Homemade Pop Tarts

Homemade Pop Tarts

Who doesn't love a pop tart? I remember begging my mom to buy them back in the 80s, and my kids now bug me every time we go to the grocery store to buy them as well.  Luckily there are organic, slightly healthier versions available in the store these days, but in my opinion, if it comes in a box, with an expiration date months in the future, it can't really be that good for you.  And plus, these are so much fun to make at home! I like to use my organic whole wheat, coconut oil crust as the base for these, but the choice of fillings is endless!  At this time of year, I'm thinking that a pumpkin spice filling would be perfect and I now want to try that out, so please check back for the update!  In the meantime, your favorite jam or jelly, Nutella, or another nut butter, or a combination of some sort will work perfectly. Even some chocolate chips and fresh fruit could work. Perfect option for a Sunday morning!

Cherry Pie

Cherry Pie

Normally on Valentine's Day I would make a decadent dark chocolate dessert of some kind since chocolate is my favorite food group and Valentine's Day is usually all about chocolate.  But this year I also wanted to make something red, and the most naturally red things I could think of are cherries.  I had been wanting to try out a recipe for a pie crust using coconut oil, so I thought this would be the perfect day to give it a go.  And since I want to spend Valentine's evening enjoying the company of the people I love and not working in the kitchen, I figured I could make the pie the centerpiece of dinner (it does have fruit in it!) and serve it with a small selection of cheeses on the side.

The Coconut Oil Pie Crust came out perfectly and since it is made with 100 % organic whole wheat pastry flour it has health benefits as well.  A bit hearty if you are used to white flour pastry, but the coconut flavor is perfect, especially when paired with the cherry filling (would be great with a chocolate pie too!).  I did cheat and use a premade cherry pie filling because I found one at my local store that was very basic and had no corn syrup or anything artificial.  I decided to mix in some dried cherries and frozen cherries as well to add a bit of texture and it worked perfectly.  Not too sweet, not too tart and perfect for an evening meal with my Valentine.

Coconut Oil Pie Crust

Coconut Oil Pie Crust

I do not often make pastry.  I am not a huge fan of pies as I would rather have a dense fudge brownie or a cookie, but I know my husband and my son like pies and so on occasion I attempt to make them one. I hate to use vegetable shortening because I feel it has no flavor or health benefits so in the past I have always just used organic butter.  But I have gotten so used to using coconut oil in a lot of recipes and know that it has the perfect consistency at room temperature to use in pastry so I wanted to try to make a pie crust with it.  I looked online first to make sure that it wasn't a terrible idea and to get the basic measurements for a double pie crust.  I really wasn't sure that I was going to be able to blend it together well enough just using a fork and my fingers, but it really worked perfectly.  In less than ten minutes I had a beautiful ball of pastry dough that I knew would make an amazing pie.  I used it this first time to make a cherry pie for Valentine's Day, but I plan to make it again in the future for a chocolate version or maybe even a coconut cream!  If you use the organic virgin coconut oil like I did you will definitely taste the coconut flavor, which I really enjoyed.  And the whole wheat pastry flour adds a nice hearty touch that helps to fill you up and leave you feeling satisfied without having eaten half of the pie. Although it tastes so good you still may want to try!

Chocolate Pecan Pie Crust

Chocolate Pecan Pie Crust

Everyone knows that pastry is not very good for you.  Even when I have used whole wheat flour, the predominant ingredient is either vegetable shortening or butter.  I wanted to make my delicious dark chocolate protein pudding into a pie for Thanksgiving this year, and so I knew I had to come up with a healthy and high protein crust to go along with it.  So what did I use?  Nuts!!  You could easily use walnuts as well, as I had intended to do, but I found packages of pecans already ground up at the grocery store near my in laws' house in Canada where I was at the time and figured pecans would probably taste even better.  The combination of nuts, coconut oil, cocoa powder and a little sugar is a perfect compliment to the creamy chocolate filling.  Although at first I thought the crust was too crumbly, once the pudding is placed inside and soaks into the crust a bit, the slices definitely held together just fine. Unfortunately the availability of ingredients in Canada was slightly different than I am used to, so I had to change up my recipe a little and it did not come out as good as it has when at home.  But I plan to make my regular protein pudding again this Christmas and will certainly update with more photos once I do.