Speculoos Spread Pop-Tarts

 

Photo and Recipe By: Flour-Child

Ingredients:
10 ounces all-purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
8 ounces cold butter, cubed
6 ounces light corn
Speculoos Spread
3 egg whites
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Direction:
Cut the butter into the flour, along with the salt, until reduced to pea sized lumps. You can use a hand/stand mixer or a food processor, or just do it with your fingers. Then add the corn syrup all at once and mix until it forms a ball. Dust your hands with a little flour, scoop out the dough, and knead lightly until smooth.


Flatten the dough into a squarish shape, cut it in half into two rectangles, wrap each in plastic, and chill 30 minutes or as long as you like. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Preheat oven to 350. Once the dough is thoroughly chilled, roll out one of the rectangles to 1/4”, and no thicker. Even slightly less than 1/4″ thickness is ideal Remember, each Pop-Tart will have two layers of dough, Biscoff filling, and icing on top. If the dough is rolled too thick, you could end up with a 1″ Pop-Tart. Not ideal. What I did was roll each rectangle into a very long and skinny rectangle, about 6″ wide and 16″ long. If it’s longer, that’s fine, just keep it 6″ wide. Then, I sliced the rectangle into two 3″ by 16″ strips, and then sliced those strips crosswise every 2 inches. You should end up with a bunch of symmetrical 2×3 squares of dough. It’s fine if they’re not perfect, as long as each rectangle has an equal sized counterpart to pair it with.

Brush the squares with a little milk or water to act as your “glue” when you seal the layers together. Spread about 2 tablespoons of Speculoos spread on half the 2×3 squares, leaving a 1/4 inch border around the edge. Top these with the remaining pieces of dough. Smooth the dough over the filling and press out any air bubbles before gently sealing the edges of the dough together. Crimp the edges of the dough with a fork to up the cuteness meter. I then trimmed the ragged edges of my sealed pop tarts with a paring knife for even more cuteness.

Poke several holes with a fork in the top layers of the pop-tarts to create steam vents, so they don’t explode in baking. Transfer your Pop-Tarts to a parchment lined or well-greased baking sheet, and bake for 15-20 minutes, until they just start to become golden brown around the edges.
While those bake, repeat this entire process again with the second half of the dough you forgot was still in the fridge. Let all Pop-Tarts cool completely before icing.

Make the icing: beat the egg whites (or meringue powder and water) with the vanilla extract with an electric mixer until frothy. Add the confectioners’ sugar gradually and beat on low until the mixture is shiny. Increase speed to high and beat until icing forms stiff, glossy peaks, about 5-7 minutes. If using meringue powder, beat until it reaches soft peaks. Spoon a very small amount of icing on the center of each Pop-Tart, and carefully spread until it reaches the crimped edge. Top with sprinkles for over the top cuteness. Let the icing harden before eating… in fact, these Pop-Tarts are even better the second day, if they last that long.