Finding a home where we once had none is hard. I’ve found myself drowning in blank walls that are colored beige. Beige—my nemesis. However, a few weekends back, Daniel and I found ourselves in the smallest Ace Hardware store known to the Portland area picking out a gallon of paint so that I could take a few cool-toned photographs in my little studio-nook.
This nook is awkward to anyone else. A random little corner hidden by the storage under the stairs and framed by a large window and door that leads to our (very small) porch? Deck? No matter the name, we don’t use it. Anyone else might fill it with bookshelves or a few awkward-fitting reading chairs. When we walked through the hollow condo a few months back, I saw this nook, and I knew this was the place. This was our Portland home. Everywhere we’d looked had no great light source, a place to shoot, or room for ANYTHING besides a love seat and a mid-century something or other that one always picks up on Hawthorne Street, I assume.
It was a long search for this place, and fast-forwarding to today, we are happy. We are settled. We also may be floating in a home that feels a little like a long-stay Air bnb. Slowly and daily we are making it our own. We are landing into the groove of this new city, and it’s been really, very lovely.
And, no place really feels like home until it’s been filled with a cinnamon baking-off in the oven. Or, when a Yankee candle has hit its stride on a Saturday morning. Or, when plans have been canceled and I find myself snuggled on the couch watching the rain patter against the window. I couldn’t be more thankful for these moments and for getting to a place where the newness is starting to wear off and comfort and familiarity is taking its place.
Speaking of taking its place, you may never want to buy Pop-Tarts® again. I am certainly not the first person to make pop-tarts from scratch. Just a simple Pinterest search reveals hundreds upon thousands of recipes from bloggers doing the same thing I’ve been doing. But I don’t care, I’m here for this, I am HERE for homemade pop-tarts—especially when they are covered with brown sugar and cinnamon. I used to live off these when I was a kid. And, while we’re being honest here—this is a safe place after all—I would slather them with butter right after they’ve popped out of the toaster. It wasn’t the greatest nutritional decision I’ve ever made (second only to mixing shredded cheese, mayonnaise and chopped sandwich meat together (thank you, Adkins diet)). However, it was nonetheless delicious and very appetizing when I was running five minutes late to school and I had a choice between breakfast or going to school with dry hair.
Friends—choose wet hair and always grab breakfast.
I’ve made a very good decision to always use buttermilk pie crust for the rest…of…time. Okay, there may be a few exceptions to this in the future, but for now? I’m sticking with it, and it’s not making me one bit upset. It’s flakey, yet still somewhat chewy thanks to all the butterfat. This makes it a very pliable crust and bonus points for it being the easiest crust to work with! I don’t know about you, but pie crust can be finicky and dare I say, annoying. Work with me, pie crust, not against me. Buttermilk pie dough works WITH me every time.
Another quick decision I made was to use a maple glaze instead of a cinnamon glaze, and it’s really made my heart sing. The flavors talk to each other in your mouth in a very calm and respectable manner. They all respect one another’s different viewpoints in the world. Shouldn’t we all mimic their example?
Brown Sugar Cinnamon Maple Pop Tarts
A fun, homemade and nostalgic recipe for Brown Sugar Cinnamon Maple Pop Tarts. Made with a flaky buttermilk crust and topped with a maple glaze.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Ingredients
|| Crust ||
3 cups All Purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 cup butter, chilled
3/4 cup buttermilk, chilled
|| Filling ||
½ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
||Egg wash||
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon whipping cream
|| Glaze ||
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 egg white
1 tablespoon whipping cream
1 teaspoon maple extract
Pinch of salt
Flaked sea salt for topping
Instructions
|| Crust||
Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Grate the chilled butter and toss with the dry ingredients.
Start to work the butter in with your hands until the mixture starts to look buttery and the flecks of butter in the dough are pea-sized or smaller. Drizzle in the buttermilk, and toss together with a fork until it’s too stiff to work anymore. Use your hands to fold the dough and squeeze it dough together to make one dough ball.
Shape the dough into a disk about the size of a dinner plate. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Roll out dough as thin as you can get it. About a 12-inch disk.
You can leave the dough in the fridge for up to 3 days. Let it chill on the counter for 30 minutes before rolling out. Cut rolled dough with a biscuit cutter into about 16 disks. Return to the fridge for a few minutes if the disks begin to get soft.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Mix the filling together until crumbly. Place an overflowing tablespoon of the brown sugar mixture into the center of the dough disks. Dip your finger in water and sweep the circumference of each disk. Sandwich one dough disk on top of the other press around the circumference with a fork.
Whisk the egg wash together and brush on the top of each pop tart.
Place pop tarts on a baking dish lined with parchment about one inch away from each other. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden.
Remove from oven and let pop tarts cool completely.
Whisk the glaze ingredients together for about 1 minute until smooth. If glaze doesn’t seem spreadable, add a little more cream about 2 teaspoons at a time and continue stirring until smooth. Spread glaze on top of the pop tarts and sprinkle with flaked sea salt.
Keywords: hand pies, brown sugar, maple, crust, pop tarts
These are dreamy!
Where does the maple flavor come from? I wanna make these bad boys!
Oh em geeee!! Cannot wait for you to try them! I added the maple extract to the recipe card!
I love that you made these little guys round!!!! So cute and sound so delicious!!!!
Thanks, Lindsay!! Definitely love the hand pie look 🙂
New spaces always take time to make feel like home. And baking ALWAYS helps 🙂 These are completely adorable. I love how small they are. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much! It’s so true. It will take a while longer until it really feels like home.
I’m so excited to make your pop tarts!! Thanks for sharing! ❤️
yay! I cannot wait for you to try them!
Oh that feeling of living in a house that makes you feel as if you are just a mere visitor. I know that feeling all too well as we are trying to transition our place into a home too. But just keep chipping away at it and before you know it. . .it will feel like you’ve lived there an eternity. As for these little cuties. . .what can I say. . .I love them. I always did have a special little place in my heart for brown sugar pop tarts.
Right!?! pop tarts just have my childhood on lockdown. Yes, agreed. We’ll keep chipping away. We need more things hung on the walls and more memories between them. 🙂
These look amazing! Does the glaze set up enough to bag these? Or does it stay too soft?
Good question! They do set up a little thanks to the cornstarch but it takes a day or two. If you want them to set like a real pop tart, I would use a royal icing recipe and add a little maple extract to the mix. Hope this helps!
I have been craving a pop tart ever since I saw this post…guess like I need to get my act together and make some!
Hi a few questions; instead of maple extract can we use maple syrup and why cornstarch in the glaze? I not much a baker but i am going to make these….
Hey! You can’t use maple syrup as a straight substitution. You can use maple syrup but you would have to use way more syrup to get the flavor you want and then probably not use the cream at all to maintain the correct consistency. I use cornstarch in the glaze to help harden the mixture after being set out creating the same topping as a store-bought pop tart. However, feel free to take it out and replace it with more powdered sugar. It just won’t set as fast.
Hope this helps!