Homemade Pop Tarts

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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.

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

  1. 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.

  2. Make Filling: Combine filling ingredients in a small bowl with a fork until fully combined. Set aside.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

    Homemade Pop Tarts
    Micah A. Leal
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