A while back we had a family reunion at our Relay for Life event. My huge family came in droves. All brought something to share and stayed for the good time for a good cause. My cousin Caitlin is a gifted chef. In fact, she’s known as Cooking with Caitlin.  And being the amazing chef that she is she brought homemade pop tarts for breakfast (Relay for Life is an overnight/24 hour fundraiser). Oh my god. What a genius! She made strawberry basil pop tarts along with Nutella marshmallow fluff pop tarts. Both were divine. I ate them as if I’d been starving in the dessert for months and had never delighted in pop tarts. I probably embarrassed myself with the speed I was eating. As I praised the pop tarts Caitlin said something like “They’re really easy, Everything is store bought. Just assemble and bake.” Freshly inspired, I went home and got to work.

All you need is a package of pie crust, marshmallow fluff and Nutella. Caitlin is right- no measuring or mixing. Just put it all together. So that’s all I did.

First, I punched out round pieces of pie crust using a cup as my cookie cutter.

Then I paired all the rounds to be sure I had enough.

Lastly, I spread Nutella onto the bottom half of each set. After that I plopped marshmallow fluff on top of the Nutella. Nothing fancy here, folks. I don’t even measure and I wasn’t particularly neat about applying the ingredients either. So simple! I should have had the kids help.

Then I crimped each “pop tart” securely closed with a fork just as I would on an actual pie.  I baked them at 350 for 8ish minutes. To be honest I didn’t really time them I just watched to make sure they got golden and cooked through but not too crispy or flaky.

I think I could have done a better job sealing them closed because the marshmallow expands in the oven and helped burst a couple of the pop tarts open. In hindsight I also could have made these with just one circle and folded them in half. Might be easier for little hands and smaller appetites. Next time I plan on using strawberry preserves and fresh basil to try to duplicate the strawberry basil recipe Caitlin also brought along. Thanks, Caitlin! Now I have a new addiction.