Homemade Toaster Strudel
One of the things Ariel and I find fascinating about working with Johnna is that she’s such a “do-do-do” kind of person that she rarely has the patience to sit down and watch a movie. I, on the other hand, live in a house with a 90” movie screen and a surround sound system that rivals most movie theaters. (Seriously, Matt literally dug a hole into the concrete block of our foundation to install a center channel behind the movie screen.)
Since Ariel and I both love movies AND pop culture references, this leads to a lot of in-office giggling, movie quotes and memes that leave Johnna looking at us like we’re crazy. Since MS has taken a bit of a hit on her ability to run through life like the energizer bunny, we’ve started introducing her to movies to help her learn that sometimes, sitting on the couch with a drink and your friends is totally ok.
Of course, when you are taking someone who has seen almost NO movies, like EVER, it can be tough to figure out where to start. We watched Elf last year December while decorating the office for Christmas. That helped immensely when we wanted to throw this meme out there:
Or this one:
Earlier this year, I managed to get her to sit down and watch Monsters Inc. for the first time, mostly because anytime I texted out the angry Boo image, Johnna got weirded out because she didn’t understand it.
After she admitted that Monsters Inc. was actually a pretty great movie and that Boo was, in fact, the cutest animated child that had ever existed in film, she opened up a bit more to the idea of movies.
Then one afternoon in the office, I said something to Ariel that she didn’t like and she responded “Boo! You Whore!”
The look of horror on Johnna’s face was priceless.
It was matched by the look on Ariel’s face when she realized Johnna thought she was actually insulting me.
A joint friend who used to work with us was driving in for the weekend, so we literally ended up watched Mean Girls the next day.
Of course, you can’t watch a movie without snacks and drinks, so we cracked open a bottle of wine and I decided the best snack to go with Mean Girls was homemade toaster strudel. We made ours with strawberry jam and blackberry jam, but feel free to use whatever flavor you like best. Just do NOT forget to add cornstarch to the jam before you fill them. It’s what keeps the jam from running out of the toaster strudel and making a serious mess of your baking pans.
- 1 package puff pastry
- 1 ½ cups of your favorite jam
- 1 ½ T cornstarch
- 2 large eggs
- 2 T water
- 3T salted butter
- 2 c powdered sugar
- 3 T half n half
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a cookie sheet.
- Follow the instructions on the box to allow the puff pastry to thaw.
- Cut each piece into six rectangles of equal size.
- Whisk together jam and corn starch, and then place about one and a half tablespoons of jam into the center of each pastry piece.
- Spread the jam around, leaving about a half inch wide space at the edges.
- In another bowl, whisk together eggs and water, using either a pastry brush or your finger to spread the egg wash around the edges of the pastry.
- Layer another piece of pastry on top and use the tines of a fork to seal around the edges of each pastry.
- Brush egg wash over the top of the finished pastry. Bake for around 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
- While pastries are baking, melt butter in the microwave and add powdered sugar, vanilla and half of the half n half. If the mixture is too thick, add more half n half until you reach the desired consistency.
- Scrape into a zip lock bag and snip a corner to drizzle icing on after toaster strudels come out of the oven.
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