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

Amanda of Fake Ginger chose this week’s Project Pastry Queen Challenge: Rather Rich Corn Muffins.

I’ve made these muffins a hundred times. Quite possibly literally 100 times. It’s my go-to cornbread/corn muffin recipe for good reason – it’s perfectly sweet and super moist. It’s also a very non-fussy recipe. I throw everything into the mixer bowl before turning it on to mix until just combined. That’s it.

I almost never make them the same way twice. The batch for this week’s challenge was flavored with roasted corn, a large roasted jalapeno (that was Seventh Circle of Hell hot), and a pile of shaved Parmesan.

The possiblities are endless. Some of my favorite variations:

Thanks to Amanda for picking such a great recipe! Be sure to check out the Project Pastry Queen blogroll for other Rather Rich Corn Muffins. And stay tuned for next week when the group tackles Texas Big Hair Chocolate Hazelnut Meringue Tarts, as chose by Joelen.

We grew up down the road from a really neat lady, Martha. Our house was her youngest daughter’s second home. And her house was mine and my sister’s second home.

If we showed up early enough on a Saturday morning, we were greeted with a bowl of chorizo and scrambled eggs and a stack of warm, homemade flour tortillas. And if I was really early enough, I’d be greeted by a flour-dusted kitchen table and Martha in a flour-dusted apron. And then I was handed a rolling pin.

There is no substitute for a homemade flour tortilla. They’re fluffier, more tender, and tastier than what you can get at the store. They make everything taste better. In Houston, you can get fresh flour tortillas in some of the larger, “nicer” grocery stores. If you’re not near one, you can find a carniceria (a Mexican meat market) in many strip centers to get your fix. Or you can just make your own.

The whole process, start to finish, takes less than 30 minutes. You can do completely it by hand or keep those just-painted nails dough-free by using your food processor.

Flour Tortillas
Printer-friendly recipe

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 heaping tsp salt
5 Tbsp shortening or lard*
3/4 cup warm water

* Lard preferred, shortening will sub, consider adding an extra Tbsp of shortening.

Pulse the flour, baking powder, and salt a few times in your food processor fitted with the dough blade. Add the shortening/lard and process until the mixture is uniformly crumbly. With the food processor on, slowly stream in the water, just until the dry ingredients form a ball and starts traveling around the bowl (you might not use all of the water or you might need a little more). Let the dough knead for ~30 seconds. The dough should clean the sides of the bowl, be soft and not sticky. (You can most certainly do this by hand with a pastry cutter, a wooden spoon, and your hands.)

Turn out onto a flour-dusted surface and divide dough into golf-ball sized portions (I weighed mine out to 2 oz each). Cover with a kitchen towel and let rest for 10 minutes. Heat a large, dry saute pan over medium high heat.

With a rolling pin, roll the dough balls into thin rounds, dusting the top with just enough flour to keep the tortilla from sticking to the rolling pin. Lay tortilla flat in the heated pan and cook on each side for ~20 seconds, until the bubbled areas brown. Keep covered with a kitchen towel to keep warm and pliable. Eat warm.

Yields 12 tortillas
Adapted from here

Nutritional Information
Calories: 146.2 | Fat: 5 | Fiber 1
WW Points: 3