The Carl's Jr commercial got me.
I'm basically a huge sucker for advertising. I'm easily lured in by shiny photo spreads and flashy commercials. I often find myself mindlessly ordering crap from infomercials. Naturally, I'm especially vulnerable when it comes to pictures of food.
Most of my friends and family know all about my Inner Fat Kid. She was the 10 year old who cried when her mom told her she could only have 4 items from Taco Bell at time and who never understood how her friends could eat 1 or 2 Chips Ahoy cookies. I embrace her, truly; she could beat any boy in a pizza eating contest by the 4th grade and you have to admit that's kind of awesome.
But I'm glad she grew up into an adult with a slightly different lifestyle :)
So when I was watching TV one night and Carl's Jr Pop Tart Ice Cream Sandwich commercial came on, my Inner Fat Kid was totally intrigued and I just felt in my heart that there had to be a way to do a guiltless version of this frozen Pop-Tarty delight.
With a little help from the Interwebs I was able to come up with a totally amazing, much healthier version of this dessert. It's made with Spelt flour, without any refined sugars, and is relatively easy to make. (I experimented with oat flour and almond meal, and while they did come out quite edible, the dough was difficult to work with and made a less pretty finished product)
These will please any picky kid and any adult, um, well with tastebuds. I opted for an apple cinnamon filling with maple cinnamon ice cream, but also made some minis sans ice cream- a dark chocolate filling version and one filled with chia seed jam and peanut butter (which I just know would be amaze with peanut butter ice cream)
Pop Tart Pastries
Adapted slightly from Chocolate Covered Katie's version. (Note: I had to double the recipe below)
- 1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp spelt flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
Combine dry ingredients and stir. In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients, mix wet into dry ingredients. Pour dough into a gallon-sized plastic bag and form dough into a ball. Still in the bag, roll dough into a thin square. Chill in fridge 20 minutes or more. Preheat oven to 350.
Cut open the bag and carefully remove from dough. Slice the dough into rectangles. Scoop a little less than a tablespoon of apple filling on every other rectangle, and cover with the unfilled rectangle. Cinch down with a fork or your fingers. Bake about 14-16 minutes, depending on how thick your dough is. Let cool.
Apple Cinnamon Filling
Chop a red apple into tiny squares and combine with 1-2 tbsp Sucanat or brown sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon to taste. Microwave for about 2 minutes or until apples are slightly soft.
You can get creative with your fillings here, don't let me hold you back if you're not an apple person. Chocolate chips, jams, fruit (I'm thinkin' peaches sound great this time of year)
Icing
I personally don't think that icing is necessary for these babies - they're awesome on their own. If you're a traditionalist and need your icing, there aren't many ways to do icing without powdered sugar that I'm aware of or that I've tested myself. I've read that you can make powdered "sugar" out of Stevia by putting it in a food processor, but I haven't tried myself (I'm also not totally in love with Stevia). If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comment section!
Maple Cinnamon Ice Cream
1 14 ounce can of full fat coconut milk (make sure to do the full fat, canned version - not the lighter kind in a box, it won't work)
1/3-1/2 maple syrup, to taste
1 tablespoons vanilla extract
Cinnamon, to taste
Feel free to sub honey for maple, and add in any flavors that you want (eg, cocoa powder, peanut butter, etc)
Whisk ingredients well. Make into ice cream according to the directions on your ice cream maker. Let it firm up in the freezer for a few hours. If you do not have an ice cream maker (like myself) , the David Lebovitz Freeze & Stir method works pretty well if you're going to be home for 2-3 hours.
Once Pop Tarts have cooled, assemble by spooning ice cream on to un-frosted pastry and topping with frosted Pop Tart.
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