Chocolate Hazelnut Pop Tarts

Hi Everyone! My name is Laura, and I am the creator of the food blog, PheNOMenal Phoods. I am so excited to be writing a guest post for Healthy Little Vittles! When I saw that Gina was looking for guest writers a few months ago, I reached out to her right away because I am a huge fan. I have loved every recipe of hers that I have tried, and some of them are in my family’s regular weeknight meal rotation!

You guys, vegan and gluten-free baking is hard. I’m sure you all know that by now, but it really does take a lot of experimentation to get it right. When you do get it right, though, it is so gratifying. A lot of the ingredients that are available for this type of baking are either over-the-top expensive, or you just have no idea what it is that you are eating. There are so many incredible options out there these days though that there is no reason that you can’t make pretty much any dessert vegan and gluten-free and have it still taste good. Pastry is one of the most difficult things to make, even when you aren’t adding dietary restrictions to the recipe. I love a challenge though, and I have succeeded in coming up with the most delicious chocolate hazelnut pop tart recipe!

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To give you a little bit of background, I love making all types of food. I started out mostly baking because I grew up baking with my mom, but when I moved into my first place on my own in college, it evolved into more cooking. I started my blog because I wanted to make sure that I was cooking food that was at least a little bit healthy for meals rather than just eating cookies for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I have come such a long way with both my cooking and my baking over the last 10 years.

I am neither vegan nor gluten-free, but I am vegetarian and have really become a better and more creative cook and baker as a result. I also have family members who are vegan and/or gluten-free, and nothing gets me more excited than coming up with a recipe for them that is genuinely delicious and easy to make. The best thing about cooking and baking for me is feeding it to other people and making them happy.

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Chocolate Hazelnut Pop Tarts

Yield: 6 4-inch round pop tarts

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

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Ingredients

Pastry

• 2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour*
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup coconut oil, room temperature**
• 4-6 tbsp cold water

Filling & Topping

• 3/4 cup vegan chocolate hazelnut spread, (I used Justin's brand)
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup cold coconut cream, (use the top, creamy half of the can)
• vegan egg wash, (I used 2 tbsp non-dairy milk + 1 tbsp maple syrup)

Instructions

Pastry

1. Whisk together the flour and salt
2. Add the coconut oil by the spoonful and mix with the flour using a pastry cutter until the mixture forms pea-sized bits
3. Add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing with a fork until a dough forms. You only want to add enough water for the dough to stick together. This worked out to be about 5 tablespoons for me. Once the dough is sticking, use your hands to form it into two balls

Filling

1. Combine all ingredients with a mixer until smooth

To Assemble

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Roll out the pie dough on a well-floured surface and cut out whatever shapes you like. I ended up with 12, 4-inch circles (6 pop tarts). Transfer to prepared baking sheet
3. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the filling onto half of the pies. Spread the filling out, leaving about ½ inch of space around the edges. You will have leftover filling to spread on top of the baked pop tarts
4. Use cold water to wet the edges of the pies and place the remaining pie crusts overtop of the filling, pressing around the edges to seal. Use a fork or your fingers to crimp all around the edges of the pop tarts
5. Brush the tops of the pop tarts with your vegan egg wash and cut 2 or 3 slits in the top to allow steam to escape
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until edges are browning. Note that the tops may split a little, but you will be covering them so don’t fret if they do
7. Allow the pop tarts to cool completely before spreading the remaining chocolate filling on top

Notes

Recipe provided by Laura from PheNOMenal Phoods as a guest post

* I find that Cup4Cup Multi-purpose gluten-free flour works best for pastry, but I have also used King Arthur and Bob’s Red Mill blends with good results.

** If you do not love the flavor of coconut oil or are finding it difficult to work with, you can substitute 1 cup of vegetable shortening.

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