Peach & Goat Cheese Pop Tarts

Yea, you read it right. I know this is no ordinary pop tart flavor, but just hear me out. It’s late September and still 80-90 degrees out here in Denver. Peaches still taste fantastic, so I wanted to do ONE LAST late summer pastry before I welcome back all the flavors of fall. I was given a number of peaches from some family, too many to eat myself, so the first thing I thought of was to make a jam. Then goat cheese popped in my head (don’t ask me why, I just went with it), and here we are.

I didn’t see these somewhere and had to recreate it. I’ve actually never really put these flavors together before. In my mind this was going to work, and after testing my recipe I knew I had a winner. Plus, we’re adults now. We get to eat grown up flavors, right?! The sweet peach is complimented so well with the saltier goat cheese, and enhanced even more with the crispy-flakey thyme crust.

In my opinion, these are best served hot out of the oven, with a cup of chamomile or your favorite tea. I hope you enjoy as much as I did! Next week, it’s all about fall flavors! Stay tuned!

Peach & Goat Cheese Poptarts

Yield 8-10 tarts

Pastry dough

Flour 2 cups

Sugar 1 T

Salt 1 tsp

Butter 1 cup (8 oz.)

Egg 1

Milk 2 T

Thyme (chopped) 1 T

Peach Jam

Yield 1 cup

Peaches 3

Water ¼ cup

Sugar ½ cup

Brown sugar ¼ cup

Pectin 1 tsp

Goat cheese 2 oz.

Egg wash

Egg 1

Water ¼ cup

Directions:

Start by making the peach jam. Peel and remove pit of each peach, and blend with water. Pour puree into a pot and start to heat on medium high. In a separate bowl, combine both sugars and pectin. Mix together so pectin doesn’t clump when added to puree.

Add sugars/pectin mixture to puree, and stir with a spatula for 20-30 minutes. Jam will be done when its reduced to about 1/3 the volume. Set aside to cool.

To make the pastry dough, all you need to do is dump each ingredient into a food processor and pulse until dough forms a ball. Or you can do it with a pastry cutter.

Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 C). Unwrap dough and roll out onto a lightly floured surface to 1/8” thickness. Try as best you can to roll into a square/rectangular shape. Using a pizza cutter and ruler, cut rectangles 2” x 3” pieces. You should get between 16 and 18 pieces.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment and place rectangles on parchment. Freeze dough for 10 minutes to get butter solidified again.

In the center of the rectangle, spoon about 1T of peach jam, then sprinkle over some goat cheese. Leave ½” around the sides empty so you can adhere the top pastry.

Make your egg was by whisking 1 egg with water. Brush around edges of filled bottom pastry, then top with the top half. Crimp down all sides with a fork. Dock the top of the pastry as well, so that steam can escape during baking. Egg wash the top, then sprinkle a little more sugar over the top.

Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Rotate halfway through.

Enjoy!