Crafting DIY Toaster Tarts with Chef Naima Craft

What once was the largest gold leaf manufacturing company in the country has now been turned into a workspace of offices, lofts, and private commercial kitchens that can be rented or leased. It is on the factory’s loading dock that Naima Craft meets me, then leads me into her kitchen area, its stainlesssteel surfaces glinting with sunlight.

Naima stands near her baker’s bench, and we begin to chat. She is from Trinidad, and her accent is charming, her demeanor, calming. She explains everything the way a teacher does, clearly and matter-of-factly but with fervent passion. She starts by telling me about her business, The Craft. Established in 2019, The Craft is where baking and experience collide, offering a wide array of handmade baked goods for pickup or delivery, and hands-on baking classes. Yes, the company is named after her. But more than that, she explains, it is a bigger idea – to get people to experience the craft that goes into creating great products, and to bring together other crafters to highlight the entire community of local people making local goods.

Like many others, Naima learned to bake from her grandmother. She loved baking throughout her childhood and teen years but didn’t plan on making a career of it. In fact, she earned her doctorate in Physical Therapy from the University of Hartford in 2010 and has worked as a physical therapist since. It was a gift from her husband, a baking class, that changed her path. She explains, “I remember my first experience at King Arthur Flour in Norwich, Vermont. I went for an English muffin class. I got in the class and got my hands in the ingredients, and I knew that was what I wanted to do. It brought me to tears.”

She started to practice her baking more and more, and both she and her husband realized one, she was good at it, and two, it made her happy. She began to offer classes in her home. Neighbors, then friends of neighbors, started to request her baked goods. She felt like this calling was outgrowing her home, so she rented the space in Hartford and thus The Craft began. She says, “I love eating, and I love eating good food, and I feel like people deserve to eat good food. I believe people experience significant joy and satisfaction eating good food. It literally touches their souls.”

Since then, The Craft has been an online delivery and e-commerce bakery serving the Greater Hartford area. Customers place orders online at her website 24 hours in advance. Naima makes the orders in the morning, packages them, and delivers them, at first on her own, but now with help from a driver and bakery assistant. Items include croissants (which she is famous for), bagels (including homemade cream cheeses), cinnamon rolls, and vegan chocolate chip cookies, all of which are her top sellers. She also makes breads such as quick breads, English muffins (of course), and artisanal loaves like sourdoughs and challah, along with many other baked goods. She is a vendor at the Canton Main Street Farmers Market on Sundays, where she often sells out the first hour. The Craft also does catering.

By now I am drooling and am unable to wait much longer for the real reason I am here – for her to teach me how to make her homemade toaster tarts. And so I ask, “What is next for The Craft?” Naima replies that due in part to her amazing social media following, and in part to the pandemic, she has already outgrown the Hartford space. She says, “During the pandemic, my business quadrupled because I was the only one who delivered! It was a blessing for my business.”

Thankfully, she found The Craft’s next opportunity in East Granby, an area that reminds her of Vermont, where she once lived with her husband and where she took that fateful baking class. She says, “We are Vermonters at heart. I love the lifestyle, the feel, the air, the pace, that everything is earthy and organic and homemade. That area (East Granby) fits that and my brand as well. East Granby is an opportunity to establish a brick-and-mortar, where there’s nothing like it around, that can provide the community with a high-end artisanal bakery with gourmet beverages. I want, when people come into my establishment, that they have a little piece of home.”

The Craft opens this fall at 10 East Street, East Granby, from WednesdaySunday, 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Until you can visit there, order The Craft online at thecraftexperience.store or try your hand at making Naima’s to-die-for DIY Toaster Tarts. I promise, you won’t regret it.

To Make the Pastry (yields 4 toaster tarts)

8 ounces all-purpose flour ¾ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon granulated sugar ¾ teaspoon baking powder 8 ounces butter (chilled and cut into cubes) 2 eggs Extra flour for dusting your work surface Egg wash (made with one egg whisked together with a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of water)

Steps

1. Add to a food processor the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and cubed butter.

2. Turn the food processor on, and while it’s running, add the eggs one at a time.

3. Run until the dough starts to form, then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, gathering it together into a mound.

4. Roll the dough with a rolling pin to form a 10x8-inch rectangle.

5. Fold the bottom half up and the top half down, as you would a letter.

6. Rotate 90-degrees and repeat the letter fold.

7. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.

8. Place chilled dough on a lightly floured surface and roll to form a 16x10-inch rectangle.

9. Cut dough into 8 4x4.5-inch rectangles.

10. Brush 4 of the rectangles around the perimeter with the egg wash.

11. Add your favorite filling.

12. Top each with one of the remaining 4 rectangles.

13. Use a fork to crimp the edges closed and poke holes in the surface.

14. Chill raw tarts in the refrigerator for 1 hour, or in the freezer for 15 minutes.

15. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

16. Brush each tart with egg wash.

17. Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned.

18. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Fun Filling Ideas

Your favorite jam or jelly

Your favorite pie filling (homemade or store-bought canned)

Apple Butter

Cinnamon and Brown Sugar

Lemon Curd

Poppy Seed Pastry Filling (Solo brand, in a can, found in the baking aisle)

Nutella

To Make the Frosting

Ingredients

2 cups sifted confectioners’ (powdered) sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract whole milk

1. Whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, salt, and vanilla in a medium bowl.

2. Add the milk a teaspoon at a time until the mixture reaches a thick, not runny, consistency.

3. Spread evenly over the top of the cooled toaster tart.

4. Sprinkle on any desired toppings immediately.

5. Allow the finished tarts to set at least 30 minutes before devouring.

Fun Topping Ideas

Sprinkles

Nonpareils

Colored sugars

Cookie crumbs

Crushed candy

Crushed nuts

When she’s not teaching school or working at “The Mulb,” AMY S. WHITE can be found at home dancing in her kitchen while practicing her own baking craft.