VeganMoFo IV: Gingerbread Pop-Tarts

Sweet mother of pearl!  What did I get myself into?  I am so cracked out on sugar right now, I'm surprised I'm not claiming to be The Great Cornholio.  You know when you get an idea in your head that you just can't let go of?  Well, these became an obsession yesterday.

The back story is that I really wanted to use some lemons for filling or frosting.  Naturally, I thought about pairing the lemon with gingerbread.  But...from the depths of my brain, I remembered this Food Network or Cooking Channel show featuring a restaurant that made Pop-Tarts in house.  Thus, the idea of gingerbread pop-tarts was born!

ran out of rainbow sugar so I "settled" for candied ginger

For the crust, I adapted a recipe from one of those top secret recipe books.  I veganized it by using flax eggs and threw in some blackstrap molasses and gingerbread spices.  The original recipe called for creaming the fat and sugar in a food processor before adding the flour.  I did that, and it was the stupidest thing ever.  So I changed the order to something logical...

Gingerbread Pop-Tarts
makes 12 ginormous tarts

2 Tbsp ground flax
1/4 cup water
3 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup well chilled vegan margarine, cubed
1 Tbsp blackstrap molasses
ice cold water
recipe Lemon Filling (as seen below)

frosting:
3/4 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla
candied ginger or colored sugar (optional)

Whisk ground flax and water until fluffy.  Set aside.  Pulse flour, baking powder, spices, and sugar in a food processor until combined.  Add margarine and pulse until the mixture looks sandy.  Add flax mixture and molasses and pulse until incorporated.  Slowly add in cold water until a ball of dough forms, 1 tablespoon at a time (it took about 4 for me).  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.  If you are super inpatient like me, just throw it in the freezer.

15 minutes before you take the dough out of the fridge, make the lemon filling and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray two cookie sheets with nonstick spray.

Take half the dough and roll it out on a floured surface.  You want to create twelve 4 inch by 6 inch rectangles, so roll it thin (I do six at a time and take the scraps to roll the other six).  Add 1 Tbsp of the lemon filling to 6 of the rectangles, spreading until about 1/2 inch from the edge.  Top each with a clean piece of dough and use a floured fork to crimp the edges.  Bake for 20 minutes and repeat with the remaining half of dough.

Let cool on a wire wrack.  While the pop-tarts cool, make the icing.  Place the powdered sugar in a bowl.  Whisk in the water and vanilla until smooth.  When pop-tarts are finally cool, drizzle icing on them and top with candied ginger or coarse rainbow colored sugar.

inside shot

Two things on the lemon filling.  First, this makes a lot.  You could probably just half it and be fine.  Also, as soon as the filling starts to thicken completely you have to remove it from the heat.  Otherwise it will be a little harder to work with, as it continues to thicken when cooling.

Lemon Filling

1 cup sugar
6 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp vegan margarine
zest of two lemons
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix sugar, cornstarch, and turmeric in a saucepan.  Add lemon juice and water and stir until combined.  Heat on medium, stirring constantly until thickened.  As soon as it thickens completely remove from heat and stir in the margarine, lemon zest, and vanilla.  Set aside to cool.

Overall, I thought it was pretty good.  I'll probably go back and tweak the lemon filling, though.  These are probably only slightly healthier than the originals.  There is the added omega 3s from the flax and iron from the molasses.  Of course, there's enough sugar to cancel all of that out.  Ha ha.  I think I need to drink a green smoothie to even out this rush.  Woooooo!