I know, I know, I’m embarrassed too. I’ve clearly totally given in to the insanity that is pumpkin spice season (also, when did fall get renamed “Pumpkin Spice Season”? We should consider renaming all seasons based on their quintessential consumer product:
Winter aka “Santa/ Peppermint Lobby” (take your pick) Season
Spring aka “Roll-Up the Rim” Season (if you’re in Canada anyway)
Summer aka “Ice Cream/ Funnel Cake” Season (also, I love the idea of summer being known as “ice” season. Hilarious)
And, as previously mentioned and obvious to all, Fall aka “Pumpkin Spice” Season).
If you hate waiting in epic line-ups for your coffee (or fancy latte) during pumpkin spice season however, have I come up with the solution for you! Pumpkin Spice Latte Pop Tarts (or Pumpkin Spice Hand Pies if this is somehow copyright infringement). These babies cover all the bases (I feel like I refer to desserts that I’ve made as “babies” a lot. It’s because they’re like my children…which just proves that it’s probably good that I don’t have any since clearly following this line of reasoning would mean that I would be very cannibalistic towards them. It is creepy Halloween season though so, you know, that’s ok to say now right? 😉 ). They’ve got pumpkin to cover your nutritional base. Portability for those on the go mornings, and a delicious (and not overly sweet) coffee flavoured cream cheese icing for your caffeine fix. If you too are vegan, it will also solve your sad face woes of not being able to partake in most (if not all) commercially available pumpkin spice lattes since the mix for them always seems to have dairy products in them for some reason 🙁 . Sure you could always make your own vegan version of a pumpkin spice latte, but with Pop Tarts, you can make a whole whack of them and eat them all week, instead of having to make yourself a latte every morning. I’m only thinking of you here. Plus, your unique riff on this seasonal staple will cause all of your coworkers to weep with jealousy. Who doesn’t want that? If I’d had these in high school, maybe my popularity quotient would’ve gone from 0 to 60. I now just need to find someone with a time machine blog, so that I can steal their research, build a time machine, go back to some point in the 90’s, bake these Pop Tarts….oh, just forget it. All that work is making me hungry and tired. Luckily I have these Pop Tarts to energize me 😉 .
Yield: Approximately 12 Pop Tarts
Crust Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups pastry flour
- 1 cup finely ground quick or old fashioned oats (NOT instant)
- 4 teaspoons cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup coconut oil (cold/frozen – freeze for half an hour)
- 1/3 cup vegan butter (cold/frozen – freeze for half an hour)
- 4-6 Tablespoons very cold water
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- A little almond milk mixed with agave or honey (for brushing on the dough)
Filling Ingredients
- 3/4 cup pureed pumpkin
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 egg replacer
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
Coffee Glaze Ingredients
- 1-2 teaspoons instant coffee (depending how strong a coffee flavour you want)
- 2 tablespoons vegan cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon icing sugar
Directions
- Combine flour oats, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Add coconut oil and butter to the mixture either by using a cheese grater on the cold/frozen oil/butter, or by breaking off small chunks. Mix in gently until you have small and flaky pieces of dough.
- Combine water with vinegar and slowly add to the batter no more than one tablespoon at a time mixing between additions. Continue adding water just until dough hold together.
- Shape dough into a flat disc, cover in plastic wrap and either refrigerate for an hour, or place in the freezer while you make the filling (i.e. for 15-20 minutes).
- For the filling, in a small saucepan on medium heat, combine pumpkin, cloves, ginger and cinnamon. Stir constantly until heated through.
- Whisk in the egg replacer, salt and sugar. Refrigerate while working the dough.
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat (or grease it).
- Remove dough from fridge/freezer and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll out dough into a rectangle about 1/8″ thick.
- Using a pizza cutter or a knife divide dough into equal sized rectangles (you can make these as big or as small as you want (I managed to cut 24 rectangles, so I got 12 Pop Tarts)
- In a small bowl, combine almond milk and agave. On the bottom half of a rectangle, brush the dough with agave mixture. Depending on the size of your Pop Tarts, place appropriate amount of pumpkin filling onto the centre of your rectangle (I put on a heaping tablespoon). Top with another rectangle. Using the back of a fork, crimp the edges of the top and bottom rectangles together. Brush the top with more agave mixture and place on baking sheet (these don’t really expand, so no need to keep them really far apart from each other). Repeat with remaining Pop Tarts.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until dough begins to turn golden brown. Allow to cool.
- For the coffee glaze, place all the ingredients in a small bowl and blend with a hand mixer until completely combined.
- Store glaze in the refrigerator and top Pop Tarts with it just before consuming. Store unglazed Pop Tarts at room temperature.
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