Breakfast always seems to be the hardest meal on Pesach (Passover). Unless you enjoy matza with jam and/or cheese every day for a week, anyway. I find after about day 3, the novelty’s worn off.
I suggested 8 Pesach breakfast ideas in my recipe book, Helen’s delicious Pesach, but here is another one. I don’t normally associate pop-tarts either with Pesach, or with a healthy start to the day, but these are grain-free, egg-free, and refined-sugar-free. And kitniot-free and gebrokhts-free. Oh, and vegan too. It’s a wonder I had anything left to make them with!
The filling is simply an all-fruit jam (the kind with no added sugar) but you could use ordinary jam if you’re less concerned about sugar intake, or even some sliced fresh fruit. I think fresh sliced peaches or nectarines would be delicious. Next time…
The dough is simplicity itself, and takes only a few minutes to make, but it is very soft so don’t try and get away without the freezing steps, or it will be impossible to handle. You really do need to chill the dough before rolling out, and then again once you’ve rolled and cut it. Even then it’s quite tricky to manoeuvre one piece on top of another. I’m sure that if I managed though, you can too.
These are really quite delicious (despite DH’s misgivings when I told him what wasn’t in them). The crust is light and crumbly, with just a hint of banana flavour. I’ll probably be tempted to make this my go to Pesach sweet pastry recipe from now on.
Although the crust is less fragile than I’d feared, I wouldn’t try to do the whole pop tart reheat-in-the-toaster thing with these, if I were you. You might try and warm them through in a low oven. I don’t know why I’m worried – it’s not like everyone has a Pesach toaster, right?!!
This recipe makes 4 Pesach pop tarts, but you can double the recipe and use a whole banana to make eight if you want to. They will keep for a day or two in an air-tight box.
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- 100g ground almonds
- 75g potato flour
- 55g margarine
- Half a medium banana
- 100g sugar-free fruit jam (or thereabouts)
- Put the almonds and potato flour into a food processor and pulse a few times to give a fine powder. Mash the banana and add to the almond mixture with the margarine. Blend in the food processor for a few seconds until a soft dough forms.
- Wrap the dough in cling film, and freeze for 10-15 minutes.
- Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking parchment, to a thickness of around 4mm. Aim to roll into a large rectangle shape to minimise offcuts. Cut the rolled out dough into eight rectangles of roughly equal size. Return to the freezer for a further 10 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 175C.
- Place around 1.5 tbsp of jam on each of four of the rectangles. Carefully cover with the other four rectangles and press the edges together to seal with the tines of a fork. Make holes in the top of each pop tart to allow steam to escape.
- Bake at 175C for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
- Allow to cool before eating.
This month’s Treat Petite challenge is on the theme of Hello Spring, and since Pesach is a Spring festival, I’m entering these yummy pop tarts. Treat Petite is organised & hosted by The Baking Explorer & co-organised by Cakeyboi.
ב”ה
I’m vegan and ketogenic — a lot of ingredients I can’t use, but I am the queen of substitutes — I’m going to try coconut flour instead of potato starch and I add stevia to just about everything — I can’t eat banana anyway — I may try avocado or nut butter — I don’t use margarine (trans fats) but coconut flour or nut butter is a good substitute.
BTW, for the Americans in the bunch, 175 degrees C is about 350 degrees F (347 to be exact, but my oven doesn’t have 347, lol)
Wow – I’d love to hear how you get on with the substitutions! Thanks for your comment, and have a great Pesach 🙂
oops…sorry, just noticed they have potato flour, which I don’t have. Any substitutions?
I’ve never tried them with anything else, sorry. I know some people use tapioca flour in a similar way to potato flour, so maybe try that if you have it. Sorry I can’t be more help!
Hi Helen, I would love to try the pop tarts for Pesach…could you please provide the ingredient quantities in volume measurements ? Thanks
Not a big fan of banana – what else could you use as a binder?
The banana acts as a sweetener as well as a binder, and there isn’t a strong banana flavour in the finished loaf.
If you really don’t want to use banana, maybe try substituting apple sauce, although I haven’t done this so I don’t know how it would turn out…
All the best, Helen.
Going to try these…. See if my 2 yr old will be fooled. Tnx
These look fantastic. Can you make them in advance?
Yes. They will keep for a few days in an airtight box.
I love these! They sound genius! bookmarked!
Thanks Kate! They came out brilliantly (considering all the things that weren’t I them!)
Fabulous recipe Helen, grain free and refined sugar free is fab though I must admit that I had to goggle up a few words to understand what you meant . That fruity inside looks very- very tempting!
Thanks. Yes, the fruity interior is the best bit!
The pastry sounds so intriguing!! Potato and banana!! I would NEVER have come up with that but they look amazing!
Thanks Becca! I guess necessity is the mother of invention and all that! I was really pleased with how they came out.
I don’t have any potato flour, Can I use potato starch?
I believe it’s pretty much the same thing Arna. Let me know how they turn out!