroweat Sandwich Thins. They’re super thin, which lets me save my carb indulgences for dessert and they’re one of the very few items you can find under a grocery store roof that isn’t made with high fructose corn syrup. It’s the only store-bought bread product I still buy regularly because I consider them pretty unique as far as bread goes.

They’re not terribly expensive – $3 for a package of 8 or $6 for 3 packs at Costco – but every once in while, I like to make something at home just because I can. You’ve heard this story eleventy billion times over: Idea + Google + recipe = covered in flour and 3 loads of dishes.

Okay, so they weren’t 3 loads of dishes messy… just the Kitchenaid dough hook, bowl, two baking sheets and my apron. It was a tad messy forming the buns – keep your hands oiled because the dough is sticky – but not very hard at all. Cutting them in half can be a bit challenging – they’re thin and slightly unforgiving of wayward bread knives. They freeze and thaw well so I store them in a large ziploc bag and just take them out as I need them.

Homemade Sandwich Thins
Printer-friendly recipe

1 1/4 cups warm water
1/4 cup sugar
1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) yeast
2 cups whole wheat flour
1-1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour*
1/2 cup wheat bran*
2 Tbsp vital wheat gluten*
1 tsp salt
1 egg
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp rolled oats

* I didn’t have wheat gluten so I subbed in some AP flour for the whole wheat flour. Also, what I thought to be wheat bran ended up being wheat germ and I didn’t realize it ’til I was putting the package away. It worked.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine water, sugar and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let sit for 10 minutes. Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl (start with only 1 cup of the AP flour) and add half to the mixer bowl (or just measure out half of each one). Add the oil and egg and then turn the mixer on to low and mix until thoroughly combined. Cover and let rest 1 hour.

Add the remaining dry ingredients and knead for 5 minutes. This dough will be sticky. Add additional AP flour by the tablespoon so that dough forms a ball. (It doesn’t have to perfectly clean the sides of the bowl, but you don’t want a gloopy mess.)

Spray 2 baking sheets with cooking spray (I also used parchment). Divide dough into 16 equal portions – I weighed the entire ball of dough to figure out the weight of each bun. Roll each portion of dough in your hands to form a ball, and then flatten it between your palms. Place it on the baking sheet and press down, working the dough into a thin 5-inch round. Brush the tops with water and then sprinkle with rolled oats.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees while you let the buns rest for 30 minutes before docking – I used the narrow end of a chopstick to dock the buns before baking for 12-15 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing.

Yields ~16
Adapted from: Food.com

Nutritional Information
Calories: 127.5 | Fat: 2.6 | Fiber 3
WW Points: 2

Joelen of What’s Cookin’ Chicago fame (really, she’s famous) chose this week’s Project Pastry Queen Challenge: Texas Big Hairs Chocolate Hazelnut Meringue Tarts. Yeah, it’s a dessert as big as its name. And boy, does it bring back memories.

Working at my parents’ bakery when I was younger, I’d put on one of the pie gloves (an elbow-high rubber glove-type thingy) and reach into the giganti-bowl of the giganti-mixer. (Seriously. The thing was commercial-sized gigantic.) Scoop. Plop. And then the shaping and “teasing” of the meringue began. The pressure was on – The Boss wanted big tall peaks with those perfect fold-over loops. The pie couldn’t even get near the oven without a perfectly teased meringue. (Oh, how I hated meringue pies.)

Even without The Boss looking over my shoulder, critiquing every single glossy peak, I still took the minimalist route on the meringue. I think I might be scarred for life I baked one large tart instead of four “small” ones (two people would be perfectly content splitting a single tart) so the dessert would be Girls’ Night friendly. I swapped peanuts for the hazelnuts and added a little peanut butter to the crust for some extra peanuty flavor. There’s just no beating the chocolate + peanut butter combo (unless we’re considering the lime + tequila combo).

Classic flavors that come together pretty quickly and simply in an uber rich tart. Couldn’t ask for much more! Except for maybe a big tall glass of milk. And a kitchen fairy to clean up after I finished baking. A girl can dream.

Thanks to Joelen for picking such a decadent recipe! Be sure to check out the Project Pastry Queen blogroll for other versions of the Texas Big Hairs Chocolate Hazelnut Meringue Tarts (whew!). And stay tuned for next week when Katy hosts Project: Jailhouse Potato Cinnamon Rolls.

If you ever get the chance to take a cooking class with Rebecca Rather, you gotta do it. And the same holds true for being in the same room as David Lebovitz. You won’t be sorry.

I’ve taken two cooking classes with The Pastry Queen recently and walked away from the last class with my husband’s new go-to breakfast: homemade pop tarts. At the Rather Sweet Bakery, homemade pop tarts are all the rage. They’re served as dessert with a scoop of ice cream. Yum! In this house, we’re mostly eating them for breakfast. And as mid-afternoon snacks. And possibly one was snagged from the cake plate and called dessert.

The Foodie Groom and I had a chance to chat with Rebecca Rather after class for a few minutes. We talked pop tarts, Project Pastry Queen, and olive oil. She is busy, busy, busy working on the accompanying cookbook for a PBS documentary about olive oil production (Texas Olive Trails). We agreed that I would make and blog her pop tart recipe, so here it is. Like all of the goodies at Rather Sweet, it’s a by-hand recipe but I’ve added notes where Cuisinart and I might have automated it just a tad

I have been making half the batch peach and the other half fig. They’re incredibly flaky – nothing this good could ever come out of a box. And no weird ingredients that send you running to Google. I’ve been baking a batch every weekend since getting my hands on the recipe… when they run out, it’s cereal for breakfast again.

Is there anything better than a warm, flaky pastry crust? If you want “authentic,” mix 1/2 cup of powdered sugar with just enough water (think teaspoons) to make a thick glaze. Spoon over the still warm pop tarts.

Homemade Peach Pop Tarts
Printer-friendly recipe

2 cups + 2 Tbsp flour, plus more for dusting
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (cold)*
4 Tbsp ice water
12-14 Tbsp good quality peach preserves/jam (or other favorite fruit)
2 cups chopped peaches
1 egg + 1 Tbsp water

*I’m a frozen butter kind of girl when it comes to pastry crusts. I think it makes crusts flakier. And flakier = awesome. Plus, it holds up and lets me make the entire dough in the food processor without totally obliterating the little ribbons of butter.

Mix the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add butter and mix with fingers until it resembles coarse meal. Add ice water and mix lightly and form into a ball.

Or, shred the cold sticks of butter with your food processor. Remove the grater attachment and place the bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes. Add the the dry ingredients to the bowl fitted with the dough blade and pulse a few times to mix. While running, add ice-cold water by the Tablespoon just until the dough mostly forms a ball. (You might need a little more water.)

Divide in half; shape each half into a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 1 hour.

Roll 1 disk at a time on a floured surface to about 13×11 inches. Trim to 12×10 and cut into 5×3-inch rectangles.

Place 4 rectangles on each baking sheet. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of preserves onto the center and top with chopped peaches. Cover with second dough rectangle and gently press the edges to seal. Crimp edges with a floured fork and poke a few holes on top.

Cover tarts and freeze for 2 hours or up to 1 week (I froze overnight and then baked the next morning).

Whisk egg and water and brush over tarts right before baking. Bake frozen tarts at 375 for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. Sift powdered sugar over tarts or frost with powdered sugar icing. Serve with ice cream and fresh berries.

I bake the entire batch at once. I supposed you could bake them fresh every morning but it’s hot. I keep the oven use to a minimum. Plus, they keep really well in a covered cake plate on the counter for 4 days. 2 people + 8 pop tarts = 4 days.

Serves 8
Source: The Pastry Queen

Nutritional Information
Calories: 275.8 | Fat: 23.1 | Fiber 2
WW Points: 7