Strawberry Nutella Poptarts

Poptarts take me back to school days when Kellogs Poptarts used to appear in all the after school ad-breaks on TV. I have to confess I was never a really big fan of them as on the off chance that we did buy a box I found they were too overly sweet to eat for breakfast and preferred something else when the sweet tooth craving did attack!

This poptart recipe however appealed to me mainly on the basis that they are homemade and use ingredients I can't find fault with. Strawberry jam, nutella, fresh strawberries... the perfect amount of sweet. I love the way Jessica from The Novice Chef made hers so personal and cute with the heart cut strawberries. Whats more, I like that the filling is versatile and can be played around with. Since we have a little diabetic in the house I swapped the nutella and jam in a couple of the tarts with mashed strawberries instead. My mum also requested her nutella to be mixed in with chopped hazelnuts and I sprinkled cinnamon onto the pastry as an added touch.

I also chose to make smaller versions than what the original recipe calls for, but really you can cut the pastry to your own size and taste.

Strawberry Nutella Poptarts

Recipe adapted from The Novice Chef

Makes 9 mini poptarts

1 egg yolk mixed with a little water

1 package defrosted short puff pastry

Nutella jar

Strawberry jam jar

6-8 large strawberrys sliced thinly

Caster sugar

Cinnamon powder (optional)

Small heart cutter (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and cover a baking tray with parchment paper. Set aside a small bowl with the egg yolk. Using a small heart cutter or knife, cut out hearts from the strawberry slices and also keep aside. 

Meanwhile roll out the pastry until it is pretty thin - you want to be able to get the pastry to be as thin as possible.  Using a large knife cut out small rectangles or squares, depending on your presentation taste, to about 3 by 2 inches, and making about 18 squares or rectangles. There should be enough space to fit a strawberry heart on the pastry with room left around to seal the top and bottom edge. 

Take half of the squares and place a strawberry heart in the centre of the pastry to use as a guide in cutting out a heart. If you used a heart cutter for the strawberries, you can just use the same cutter to cut out the hearts in the pastry. 

On the other remaining halves of the pastry squares spread a heap of nutella into the centre, with room around the edges to seal, and then add the strawberry jam on top in a similar manner. Place a heart strawberry in the middle and neatly place a pastry square with the heart cut out of its centre on top. Seal the edges using the end of a fork, and brush pastry with the egg yolk. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and let cool for a few minutes before serving.