These Homemade Jam Filled Toaster Strudels are like mini flaky pies filled with homemade blackberry jam and topped with sweet vanilla glaze. The filling options are never-ending and you can fill these with fresh or frozen berries, any jam, chocolate, Nutella or even sweet cream cheese. They are so easy to make and your whole family will love these tempting breakfast treats!
Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, whisk to combine 1 large egg and 1 tablespoon water. In a separate small bowl, combine 1/2 cup jam and 2 teaspoons corn starch. Set aside.
Place and unfold first sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured surface just until it is slightly flattened. Use a pizza cutter to cut each sheet into 6 even rectangles.
Spoon about 2 teaspoons of jam into the center of the top 3 rectangles, leaving about 1/2-inch rim around all edges uncoated. Brush uncoated edges with egg wash, around the jam section. Layer bottom puff pastry rectangles over jammed puff pastry rectangles and lightly press edges to seal. With help of thin turner or spatula, transfer onto baking sheet. Repeat with second sheet of puff pastry.
Brush tops of strudels with the egg wash. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Make the Icing: Combine 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 1/2 tablespoons of half and half. Whisk until smooth and add more cream a little at a time, as needed so the icing is a drizzling consistency. Start with 1 tablespoon at first.
Transfer icing into a plastic Ziploc bag, cut a tiny tip from one of the corners. Drizzle the icing over the room temperature pastries.
Notes
Freeze: After the pastries are fully assembled (before brushing tops with egg wash), freeze them flat on a lined baking sheet then transfer to a freezer-safe Ziploc Bag. When ready to bake, arrange them frozen on a baking sheet (without thawing), brush with egg wash and bake at 400˚F for 22-25 minutes. Make the icing while these bake and drizzle once pies are room temperature.
Thaw at room temperature: remove pastry sheets from the box, but keep them in the outer wrapping. Place them on the kitchen counter and thaw sheets until the pastry unfolds easily, no more than 45 minutes.
Thaw in the fridge: remove pastry sheets from the box, but keep them in the outer wrapping. Leave them overnight or for at least 4 hours to defrost.
Thaw in microwave: remove pastry sheets from the box and outer wrapping and wrap in a paper towel. Microwave on high for about 15 seconds. If they still don’t unfold easily, microwave for additional 5 seconds on each side.
Filling variations: fresh or frozen berries, chocolate, Nutella or even cream cheese combined with a bit of sugar or jam.
Seal edges: crimp the edges of the pastry with a fork to seal the filling inside. Then, poke few holes or gently score with a knife the top of each pastry so steam can escape while baking and they don’t puff up as much. Keep in mind, no matter how well you crimp the edges, there will always be at least one strudel that has filling leaking out, especially if the jam is runny (that is normal).
Less rising: roll out puff pastry sheets to prevent them from rising too much, but avoid pressing too much or it will prevent the pastry from rising. You can also press down the pastries as soon as they are out of the oven. With Pepperidge Farm sheets, these puff up to about 3-inch high. Let them slightly cool for a minute or two before gently pressing them down on sides to make them up to 1-inch shorter. Avoid pressing down pastries in the center to avoid them from cracking.
Parchment paper: use parchment paper or a silpat liner to avoid mess if filling leaks out too much. Burned jam on baking sheets leaves stains and overtime destroys your baking sheets.
Icing: let baked pastries cool to room temperature before enjoying or adding icing. Icing will melt too much and slide off pastries and if using jam, you can burn your mouth with the hot jam.