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Recipe: Breakfast Pop-Tart

  • 6 days ago
  • 4 min read

Edited by Stacy Schroeder


Shelby with sous chef Grant. Photo by Kristin Kissell.
Shelby with sous chef Grant. Photo by Kristin Kissell.

Shelby Larkin is one of three local amateur chefs who competed in the 2026 Great Gretna Plate, a cooking competition hosted by Mount Gretna Magazine. The challenge? Create a hand-held dish using the provided pantry and mystery ingredients within a one-hour window. A full event recap, plus bonus content, is linked at the bottom of this story. This post is all about the FOOD.

 

Shelby and sous chef Grant Williams delivered a savory breakfast pop-tart filled with scrambled eggs, pork sausage, and caramelized onions, paired with a quick-pickled tomatillo relish. Read on for Shelby’s recipes, a few behind-the-scenes stories, and links to video interviews.


Photo by Shannon Fretz Photography.
Photo by Shannon Fretz Photography.

Savory Breakfast Pop-Tart

Shelby adapted her dish from this recipe by MacKenzie Smith and prefers to credit the original rather than spotlight her own version. Learn more about her choice later in this story. "One change I made from MacKenzie's original recipe was to line the baking sheet with parchment paper and then sprinkle shredded parmesan cheese on top before placing the puff pastry down," says Shelby. "This achieved a cheesy crust on the bottom. We were going for very cheesy!"

 

Quick Pickle Tomatillo Relish

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 tomatillos 

  • 1 sweet onion

  • 1/4 cup cilantro

  • 1/4 cup blood orange soda 

  • 1/4 cup white vinegar

  • 2 T quince paste

  • 1 T Porch & Pantry seasoning

 

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Chop the tomatillos, place them on a foil-lined pan, and roast in oven for approximately 10 minutes at 425 degrees (until lightly browned). 

  2. Chop the onion and mix it with roasted tomatillo in a bowl.

  3. Chop the 1/4 cup of cilantro and add it to the onion and tomatillo mixture. 

  4. In a jar, combine the blood orange soda, white vinegar, quince paste, and seasoning. Close lid and shake until combined.

  5. Pour the liquid mixture over the tomato mixture. Let it marinate for a minimum of 20 minutes (ideally for an hour or up to 24 hours). 

 

The Evolution of the Dish

I tested a few different ideas for the Great Gretna Plate. A central theme was wanting to make a cheesy dish. My boyfriend Grant calls me The Big Cheese based on my love for cheese. Originally, we were inspired to make a grilled cheese as an homage to the grilled cheeses we slung on New Year’s Eve at the Tabernacle. When I shared this initial idea with Guido, it didn't seem to inspire confidence so I pivoted and decided to test recipes that showcased my baking skills. 

 

First up was baking a savory breakfast roll. This required a quick-rising dough which was tough to fit in the hour time limit. The test recipe — rolled like a cinnamon roll but filled with the same scrambled eggs, pork sausage, and caramelized onions as the final selection — was incredibly tasty, but took nearly an hour and a half to complete. That was not going to work! 

 

I went back to the drawing board and recalled a handheld chicken pot pie recipe I made a few times this winter. These became quite popular between Grant and me. Wanting to continue the breakfast and cheesy theme, I luckily found MacKenzie Smith's Savory Breakfast Pop Tarts with Cheesy Eggs, Sausage, Onions and Everything Seed Puff Pastry recipe. 

 

Photo provided by Shelby Larkin.
Photo provided by Shelby Larkin.

This was beyond perfect as MacKenzie is one of my favorite recipe creators. I discovered her during her performance on the "Cheesier Episode" of Guy's Grocery Games, a Food Network reality show. I quickly became enamored with her colorful and joyful personality and followed her on Instagram. During Covid, when so many of us were stuck at home with dreams of travel, MacKenzie proposed an idea to her followers: what if, when it was safe to travel again, she hosted a trip to Bali focused on cuisine and culture? I was immediately taken by the idea. Bali had not been on my radar as a travel destination but the concept of traveling through a part of Asia with both a chef and a local tour guide, getting to experience foods I had never had before, and meeting new people sounded wonderful to my cooped-up self. Thankfully, the trip happened a few years later in 2022, and I had the chance to experience Bali with a wonderful group of strangers who had similar aspirations of discovering Balinese culture and cuisine. MacKenzie (and our local guide, Desta) hosted an incredible trip where I ate endless lumpia, tried my first espresso martini, chased waterfalls, and learned so much about the Balinese people. 

 

When I found MacKenzie's pop-tart recipe, which captured everything I wanted to achieve in The Great Gretna Plate competition, I knew it was meant to be. Grant and I practiced the recipe several times at home ahead of the big day, knowing timing would be tight with just one hour and a single burner. We shared some of our test runs with friends and, overall, were pleased with how the dish came together and confident we could execute it within the competition’s constraints. I was proud that we achieved good results on the day!


 

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