Thanksgiving Leftover Turkey and Fixin’s Pop Tarts, PLUS, the Fairy Hobmother Wants to Grant a Wish to YOU!!

November 26, 2011 at 10:27 am | Posted in Breads, Dinner, Fruit, Holiday, Jams/Jellies, Lunch, Pastry, Pies and Tarts, Poultry, Vegetables, Vegetarian | 69 Comments
Tags: Candied Yams, Cranberry Sauce, Herb pie dough, Homemade Pop Tarts, Leftover Recipes, Leftover turkey, leftover turkey recipes, Leftovers, Parsley, Pop Tarts, Sage, Savory Pop Tarts, Stuffing, Sweet Potatoes, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Leftovers, Thyme, Turkey, vegetarian

Yes, you read that right – turkey dinner pop tarts. I bet the first thing that comes to mind is pieces of turkey in jam and frosting on top, right?  No worries, these are savory pop tarts!  Any sweetness comes from what you usually mishmash together on your Thanksgiving plate, like sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, or fruit in your stuffing.  BUT, what you add to these flaky, tarts of Thanksgiving dinner, is entirely up to you, or what you have left over.

I came up with this idea last week, fully thinking I would have PLENTY of leftovers to attempt these.  I made SO much food, there was no way I wouldn’t.  Well, happily, there were barely any leftovers because everyone loved everything so much, but sadly, that left me with nothing to make these pop tarts come to fruition.

Parents to the rescue…they had a small container of one of the stuffings I made (which was amazing..created by Jessica of How Sweet It Is), a bit of cranberry sauce, and a couple of slices of breast meat from my turkey (which was also amazing, created by Amy of SheWears Many Hats).  This year I added some new to my old and always requested Thanksgiving standby’s, and now both of the above will most likely be part of every Thanksgiving repertoire from hereon in.

SO, instead of celebrating Black Friday with my wallet, patience, and sicko traffic jams, I made these.  I partook in a bit of online Black Friday fun, but the best is yet to come on Cyber Monday, and you don’t have to leave your house to get some great deals.  I’ll be there, butt firmly implanted in my computer chair, thank you.

Speaking of deals…did I ever tell you all about the marble pastry board I placed a bid on at ebay?  Welll…for days, I was the only bidder, which is usually what happens.  With 3 minutes left to go, someone started bidding on it…fighting me, until my original bid of $12.00 was up to $40.00!  When it hit $45.00, I gave up..that was just too ridiculous for a small marble pastry board.  I surfed different online stores for another marble board, and sure enough, found the same exact marble pastry board for $14.00!  I couldn’t resist..I sent the obsessed, opposing bidder a message with all the links to the $14.00 pastry board.  She replied with an ‘Eff You’.  That was probably the most gratifying ‘Eff You’ anyone has ever bestowed upon me.

I digress, Mom and Dad save the day.  I couldn’t make as many pop tarts as I wanted to (I made half the recipe and was able to cobble together a top for the 9th dough rectangle that was left without a partner –  for a total of 5 pop tarts), and I didn’t know if they were  going to work, but at least I had something to fill them with now.  The urge to try these was so strong, I actually gasped for a second when I realized I might not be able to attempt them – but just one second – I swear.   I may be obsessed with ideas and experimenting, but not that obsessed.  OK, maybe a little more than ‘not that obsessed’.

OK…I know what you may be thinking as I ramble on about my ‘idea’ and ‘experiment’.  Leftover turkey and sides wrapped in a dough and baked?  That’s been done a gazillion times – from homemade hot pockets to empanadas, to turkey pot pie, to savory hand pies.. ad infinitum.

Look at these Thanksgiving croissants from The Milk Bar!

What’s different about these is that they’re streamlined.  You cannot  fit a ton of filling into a pop tart.  You get just the right amount of turkey, cranberry and stuffing (or whatever leftover sides you want to add with the turkey) with each bite, without filling oozing all over the place (not that that’s a bad thing), and they’re definitely much more portable, like your basic boxed pop tart, albeit, much better because it’s all homemade – nothing artificial.

I over-baked these by about 6 minutes (33 minutes).  So, about 25-27 minutes, as you see in the first photo up top, is just about right.

How could I forget the best part?   You can heat these up in a pop-up toaster once they’ve baked and cooled.  Try that with a big, fat loaded hand or turkey pot pie!  You can also make tons of them (double the dough recipe) and freeze, unbaked, taking out how ever many you need, for 6 months – OR, you can bake them and freeze them – again, taking out what you need, but letting them thaw, then heating them up in the oven, toaster oven, or, my fave, the pop-up toaster!

Not exactly the best interior photos, but trust me, these look A LOT better away from my Lowel Ego Light.  Most importantly, they’re delicious – so flaky and loaded with Thanksgiving dinner flavor!

Obviously, I’m selling you on these because they did work.  They’re awesome.  I’m eating one as I type this.  I used an herb pie dough for these, but you can use any favorite pie dough recipe.  Also – for the fillings, use any combination of leftovers with the turkey – from turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing, to turkey, mashed potatoes, and whatever vegetable(s) you have left over  to just turkey, a little gravy and mashed potatoes.  How about a turkey – sweet potato or candied yam pop tart?   As you can see in the photo collage, I was lucky enough to have scrounged some candied sweet potatoes before they poofed until next year. Of course you can completely omit the turkey and make these vegetarian!

Is it just me, or is there far too many exclamation points in this entry?

I made one change to the recipe after biting into one.  Instead of the thin slices of turkey you see in the collage above, I changed it to two tablespoons chopped turkey per pop tart.  I did this because with some bites, I ended up pulling out the whole slice of turkey, having to bite down to break it in half so I wasn’t left with a pop tart without turkey.

Finally, how would you like a visit to your blog by the Fairy Hobmother to grant you a wish, one which you can then pass on to your readers?  Thanks to Jamie from Life’s a Feast, the Fairy Hobmother stopped by my blog and gifted me with an Amazon gift certificate!  The Fairy Hobmother is from Appiiances Online -UK, where they sell just about every appliance you could ever wish for.  Since I couldn’t decide what I wanted or needed, the Fairy Hobmother gave me a gift coupon to Amazon so I can choose what I want when I can figure it out.  If you leave a comment, – make a wish, since the Fairy Hobmother will be watching over my comment section to choose someone to sprinkle fairy dust on – in other words, receive what you wish for!  Leave a comment and you might get lucky!

Thanksgiving Leftover Pop Tarts
Yield:  9 Pop Tarts – maybe 10 with dough scraps

Herbed All-Butter Flaky Pie Dough
Inspired by my Grandmother’s recipe card
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, chilled
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and frozen
About 6 tablespoons ice water

DIRECTIONS:
1. Blend first 6 ingredients in processor until herbs are very finely chopped. Add frozen butter. Pulse processor until mixture resembles coarse meal.

2. Transfer mixture to large bowl. Using a fork, mix enough ice water into flour mixture to form moist clumps.You want it to look raggedy with lumps of butter.  Gather dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and gently flatten into rectangle. Wrap tightly and chill 30 minutes. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Let dough soften slightly before rolling out.)

Pop Tart Filling
* 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped turkey breast meat
9 heaping tablespoons stuffing
9 tablespoons cranberry sauce
OR – any combination of leftover sides you prefer, a tablespoon or small amount of each
1 egg, beaten
Grated parmesan, Grana Padano or any hard, aged Italian cheese. (optional)

* You can make these completely vegetarian by omitting the turkey.  So many possibilities!

ROLL, CUT AND ASSEMBLE POP TARTS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Remove both pieces of dough from the refrigerator. Let sit until workable.

2. Place one piece of the chilled and workable dough on a lightly floured work surface.  Roll it into a rectangle about 1/8″ thick, large enough that you can trim it to an even 9″ x 12″. Trim off the edges so you have a perfect 9″ x 12″ rectangle.  Roll and trim second piece of dough the same way.  Wrap and refrigerate dough scraps, you may have enough for another pop tart.

3. Using a ruler, make notches every 3-inches across 9-inch side.  Make notches every 4-inches across 12-inch side.  Cut using a pizza wheel or pressing down with a very sharp knife, as straight as you can, so you have 9  3″ x 4″ rectangles of dough. Repeat all of the above with second sheet of dough.  You will now have 18 3″ x 4″ rectangles of dough.

4.  Brush 9 rectangles of dough lightly with beaten egg.  Let sit until egg is tacky instead of wet and slippery, about 5 minutes.

5.  Spread 1 tablespoon stuffing over each of the 9 rectangles, leaving about 1/4-inch or a bit more, clean along each edge around the rectangle, so you’ll be able to seal them.  Top stuffing with 2 tablespoons chopped turkey and a tablespoon of cranberry sauce.  Repeat with the rest of the dough rectangles.

6. Top each filled rectangle of dough with a rectangle from the second piece of dough. Press down each edge to seal it well, then press the tines of a fork all around the edges of the rectangle. Repeat with remaining pop tarts.

If you’re not going to bake them immediately – NOW is the time to freeze them.  Place tarts on baking sheet and freeze until frozen solid.  Place them in a freezer bag and freeze up to 6 months.  To bake frozen, add 5 to 10 minutes to original baking time in a 350 F preheated oven.

7.  Gently lift pop tarts and place on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet, three per row.  Brush each pop tart with remaining beaten egg, and sprinkle with some parmesan or any hard Italian grating cheese you prefer (I used grated Grana Padano).  Poke holes to vent the pop tarts.  I poked three rows with a fork.

8.  Place baking sheet with pop tarts in refrigerator for 30 minutes.  No need to cover them since they’re brushed with egg wash.

9.  Remove baking sheet from refrigerator and put in preheated oven.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, until light golden brown.

If you want to freeze them already baked – let cool at room temperature, then freeze them on the baking sheet until frozen.  Put pop tarts in a freezer bag for up to 6 months, To serve and eat, let them thaw in the refrigerator, then heat in a 350 F oven or toaster oven for about 10-15 minutes  OR, just pop them in a pop-up toaster for a few minutes.