The Leader • Saturday, July 18, 2020 • Page 1B
Recreating favorite snacks from scratch is no cinch Zarah Parker Managing Editor
If you looked in my pantry right now you’d find lots of snacks. We’ve got Goldfish, a variety of chips, fruit snacks, candy and more. In trying to be healthier I’ve cut my snack intake, but sometimes I crave a treat I’ve loved since childhood, namely Pop Tarts. I used to think they were semi-healthy. They’re not. After I saw a post on social media of someone making homemade Pop Tarts, I latched onto the idea. I could make my favorite snack, and while it still couldn’t be considered healthy, at least it lacked the preservatives. I decided to also make another two of my childhood favorites, Fruit by the Foot and Oatmeal Crème Pies. The results were mixed. In making the frosted brown sugar Pop Tarts, my favorite kind, I used this recipe: www. sallysbakingaddiction.com/ homemade-frosted-brownsugar-cinnamon-pop-tarts/. The recipe warns that it’s not an easy recipe and that turned out to be true. I thought it would be as simple as rolling out dough, cutting it into rectangles and putting the filling in between. What was most complicated was the dough. After mak-
Photo by Zarah Parker Creating homemade frosted brown sugar breakfast pastries, similar to Pop Tarts, turned out to be a more difficult task than meets the eye.
ing it, the recipe recommends keeping it cold throughout the rest of the process because that’s what makes the pastry flaky upon cooking. At first you chill the dough for at least two hours, before rolling it out to cut 3-inch by 4-inch rectangles. I’ve rolled out dough countless times, but I had a little trouble with this dough. Though I mostly blame my
impatience. Getting the dough to 1/8-inch thickness was my own personal nightmare. You can use a pizza cutter to cut the dough, but I found myself separating the dough with the ruler I was measuring with. I can barely cut straight with scissors, so just imagine how crooked my lines were coming out when I used the pizza cutter. After cutting the dough, I
put it back into the fridge while making the filling. About a tablespoon of filling went between the rectangles, which I thought looked like too much. But after cooking, I wished I had added a little more. The Pop Tarts baked easily and came out looking like mini pies. I glazed them and let them sit to harden a little before tasting. The in-and-out of the fridge
really did work to make the pastry flaky. The cinnamon filing and glaze was delicious and especially with the buttery pastry. I don’t think I rolled the dough out thin enough, because the pastry part was pretty thick. My homemade version didn’t taste like the storebought Pop Tarts, but they were still good to eat. The Fruit by the Foot knock-
REVIEW:
By Zarah Parker Since it opened on West 18th Street, I’ve heard great things about Dak & Bop. When I finally got to try its specialty, Korean fried chicken, I wasn’t disappointed. While the dining room at Dak & Bop is open, I opted for online ordering and curbside pick-up. It was an easy process to order online, and even has the restaurant’s most popular items -- wings, tenders and fries -- highlighted. Since it was my first visit, I ordered what the restaurant was best known for. I knew I would be sharing, so I ordered the wings with medium spicy sauce, the tenders half with soy garlic and half with medium spicy, and fries. The only sauce that was available that I didn’t try was the hot and spicy. I arrived at the restaurant a few minutes early, but ended up waiting for my food a good 30 minutes longer than the time they told me it would be ready. I’m going to give the restaurant the benefit of the doubt and assume it’s still
Photo by Zarah Parker The chicken wings, at left, and the Korean fried chicken were the perfect combination at Dak & Bop.
working out the kinks for curbside. But even with the extra wait, I thought the food was worth it. Dak & Bop’s chicken is double fried, giving it a thick crunchy crust with tender chicken inside. The tenders were just a bit bigger than nuggets. I’m guessing the chicken was thigh meat because it was a
little tough, but still juicy. I really liked the soy garlic for a non-spicy option. It had a hint of sweetness but the taste of garlic was obvious. The sauce, on all the chicken, had a sticky consistency, which reminded me of sauces used in other Asian dishes. The medium spicy was perfect for someone who wants a little kick but doesn’t want their mouth on fire. It also had
a hint of sweetness. I enjoyed both sauces, but found myself picking up the medium spicy more often. The wings were large and thick. I had already tasted the medium spicy on the tenders, but I thought the wings were juicer. The crunchy exterior was slightly different than that of the tenders because the chicken was on the bone. I usually would choose tenders over wings, but the wings at Dak & Bop were too good not to prefer. Dak & Bop offers multiple fry selections, like the Seoul fries or Korean curry fries. I got the regular side of fries, which were lightly seasoned. They made a good complement to the chicken entrees. Dak & Bop Address: 1805 W. 18th St. Hours: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday Pricing: $7.35-$18.90 Kid-friendly: Yes Alcohol: Yes Healthy options: No Star of the show: Wings with medium spicy sauce
By Adam Zuvanich
AK Babers, Nick Jack and Ken Noble are three friends who enjoy drinking craft beer together, which is a common refrain among Houstonians. But when they started going to the breweries around the city, they noticed they were different than most of their fellow customers as well as the people who poured their pints. Babers, Jack and Noble are Black. They said craft beer culture in their hometown is predominantly white. “It was always an uncomfortable feeling that I’m out of place,” Noble said. “That familiar face is what we were looking for, but that was not there. It’s not that they’re against us, but when you walk in there, it doesn’t seem like we were being marketed to.” Their experience led Babers, Jack and Noble to start a company last year called Hop Topic World, which has a website (hoptopicworld.com) as well as a presence on social media (@hoptopicworld). They organize events at brew-
Photo from Facebook Seven local craft breweries are making a “Black Is Beautiful” imperial stout as part of an industry-wide social initiative.
pubs and serve as cultural influencers, with the mission of exposing more people of color, along with women, to craft beer and helping the craft beer industry become more diverse and inclusive. Their cause recently got a colossal catapult from a Black-owned brewpub in San Antonio, where an initiative to promote racial justice and equality quickly spread across the state, the country and even the world. Head brewer and co-founder Marcus Baskerville of Weathered Souls Brewing Co. made an
If You Have a Good Honest Mechanic... ic...
KEEP HIM!!
If Not, Call Me Now Offering Mobile Service
832-884-4169
Try our
LUNCH SPECIALS
Mango Chicken $6.50 Sesame Shrimp $7.50 FREE WI-FI • FREE DELIVERY LIMITED AREA ($12 MIN.)
Order online at AUNTIECHANGS.COM
Socially conscious beer collaborative a beautiful thing Zuvie’s Brews
See Snacks, P. 3B
FREDRICK’S AUTO REPAIR PA
Dak & Bop’s chicken wings are easy favorite zarah@theleadernews.com
off I tried making was the simplest with just three ingredients: fruit (I used strawberries and raspberries), lemon juice and my choice of sweetener (agave nectar). The recipe I used can be found here: www.liveeatlearn. com/3-ingredient-fruit-rollups/. All I had to do was blend the ingredients, pour it onto a baking sheet that was lined with parchment paper, thin it out to about 1/8-inch thick (again, that measurement seems to be impossible for me) and dehydrate it in the oven for 4-6 hours. The hardest part was waiting for it to dehydrate. I left it in the oven a tiny bit too long because I got distracted after the 4-hour mark and didn’t keep a close enough eye on it. So the edges were a little too dry, but I could rehydrate it with water. The texture of mine were rougher than actual Fruit by the Foot because of the seeds from the strawberries. I also thought mine had a good balance of sweetness. I would probably make these again, but wouldn’t call them Fruit by the Foot. I was most dubious of the Oatmeal Crème Pie recipe. I was sure I wouldn’t succeed in making the filling properly. But it turns out this recipe was my favorite of the three. The recipe can be found here: www. shugarysweets.com/oatmeal-
imperial stout called “Black Is Beautiful,” with proceeds from beer sales going to a charity started by activist and former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, and he asked other craft breweries to collaborate by making their own version of the beer and donating their proceeds to similar organizations. As of Wednesday, 1,001 breweries in all 50 states and 19 different countries had joined the effort, including seven breweries in the area: Astral Brewing, Eureka Heights Brew Co., Great Heights Brewing Company, Holler Brewing Co., Karbach Brewing Co., New Magnolia Brewing Co. and Urban South Brewery HTX. “I think it’s a very beautiful thing,” Jack said. “It’s been exciting to see it and watch it grow.” Hop Topic World partnered with Holler Brewing on its Black Is Beautiful beer, which followed the original recipe made public by Weathered Souls and will be released to the public on Saturday at the taproom in Sawyer Yards. John Holler, the owner of the local brewery, said all profits from to-go can sales will be donated to the Greater Houston Black Chamber of Commerce. All of the participating breweries are using the same name and label for their creations, while adding their logos to the label, and some are putting their own See Brews, P. 3B
2621 S. Shepherd at Westheimer | 713.524.8410
#1 SHIPLEY DO-NUTS IN HOUSTON Tha you for making us Thank Number One again! BBest e Donuts/Kolaches
3410 Ella Blvd. at 34th St. (713) 682-4343
FREE DOZEN DONUT HOLES Buy a dozen donuts and get • 1 dozen donut holes FREE! ALL offers Good at Ella location only. One coupon per visit. Tax not included. Not valid in conjunction with other coupons.
HAVE YOU HAD THE BEST LATELY?