Grown Up Uncrustables

So, parts of our state are fully underwater and there is no power and you have to boil water and school and work are on hold.  

But for everywhere else, you should totally cure Monday with this.  

Remember Uncrustables?  I LOVED them.  No, they were never once purchased for us in our house because "do you know how overpriced and gross that is for something we already have?" but when I got my hands on one I was seriously in love.  

In related news, I like creamy processed peanut butter better than all-natural twice as expensive healthy stuff.  Sorry.  

So, since we probably all agree that Uncrustables are gross, even though we might love them, why not gross them up a little more with pastry?  Let's do that.  I have two version here, but this is much more of an idea/method than a recipe - use whatever you'd like for these!  PB&J and turkey+swiss are two of my fav "normal" sandwiches, so that's what I made.  You do you, though!  

For the PB&J version, you'l need puff pastry, peanut butter, jelly, and cooking spray.  

For the turkey version, just sub in turkey, mustard, and cheese.  I had all these plans for dipping sauces, but then I decided against it because the whole point of an Uncrustable is to be really fuss-free, right?  These are definitely that.  You could of course add some kind of drizzle or dipper or extra topping to these!  Seriously - sky's the limit.  

To make the packages, unfold the puff pastry and use your fingers to press it a little bit wider and thinner.  You can use a rolling pin, but I really don't think it's necessary.  The key is just to make the pastry a bit thinner so the fillings don't get lost.  

Cut the piece of puff pastry into 12 even rectangles - they'll be 3x4inches, give or take.  

For the first kind, mound about a tablespoon of peanut butter on one half of 6 of the pastry rectangles.  

Then dollop on about the same amount of jelly.  

Fold over the pastry to make a little pocket, then press the edges really firmly to make them stick together - this part is especially important for the peanut butter and jelly version, which can leak quickly when the jelly gets hot.  

Same thing happens with the turkey pockets!  1. pastry. 

2. mustard. 

3. cheese. 

4. turkey. 

5. pockets.  Done!  Everything goes on a baking sheet and gets sprayed with cooking spray on top. Here we have two options.  ONE:  Bake these at 425F immediately for about 20 minutes and then eat them all at once.  

TWO:  Freeze them on the baking sheet for 20 minutes, then put them in a bag and store them frozen until you're ready to eat them.  You can bake them right from frozen and they're super duper handy to have in the freezer.  

I love both of these versions, but if I had to choose I'd say that the turkey worked a teeensy bit better.  I actually like peanut butter and jelly cold, and you lose that with this use of the ingredients.  

Both versions, though, are great, FUN throwbacks to little-kid lunches, and adding pastry never hurt a dang thing, amirite?  Now I just need to find an excuse to try all the other combinations I have in my head!