Food and Recipes Recipes Homemade Pop Tarts 4.0 (1) 1 Review The filling for these pop tarts can easily be replaced with your favorite jam or fruit filling, but we're partial to the classic brown sugar-cinnamon center. The soft pastry is buttery and crumbly, making it hard to justify grabbing store-bought pop tarts ever again. By Micah A Leal Micah A Leal Micah Leal is a chef and recipe developer with more than 5 years of professional experience in restaurants and bakeries such as Husk Restaurant and Harken Cafe & Bakery in Charleston, South Carolina. Micah Leal is an enthusiastic chef with a special interest in the food science and culinary histories that shape the recipes people make today. His reputation for making recipes accessible and thoughtfully teaching difficult kitchen techniques is informed by his experience as a pastry chef as well as his background as a high school teacher. He has also developed nearly 200 recipes for southernliving.com and Southern Living Magazine. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on April 8, 2019 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Active Time: 40 mins Total Time: 2 hrs 25 mins Yield: 9 pop tarts Ingredients Pastry Dough 2 cups + 6 Tbsp. all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting 2 tablespoons sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cubed 1/4 cup vegetable shortening 3 egg yolks 1/4 cup whole milk Filling 1/2 cup brown sugar 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon Assembly 1 egg 1 teaspoon water Frosting 1 cup powdered sugar 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 5 to 6 tablespoons heavy cream Directions Make Pastry Dough: Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a medium-size bowl. Use your hands or a pastry cutter to incorporate butter and shortening into flour, with a few pea-sized pieces of butter remaining. In a small bowl, whisk together yolks and milk. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients with a spoon. Use your hands to fold the dough over on itself a few times. Shape into a 2-inch thick rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour. Make Filling: Combine filling ingredients in a small bowl with a fork until fully combined. Set aside. Assemble Pop Tarts: Beat together egg and water; set aside. On a floured surface, roll dough into a 1/8-inch thick rectangle. Cut into eighteen 3- x 4-inch rectangles, re-rolling the scraps of dough as needed. Working with 1 small rectangle at a time, brush surface with egg wash, and spread 1 Tablespoon of Filling around the middle of the rectangle, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Brush another rectangle with egg wash and place the wet side on top of the brown sugar-covered surface. Press sides together and crimp the edges with a fork. Transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining rectangles. Use a toothpick to prick a few holes in the center of each pop tart. Transfer baking sheet to refrigerator for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush surface of each pop tart with egg wash and bake, rotating halfway through, until the edges become golden brown, about 25 minutes. Transfer pop tarts to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting. Make Frosting: Combine powdered sugar and cinnamon. Add vanilla and 5 Tbsp. cream; mix until combined. Add more cream if needed to thin frosting. Frost pop tarts, and serve after frosting has dried slightly. Micah A. Leal Rate it Print