As many of you know, I’m not the biggest movie and TV watcher. However, if I like a movie I will watch it over and over again. And the movie that dominated my TV for several years is Mean Girls. I quote this movie the most, it’s such a cultural time piece, and I can’t go to Taco Bell, I’m on an all carb diet!
And for the first time in several years, I bought a package of Toaster Strudels, specifically because they were Mean Girls branded. While I enjoyed these for breakfast as a kid, they have almost no substance and so I decided to make a more refined pastry. Cherry has always been my favorite flavor, so obviously made one of those, and since it’s ~fall vibes~ all the time over here I made a fig jam, caramelized pear, and brie pastry too.
They’re super easy to make, and customize, and put on Mean Girls while you make it.
Homemade Toaster Strudels
Pastry Ingredients
1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed
3/4 cup filling of your choice, more below
1 egg
2 tsp heavy cream
Icing Ingredients
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
2-4 tbsp heavy cream or liquid of choice
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 and prep a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Set aside.
On a clean counter, roll out the thawed pastry dough to 1/4 inch thick. The pastry I used was folded into thirds and so I just cut along those lines to make three long strips, and then cut those in half hamburger way to make 6 even rectangles. To make assembly easier, I suggest putting the bottom pastry on the prepared baking sheet and assembling there so you don’t risk breaking it in the transfer.
In the three rectangles closest to you, put a 2 tablespoons of your filling in the center, leaving a pastry border of 1/4 inch at least around the filling.
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and heavy cream. Using a pastry brush, put a thin coat of egg wash on the exposed pastry boarder around the filling.
Place the corresponding empty pastry on top of the filling, and using a fork, crimp the top pastry to the bottom pastry. Brush with egg wash and transfer to baking sheet if you haven’t done so already.
Finish remaining pastries, and bake for 20 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.
For my fillings:
I made my own cherry pie filling by putting a 12 oz bag of frozen cherries in a sauce pan and cooking them down with some chai concentrate, Turbinado sugar, and eventually added some corn starch to help thicken it up. Will reserve the extras for future hand pies. I also used the chai concentrate instead of heavy cream in the icing for more flavor.
For the pear pastries, I used a pear fruit cup that I drained and caramelized in brown butter, used up some extra brie, and a tablespoon or so of store bought fig jam, and stacked on the pastry like you would put toppings on a burger once everything was cool. The caramelized pears were thing sliced cooked in Turbinado sugar and water until candied.
Other great pairings would be cream cheese and blueberry pie filling, ricotta cheese and raspberries, pumpkin pie filling and candied pecans – whatever your heart desires!
Happy Eating!
Kelly
