Instructions

1. For the pastry, whisk together the flour and icing sugar in a bowl. Add the butter and use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles breadcrumbs with a mixture of texture from finer breadcrumb to pea-sized pieces.
2. Add the egg yolk and 1 tbsp of water and mix through with a dull knife just to distribute through the crumbs. Lightly squeeze the dough together to form a dough. If it’s still a little too dry to come together, add another ½ – 1 tbsp water then knead or squeeze lightly until it just comes together.
3. Tip out onto a piece of parchment paper and press into the shape of a thick flat square. Wrap in the parchment paper and chill for at least 1 hour. Tip: This can be made a few days ahead and kept in the fridge until needed.
4. (This dough can also be made in a food processor, simply pulse together dry ingredients with butter until a crumb-like texture as stated above, then add the egg yolk with 1 tbsp water and pulse until it starts to clump together to form a ball. Add a little more water if needed.)
5. To make the pop tarts, roll out the shortcrust on a floured surface, keeping the dough moving all the time and adding a little more flour if needed to avoid sticking. The dough should be about 5-6mm thick.
6. Use a cookie cutter (or sharp knife) to cut out the shapes. Prick half of the shapes with a fork (this will help the steam to escape while baking) and set cut out shapes aside in two piles, one pile plain and the other the docked shapes.
7. Lightly knead the scraps together, re-roll and use to cut out more shapes, docking half of them. You should aim to have an even number of cut out pastry.
8. Arrange the plain shapes on a clean surface then drop about 1 tbsp of the raspberry jam onto each. Spread the jam along the length of the pastry in the centre but making sure to leave a border of pastry all around the edges.
9. If using the leftover egg white from the pastry, add a little pinch of salt to it and beat lightly with a fork (otherwise lightly beat 1 whole egg.)
10. Brush the edges of each cookie with the beaten egg then lay a poked pastry shape on top, lining up all the sides neatly. Gently press down along the borders with your finger, then using a fork, press down along the edges to make sure the jam is sealed in.
11. Transfer unbaked pop tarts to a baking tray lined with parchment paper then place in the freezer for at least 15 minutes.
12. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C / 180°C fan assisted, once hot, transfer tray of pop tarts to the oven, still frozen, and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
13. Once baked, leave to cool completely on the baking tray on a wire rack.
14. When ready to decorate, mix together the icing sugar with 1 ½ tbsp water and a dash of vanilla. Add a little more water if needed so that the glaze is just thin enough that you need to spread it lightly with the back of a spoon but it will still spread a little on its own.
15. To colour it, mix in brown gel food colouring until you reach your desired shade. (*Alternatively, you could mix in a bit of unsweetened cocoa powder, though you may need to add a little more water.)
16. To decorate, lightly spread about 1 tbsp of the glaze over the tops of the cooled pop tarts with the back of a spoon. Leave to air dry until the icing is no longer shiny and it’s dry to the touch.
17. If you want to decorate further, do so once the glaze has mostly set. We mixed up a small batch of thick icing using the same glaze recipe, but with less water, and coloured it with black gel colouring to write RIP on some of the pop tarts with a piping bag and small plain piping tip.
18. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. We suggest putting a small square of parchment paper in between the layers.