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Do you remember eating Pop-Tarts as a kid? I do. The wonderful little toaster pastries filled with sugar were one of my favorite breakfast items as a kid. My tastes have changed a bit since then but every so often I do crave the fruity-sugary-goodness of a Pop-Tart.
I decided to take a crack at making my own Homemade Pop-Tarts and they were delicious! The crust was soft and flakey, the filling was packed with fruit and tasted like fresh jam, and the icing on top added the perfect amount of sweetness. The nice thing about these is you can change up the flavor and use whatever fruit you like. I chose blueberry and raspberry, but you could easily substitute strawberry, for example.
If you have kids (or are still a kid at heart) these could be a fun quarantine project. The kids can help in the kitchen, put those math skills to good use while measuring the ingredients, learn to cook with a recipe that isn’t complicated, and make their own breakfast 🙂
The recipe can be found here.
Start by rinsing the berries then pat them dry. Place the entire pint of berries in a small saucepan. Then add ½ cup sugar, 2 Tbsp cornstarch, and 2 Tbsp water to the saucepan. Heat the saucepan over low heat and keep a constant simmer. Make sure to stir occasionally so the berries don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Cook the berry mixture for about 10 minutes. It will start to thicken and create a nice sauce. Remove from the heat and cook for about 10 minutes.
You really only need 1 pint of berries for this recipe. That is plenty to fill the pastries. I wanted to sample 2 different flavors, so I made 2 batches of the filling; one blueberry and one raspberry. If you make 2 batches of the filling, you will have a lot left over. This isn’t a bad thing! You can store the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days and use it as a homemade jam on toast or crackers. Super yummy!
Next, preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Unroll one pie crust on the counter. Cut the pie crust into a rectangle shape and discard the extra dough (or feel free to use it and make mini Pop-Tarts). Cut the rectangle into 9 pieces, about 2×3 in size. Place the dough on the baking sheet, leaving room between each piece.
This recipe make 9 Pop-Tarts. I left the pie crust as is so the Pop-Tarts were a bit smaller than you would get with store-bought Pop-Tarts. You can use a rolling pin to flatten the pie crust a bit, to about 1/8-inch, and make slightly larger Pop-Tarts if you prefer.
Add a scoop of the berry mixture to the center of each piece of dough. You want enough filling on the dough so you can enjoy a taste with each bite but don’t overload the dough with the filling or it will ooze out the sides while baking!
Unroll the second pie crust and follow the same process as before; cut the pie crust into a rectangle shape, then cut the rectangle into 9 pieces, about 2×3 in size. Either discard or use the leftover dough. And, don’t forget to rollout and flatten the dough if you did this previously.
Place the pieces of dough on top of the berry mixture to make a second layer of dough.
Use a fork to crimp the edges around each Pop-Tart to seal in the berry mixture.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack and let cool slightly. The filling will be incredibly hot, and you don’t want to burn the inside of your mouth!
One trick I like to use is to grab the parchment paper with one hand while holding the baking sheet in the other hand. I then slowly pull the parchment paper (with the Pop-Tarts on top) onto the cooling rack. This is easier and faster than removing the Pop-Tarts one by one and make for easier cleanup in the next step.
You want the Pop-Tarts to be warm for this step but not too hot. You’re going to make the icing for the top. If the Pop-Tarts are warm, the icing will drip down the sides and cover the Pop-Tart. If the Pop-Tarts are too hot, the icing will melt, and you’ll have a mess! This is where the parchment paper on top of the cooling rack comes in handy too! Any icing that goes off the sides of the Pop-Tarts will catch on the parchment paper and won’t drip all over the counter.
Mix the powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1 Tbsp water. You want the icing to be thick, not runny. If the icing seems to be too thick, add an additional ½ Tbsp water to thin it out slightly. Spoon the frosting over the top of each Pop-Tart and let it drip down the sides.
Next, add a few sprinkles. I didn’t work fast enough to add sprinkles to each Pop-Tart so only half of mine has sprinkles. The icing will start to set and won’t hold the sprinkles, so you have to work fast. Perhaps try adding icing to 2 or 3 Pop-Tarts, then add the sprinkles, then move on to the next 2-3 Pop-Tarts, etc. Whatever works for you!
Enjoy the Pop-Tarts while still warm. The berry filling is to die for! Seriously, I could have eaten it by the spoonful 🙂
Store any leftovers in an airtight container on the counter, once fully cooled. You can reheat them for about 20-30 seconds in the microwave the next day and they are just as good!
The recipe can be found here.
Happy Cooking!
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