lavender blueberry pop tarts (mini pies)

happy monday everyone! this weekend has been such a nice and relaxing one! especially after the pretty eventful friday that i had!

i was jolted out of my deep sleep friday morning at 7 by loud and continuous banging on my roof! fortunately, this is because we’ve hired people to come rip out our old roofing and put in the new stuff! no idea of the process haha. anyway, besides the repetitive banging coming from the percussions section on my roof and teddy joining in with  relentless, high pitched vocals, it was an okay morning…

i wasn’t gonna be able to get any more sleep anyway so i decided to make it a full on recipe testing day! usually i’m extremely unorganized with recipes, baking, taking photos, writing blog posts, and posting on instagram. but given the recent climate over on the ‘gram about the algorithm and record breaking low engagement on posts, i’ve decided that i wanna get on top of it all! i was so optimistic about my first bake of the day (especially because i had done most of the steps the night before!), but it went horribly wrong! so i sucked it up and decided to start over again! and i’m glad i did because the second batch was perfection!

i know numbers don’t mean anything and aren’t important and instagram is just instagram (unless you’re running a business and use instagram as one of your main business tools, which many of my friends do!). but i’m having sooo much fun on it and it makes me feel great and productive so i might as well give it all i’ve got! (let’s see if anything changes when i start nursing school in a month haha!).

also, fall is like right around the corner! it’s probably one of the bigggest baking seasons of the year (I’M SO EXCITED) so i wanna get tons of recipes out there and experiment with lotss of things and post alll the pretty photos!

let’s get to this recipe! first of all, these are completely inspired by Kate Wood! she’s got a few different recipes of mini pop tarts and i’ve always loveddd them! mini is the right way to go for sure!

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let’s talk pie dough. in my last post, i talked through my process for making pie dough. it’s actually super simple and comes together very quickly, but you must follow all the instructions to a t! i’ve made these pop tarts with that pie dough recipe and of course they came out perfectly.

this dough comes together in a cinch! you combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl with cold cubed butter and shortening, toss it around to coat. then using either your hands or a pastry blender, you break up the pieces of butter and shortening until you’re left with varying pea sized pieces, and some larger flattened pieces. then, the ice cold water is added a few tablespoons at a time, being sure to not use too much. it gets gently tossed and worked into the flour mixture until it can form a ball with some dry bits still around. wrap it up in plastic wrap and throw it in the fridge to rest for at least an hour! i always make pie dough (and the filling, if possible) the night before to save lots of time and mess in the kitchen!

the next day, the dough gets rolled out, cut into small circles with a cookie cutter, filled with filling, topped off with another circle of dough, sealed, egg washed, chilled for about 10-15 mins, and into the oven until golden! and the exciting part of these for me was the GLAZE!!! i’ll put glaze on ANYTHING i can because DUH. the slight crunch that you get from biting through a completely set glaze is euphoric for me! anyone else?!

lavender berry glaze. i will come up with any excuse to infuse things with lavender because (when done right), its subtle and complex floral flavor is sooo dreamy and adds just the right touch to make something extra special! it sounds all fancy and complicated but it’s so simple! i heat up about 4 tablespoons of milk with dried lavender buds in a small saucepan, bring it to a boil, then remove from the heat. let the lavender steep in the milk for about 10-15 minutes. during this time, i put about 1/4 cup of blueberries in a bowl and microwave them for about 15 seconds. they get muddled and smushed up to release as much of their juices as possible. i pour the lavender milk through a sieve into a bowl. the mashed berries go through the sieve as well. when you mix the juices with the milk, you get the pretttiest pastel purple color! this is awesome for me because i’m trying to move away from food coloring products as much as possible!

so now you have the most fragrant and beautiful glaze to top your mini pop tarts with! YAY!

 

INGREDIENTS

pie dough
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cold, cubed
1/4 cup vegetable shortening, cold
1/4 cup ice cold water, more if needed

filling
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon corn starch or all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
lemon juice from half a lemon

egg wash
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk

glaze
4 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon food grade, dried lavender buds
1/4 cup blueberries
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS

make pie crust dough an hour ahead of time or overnight.
in a large bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar. then, add cold cubes of butter and shortening. toss around gently to coat butter and shortening. with a pastry blender or your hands, break up the butter and shortening into the dough. if using hands, squeeze and rub the pieces of butter to flatten and break apart. you want to end up with varying pea sized pieces of butter throughout the flour mixture, with some pieces being bigger. then, drizzle cold water in a little at a time. toss mixture around with spoon or hands. add a little more water as needed but don’t use more than 1/3 cup total. you want to end up with a dough that comes together when squeezed, with some dry bits still in the bowl. don’t be tempted to add too much water! if it’s too crumbly, dip fingers in cold water and work the dough gently to hydrate it. form into a disc and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. chill in fridge for at least an hour or preferably, overnight.

make the filling. to cut down on time, the filling can also be made ahead of time or overnight and stored in the fridge.
combine blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, salt, and lime juice in a small saucepan. mix to combine and cook over a medium low heat, mashing up the berries as it heats up. cook for a few minutes until the mixture thickens and starts to bubble. place into a heat safe bowl immediately and cover directly with plastic wrap. let cool completely before using.

roll + cut pie dough. on a well floured surface, roll out pie dough to about 1/8 inch thickness. using a 2 inch circle cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out little discs of pie dough.
if the dough is starting to get too warm/soft, place back in fridge to chill for 10-15 minutes before moving on.

preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

fill + assemble. place little dough circles on a lined baking sheet about 1 inch apart. spoon about a little less than a tablespoon of filling onto each circle. place another circle on top of each filled one. with a small fork, seal the edges completely, all the way around. poke the through the top crust 2-3 times to make air holes. place entire tray of assembled pop tarts into the fridge to chill for 10-15 mins.

egg wash + bake. beat one egg yolk in a small bowl with milk. brush each pop tart with the egg wash and bake for 25-30 minutes, until crust is golden.

make the glaze. place milk and lavender buds in a small saucepan. bring to boil and immediately remove from heat. cover with lid and let steep for 10-15 minutes. while it’s steeping and cooling, place blueberries in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 15 seconds. mash up the berries to release as much juice as possible. pour the slightly cooled milk through a sieve into a bowl. discard the lavender buds. pour the mashed blueberries through the sieve into the lavender milk and push as much juice through as possible. mix the milk mixture and watch it become the most pretty pastel color!
mix in the powdered sugar and stir will until smooth, thick glaze is formed. you want a thick glaze that is still pourable. so you may have to add a tablespoon or more powdered sugar.

glaze the pop tarts. once the pop tarts are cooled, spoon a bit of glaze over each one. let the glaze set and enjoy!!