Homemade Toaster Strudel

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I'm sure you've had this feeling: 

I know I have. 

They may taste "good" but man are they "bad" for you. 

My husband used to eat them a lot as a young boy, and for me, I ate it's devious counter part: pop-tarts.

Thankfully we both became healthier-minded eaters in our college days and my developed allergy of red dye 40 put those preservative filled breakfast "treats" on the back burner.

But you can't say "no toaster strudel forever," that would be deprivation and I don't like that word or that action. 
So I say, "Make my own, healthier toaster strudel"; and thus I did.

I made the puff pastry from scratch, a conquest I hold with high honor since I made it with NO BUTTER.
You can find that HERE along with it's epic story.

But you could--and by could I mean you shouldn't unless you ABSOLUTELY are in a bind for time-- but the per-packaged pastry puff.

My end result were unbelievably delicious, why did I ever buy the store bought brand,  flaky, gooey, strawberry filled breakfast pastries.

Ingredients:
homemade puff pastry dough (found here)
3/4 cup strawberry jam
1 tbs cornstarch
1 egg

Creamy icing
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
1tbs milk or cream or half and half

Directions: 
Preheat oven 350 F

Divide dough into 2 equal parts (if you are using my dough recipe  ~8 oz ea.)

Roll each dough half into 9x12 squares--don't worry they don't have to be perfectly square.

Width-wise, cut the dough into 4 strips--approx every 3 inches.

Cut each strip in half, and lay the two pieces on parchment lined baking sheet: keeping the pieces next to each so that they pair up correctly.

Repeat with second half of dough

Whisk egg and brush the top of each dough square.

Combine Strawberry jam and cornstarch in a small bowl until jam is thick.

Scoop 1 tbs of the thickened jam onto the center of one half of the cut strip. Gently spread it out while leaving about 1/4 of the edges untouched to close the seam.

Take the other half of the strip and lay it directly on top of the jam filled square and pinch seam all the around to form a jam filled pocket.

Repeat with the other 8 pastry paired squares.

Brush the tops of the pastry pockets with remaining egg mixture.

Bake for 25-30 min until tops are golden brown.

Serve warm and with creamy icing.

ENJOY!!!!

Easy Puff Pastry -NO BUTTER

 

Wow, what an adventure this recipe was. 

I was seriously on the hunt for a flaky, but durable, and healthy pastry dough for days. 

No such luck.

Every blog I read, every thread I browsed,
the response was: use butter or fail.

Luckily for me, and hopefully for you, I am a strong willed and very determined woman so I decided to experiment and make my own. 

My butter replacement: coconut oil! 
(full of good fats, healthy nutrients, and a whole host of other health benefits, google it!)

I pulled directions and tweaked ingredients primarily from 3 blogs: Annie Eats, Lick The Bowl Good, and Smitten Kitten.

 I spent a tedious amount of time making sure everything was going alright, but alas, created my masterpiece;

Yes, 
to me, 
a honorable 
and Healthy feat.

I was so so proud of myself in the end, 
but after that long ordeal I truly felt I could have skipped the 1 hour refrigeration step the pastry bloggers called for.

My dough was very pliable and ready to use by the 3rd turn, but I followed their instruction just to be safe.
But my end result was unworkable, cold dough that I had to put in the oven while it preheated just to get it to roll out.

I don't know if it was because I used coconut oil instead of butter, but if you follow this recipe I left the 1hr in the fridge OUT--less time for you!

The outcome of my delectable dough was a slightly denser (perfect for my durable demand), but quite flaky, buttery tasting, delicious puff pastry.

Give it a whirl--or turn!

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup coconut oil, solid*
1/4 cup ice water
2 tbs milk

 *I broke it down into 16 tbs

Directions:
In a large bowl or food processor, blend/pulse together flour, sugar and salt. Add 4 tbs of coconut oil at a time and pulse until mixture resembles small peas.--You could blend with a pastry blender or 2 forks if you don't have a food processor.

Dump into a large bowl and do a quick swish mix with your hands.
Add 2 tbs of water, and gently mix in with dough. Add 2 tbs milk, and gently min in with dough, add last 2 tbs of water and gently mix in with dough. Dough should still be crumbly but with when pressed together will hold.

Dump dough onto a clean surface. Keep in mind, the dough will be crumbly.

Fraisage dough--quick inward strokes with the palm of your hand.

Mold dough into a ball and Fraisage again. Dough should start to stick to itself.

Mold dough into a 8x4 square and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 30 min.

Once refrigerated, place dough on a lightly floured parchment paper and roll into a rectangle (~ 15x10).

Fold dough lengthwise into thirds.

Starting from the long end, roll up dough up into a coil

Gently roll over coil to connect seams. ~6x5 rectangle: 
Your 1st turn.

Repeat the rolling out,folding, and coiling for a 
2nd and 3rd turn.

 (notice the dough is smoother the 2nd turn)

Dough should be very malleable and smooth at this point and you have two options:

Either start shaping for your recipe or wrap dough in plastic to either set in the fridge until ready to use, or freeze.

Dough bakes well at 350 F.

ENJOY!!!!