The Chicagoist will be launching later but in the meantime please enjoy our archives.

Use Up Those Leftover Cranberries With A Homemade 'Pop Tart'

By Anthony Todd in Food on Nov 29, 2013 5:15PM

2013_11_25_Poptart.jpg

Leftover turkey is easy to use up—just make a sandwich! We eat leftover stuffing out of the bowl and there never are any leftover Brussels sprouts. Leftover cranberry sauce, however, can be a bit more difficult to get rid of. Chef Gregory Ellis of 2 Sparrows has come up with a great way to use up these holiday extras: turn them into breakfast.

This cranberry "pop tart" recipe can be made from scratch and the instructions below include steps for making your own cranberry filling. If you already have cranberry sauce sitting around, skip those steps—though if you didn't use orange or spices in yours, consider adding some extra when preparing this.

Initially, the tarts are baked in an oven. Not quite pop-tarty. But, if you want to eat them later, you can freeze them and reheat them in a toaster oven. We're not quite sure we'd throw them in the toaster, but if you're feeling ambitious...

A quick note—the dough needs to be refrigerated for two hours, so if you're thinking of trying this recipe, make the dough in advance. Unless you really want to get up at 5 a.m. on Friday.

Cranberry Orange Pop Tart
Thanks to Chef Gregory Ellis

Makes 10 tarts

Tart Dough
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
8 ounces butter, cubed, chilled
1/4 cup cold water

Filling
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
12 oz cranberries
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 egg, beaten, for egg wash

Tart Dough: Mix the flour, salt and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle. Mix until the butter is pea sized. With the mixer on low, add the water slowly until the dough comes together. Mix the dough at medium speed for 3 minutes. Flatten the dough and wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Filling: Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 12-15 minutes or until the cranberries pop. Let cool completely.

Construction: Roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut the dough into ten 6-inch by 5-inch rectangles. Using a fork, poke each rectangle several times. Spoon 1/3 cup of the filling on one half of the rectangle, leaving a 1/2-inch edge of dough around all sides.

Brush egg wash around the filling and fold over the other half of the dough on top. Press the dough down to seal. Using a fork, press around all the edges to make sure that no filling will leak. Score the tops with an "x" so the tarts won't inflate in the oven.

Put the tarts on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Brush with egg and bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.