Nutella Pastry Tarts

I don't quite know where to start with these.  They are flaky.  They are buttery. They are so good you might want to cry.  I found this recipe online a while ago, and pretty much re-invented everything except for the basic idea.  They were originally called Nutella Poptarts, but I cannot, in good faith call these anything even close to a poptart.  These transcend the unappetizingly pedestrian poptarts to such a degree that you won't be able to call them poptarts either.  I apologize for the picture, but I actually wasn't going to write about these.  I slapped them together in a big hurry, and by the time I tried one, the light was almost gone.  You know, in the movie "I Am Legend" where Will Smith is always watching that last sliver of light get narrower and narrower before disaster (in the form of quasi human people eaters) strikes...?  Yeah, that was me without (unfortunately) Will Smith, and (fortunately) the quasi human people eaters.  Anyhow.  That explains the picture, lets get to the FOOD!

These pastry tarts start with my favorite pie crust, but use only real butter - no shortening involved this time.  It turned out to be the flakiest, most buttery pastry that has ever come out of my kitchen.  I mixed the Nutella with an egg white for stability while baking.  I was a little bit worried that the Nutella would ooze out of the pastry during the bake time, and that I would have to lick it off the pan as soon as it was cool enough to stick my tongue on it.  I just couldn't bear to subject my hungry puppies to that image, hence the egg.  Please make this.  You might hate me for it, but I can bear it because you will love these pastry tarts!

Nutella Pastry Tarts

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

7 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

4 to 6 Tablespoons ice water

7 ounces Nutella

1 egg white

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt.  Add the cold butter and cut into the flour mixture using a pastry blender, fork, or two knives, until it forms crumbs no larger than a pea.  Slowly add the ice water, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together.  In a separate bowl, combine the Nutella and egg white, and mix carefully until well combined.  This will be difficult at first, but just keep stirring and they will come together.

Roll out the pastry dough into a large rectangle, relatively thin.  Cut the rolled pastry into 12 rectangles.  Scoop the Nutella onto 6 of the rectangles, and carefully spread it to within a 1/4 inch of the edges of the pastry.  It helps to dip your fingers in cold water when you spread the Nutella, as it won't stick to you quite as much.  Brush a little water around the edges of the Nutella covered pastry, and carefully place an empty pastry on top of it.  Gently press down on the edges to seal them.  Transfer the pastries to a parchment lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for at least one hour or overnight.

When ready to bake the tarts, preheat the oven to 350F.  Remove the plastic wrap from the tarts and pop them into the oven straight from fridge so they are still cold.  Bake the tarts for about 30 to 35 minutes, until they are golden brown.  Remove them from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack.  Take a bite, sigh with bliss, eat the rest.

Enjoy!  -Cardamommy