Gluten-Free Matcha Pop Tarts

Is there anything better than a homemade pop tart?

Especially a gluten-free one that tastes like the real deal. Your G-F buds’ eyes will pop out of their heads when you serve these. The G-F naysayers won’t even be able to tell they are gluten-free.

A healthy dose of bright green matcha tea powder in the dough and glaze makes these look (and taste) pretty awesome too.

I made these twice last year as treats for friends. Once last March for Pi (Pie) Day and once over the holidays because they’re so festive.

I’m not sure why it took me so long to publish the recipe for these gems. Probably because I’ve been traveling full time for over a year and have successfully avoided anything that resembled working at a computer. Admiring these now makes me want to get back home to a proper kitchen and bake a bunch to share with all the friends I am missing.

It’s seriously easy it to make homemade pop tarts. The pastry dough comes together quickly, and the dough is easy to work with after chilling for a bit. You’ll need a bit of patience to cut the dough into same-size rectangles and sandwich them with your favorite jam.

If you haven’t tried gluten-free baking with Cup4Cup flour, go get some now. It’s pricey, but it’s worth it. I worked in a test kitchen for five years and we were always trying out gluten-free flour options. Of at least a dozen grocery store brands I’ve tried, this is by far the best at making your G-F baked goods taste like they’re not gluten-free. If you don’t care about making these gluten-free, simply use regular all-purpose flour in place of G-F flour.

I love baking with matcha for that cool green color and the grassy-fresh flavor. The bittersweetness of the matcha green tea powder is offset by the super sweet jam used for filling. Strawberry or apricot preserves are two of my favorite fillings for matcha pop tarts, but I wouldn’t say no to a peach, mango, or chocolate filling.

Happy cooking & sipping!

P.S. Many thanks to Wendigo Tea Co. for sending me a sample of their Kappa Matcha to play around with in my Tea Foodie kitchen. Wendigo is a funky little tea company out of Cincinnati, Ohio, sourcing super high-grade tea and sending it out to discerning tea lovers in rad packaging. Not only was their matcha exquisite to bake with, it was superb to sip. The flavor is deep and smooth, and the tea powder is very fresh so it has that bright green pop you want to see in a matcha.

 

By Suzanne Klein, Tea Foodie. Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker.

Makes 9 pop tarts

Ingredients

For dough and filling:

2 cups gluten-free baking flour (I used Cup4Cup), plus more for rolling out dough

2 tablespoons matcha green tea powder (I used Kappa Matcha from Wendigo)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into cubes and chilled

1 egg

2 tablespoons half and half (or milk)

1 small jar strawberry or apricot preserves (enough for 9 tablespoons)

For glaze:

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons matcha green tea powder

1 tablespoon half and half (or milk)

Preparation

For dough and filling:

1. Add flour, matcha, sugar, and salt to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine. Add cold butter cubes and pulse just until mixture crumbles to about pea size and starts to hold together when you press it between your fingers. Add egg and half and half. Pulse just until dough comes together. (If you don’t have a food processor you can do these steps in a large bowl, using a pastry cutter to mix the butter into the flour and a wooden spoon to stir in the egg and half and half.

2. Turn dough out onto a well-floured work surface. Knead several times until it comes together into a ball. Divide the dough in half. Flatten each half into a disk. Wrap disks with plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes.

3. Working on the same floured work surface, roll one disk of dough into a 9 1/2 by 12 1/2 inch rectangle that’s about 1/8 inch thick. (It helps to use a ruler for this whole rolling and cutting step.) Trim the rectangle so it’s a clean 9 by 12 inches. (See BONUS RECIPE below for a way to snack on those scraps!) Then cut the slab of dough into 3 by 4 inch rectangles; you should get nine pieces. Transfer these pieces to a parchment lined baking sheet and slide the sheet into the fridge to chill while you repeat the process with the second disk of dough.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grab the first sheet of dough rectangles from the fridge and spoon about 1 tablespoon of preserves onto each rectangle, leaving about 1/4 inch space around the edge. Dip a couple of fingers in water and run them around the jam-free edges of each rectangle. Grab the second sheet of dough pieces from the fridge and gently lay each on top of its jam-filled partner. Using the tines of a fork, seal the edges. Using a sharp paring knife, make a few small slits in the top of each pop tart.

5. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. The “lightly browned” cue can be hard to spot with the green dough; keep an eye on the edges, or gently lift a couple pop tarts to check for a browning bottom.

6. Let pop tarts cool completely before glazing. Use a spoon to drizzle glaze over the cooled pop tarts. Let sit for about half an hour before serving so the glaze can set. Store in an airtight container and enjoy within a few days.

For glaze:

1. Whisk confectioners’ sugar with matcha until there are no matcha lumps.

2. Stir in half and half until mixture is smooth. You want the viscosity to be somewhere between spreadable and pourable. It should be thick enough to stay put on top of your baked pop tart and not run right off. Adjust with more sugar to make it thicker or half and half to make it thinner.

BONUS RECIPE!

Take any dough scraps from rolling the big rectangles and sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes until just starting to brown. Delicious, matcha-spiked bonus snack!