This summer in Maine, I went to a Portland restaurant for brunch and ordered their house made cinnamon and sugar pop tart. It was so delicious, I’ve been searching for a homemade pop tart recipe ever since.
Now, I hear cottage cheese and I think, “Oh, please. Give me something I can work with here.” Cottage cheese brings to mind stark deprivation diets and my grandmother’s second husband, Isaac. A quirky guy, he wore Birkenstocks and Buddy Holly glasses, and I remember him always with a tub of cottage cheese in his hand and bits of dried cottage cheese in his beard. No way could a recipe with cottage cheese in the title rival something as self-consciously playful as a pop tart.
But as soon as these little pufflets came out of the oven, I could see they were going to be tender, sweet, and fruity. I added some glaze, sprinkles, and took a bite. Yup, these are pop tarts all right (minus the cardboard texture, high fructose corn syrup, and scary preservatives of the store-bought original, naturally).
I loved hearing my 4-year-old running through the house saying, “Can I please have another raspberry pufflet?” So perhaps I’ll just call these ‘house made raspberry pufflets.’ Whatever the name, try these for breakfast. You won’t be disappointed.
A word about the dough. It comes together easily in the food processor, but it’s finicky and sticky. If you pack it into a 1-gallon freezer bag and roll it out to the edges before chilling, it keeps a perfect square shape. Still, if the dough gets too soft, warm, and hard to roll, put it back into the refrigerator to firm it up a bit more.
Thanks to Jacque of Daisy Lane Cakes for choosing these cottage cheese pufflets. Find the recipe on her site or on pp. 148-149 of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours.
The sprinkles look so festive! I love the idea of these as homemade pop tarts. I wasn’t planning on making this again anytime soon, but now I think I’ll have to!
Pop tarts! What a great comparison. They were just like them! And I forgot all about the freezer bag trick… darn. Glad you got through them – because they look fantastic! Sprinkles add so much charm – even to cottage cheese. Nicely done!
Great idea with the gallon freezer bag. I’ll have to try that next time. I have a similar zippered bag for rolling out pie dough, and it works really well.
Hmm.. poptart, maybe that’s what I’m thinking of.. I kept thinking the pufflet made me think of something and I just couldn’t figure out what.
They look so pretty! Yes, of course they are pop tartlets – I didn’t think of that at the time. Thanks for the tip about placing the dough in a one gallon bag – I always have problems with getting a nice rolled out pastry shape.
I love your sprinkles! The pufflets look darling with them. I used the ziplock bag after fighting with the dough for a while. Worked so well.
It looks extra delicious dressed up with the icing and sprinkles! I’m laughing at the image of a man with dried cottage cheese in his beard!
Eeewww, dried cottage cheese in a beard isn’t appetizing at all. No wonder you don’t like it very much — just the description made me grimace.
I just love your homemade pop tart version of these. I’m so jealous, I wish I could have tried one, and I might just have to tackle this tricky dough again so I can try it out myself. They look absolutely perfect!
Love the sprinkles! Pretty pufflet pictures!
Wow, I’m impressed you even tried these after having that step-grandpa visual swimming around in your head, LOL.
It was interesting this week, finding out there were so many cottage cheese dis-likers. Or that cottage cheese in the title bothered quite a few folks. That’s one thing I enjoy about being part of a group, you see so many different perspectives.
And you’re right about the pop tarts, I might have to try making them sort of rectangular and giving it another go (still got some cottage cheese left). I’m glad you enjoyed them and they reminded you of a treat you enjoyed.
Thanks for baking along this week!
Wow, these are beautiful!
I really love your version, so cute with the sprinkles!
These are GORGEOUS! I am so impressed, and when I use up the other half of my dough, I’m going to make pop tarts!