Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: So much better than the shockingly sweet yet bland taste of store-bought pop tarts.Texture: The dough for these pop tarts is made with cold butter so the tarts are flaky, buttery, and slightly crisp at the edges.Ease: Rolling out the dough and forming the pop tarts takes a little time, but it could actually be a fun activity to do with kids!Appearance: I love the homemade icing and sprinkles on top. You can’t see one of these and NOT get a big smile on your face.Pros: So much better than store-bought pop tarts and completely customizable. Perfect after-school treat too!Cons: None.Would I make this again? Yes, and there are so many possible variations.
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I definitely ate Pop Tarts frequently when I was a kid. Though by the time I was in Jr. High, apparently my taste buds had become more refined because suddenly Pop Tarts seemed too sugary sweet, especially for breakfast. I started to realize that so much sugar in the morning would inevitably lead to a crash a few hours later and then math class would seem even more boring.
(If only they had taught math in baking terms.)
Yet, I still find myself craving Pop Tarts every once in a while. There’s something to be said about a portable treat that simply includes a sweet filling wrapped in buttery pastry and topped with a smooth icing. There’s a reason pop tarts have been so popular!
Homemade pop tarts require some assembly (and therefore patience), but the fun part is in the fact that you can fill them with whatever you like.
I chose strawberry jam filling for these Copycat Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts, but you could do anything your family likes. Same goes with the topping, feel free to get creative with icing flavors or sprinkles.
Whether you’re enjoying these for breakfast or as an after-school dessert, these Strawberry Pop Tarts are sure to be a hit. Enjoy with a glass of cold milk!
How to Make Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts
What are Pop Tarts?
Pop Tarts are sweet pastries, made from two rectangular pastry crusts, sandwiched together and filled with a wide assortment of sweet fillings, and typically finished with a sweet icing glaze on top. They are known for being a favorite quick, sweet breakfast treat. Pop-Tarts are a typical childhood favorite, and can be found in any American supermarket. They are available in some other countries in supermarkets or specialty stores, too.
Store-bought vs. Homemade Pop Tarts
If you’re used to the store-bought ones, then you are in for a TREAT with homemade. They taste so much more flavorful and balanced. The crust is so much flakier and you can really get generous with that icing on top! Just take a look:
Ingredients for Homemade Pop Tarts:
- All-purpose flour – measured correctly! If you add too much flour, you may end up with rubbery pastry that doesn’t get a crisp and flaky texture in the oven.
- Granulated sugar –it’s not a pop tart if it isn’t sweet, though these are more balanced than the store-bought kind.
- Salt – helps to balance out the sweetness in the dough.
- Cinnamon – just a little to bring a delicious, light spice to the pastry.
- Butter – always use unsalted butter in baking. Make sure it’s cold for this recipe to prevent it from melting as it’s mixed to ensure that lovely flaky pastry.
- Water – again, make sure it’s cold to help the pastry get flaky.
- Honey – just a touch. Even this little bit of honey improves the strength of the dough, helps the pastry retain moisture as it bakes, and gives the finished product a richer color and fuller flavor. It also assists in preventing staling, meaning your pop tarts will stay delicious and fresh longer! Don’t worry if you don’t have any honey in the pantry, you can safely leave it out and your pop tarts will still be delicious!
- Strawberry Preserves – for the strawberry filling! Less is more.
How to Make Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts recipe:
- Prepare your pans. Line two baking pans with sheets of parchment paper.
- Make the dough. In a food processor or large bowl, add the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pulse lightly. Add the cubed butter and pulse. Pour in the cold water and honey.
- Roll out the dough. Lightly flour a work surface. Shape the dough into a 1-inch thick, 7-inch diameter circle (use a ruler for total accuracy!). Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangle. Cut the dough into 3-inch by 4-inch rectangles.
- Assemble the Pop Tarts. Brush the dough lightly with water, ensuring that the edges get wet. Fill each center with 1 heaping teaspoon of strawberry preserves. It will look like a tiny amount but I promise, it’ll be plenty. Any more and it’ll burst out during baking. Cover each filled pastry with a second piece of dough and crimp the edges together with a fork to seal the Pop Tart.
- Make the egg wash and bake.Mix the egg and water. Brush each filled rectangle with egg wash. Bake until golden brown and pastry is fully baked. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
- Make the glaze. Stir together the sifted powdered sugar, vanilla, milk, and corn syrup.
- Frost the Pop Tarts. After the Pop Tarts have cooled completely, glaze each Pop Tart. Top with sprinkles and enjoy!
Tip for Homemade Pop Tarts: Keep pastry ingredients cold!
Just like most typical pie or pastry dough recipes, temperature is important here. Keeping the butter and water nice and cold prevents the butter from melting, and ensures your dough is nice and flaky once baked. As with any pastry, be careful not to overmix or overhandle, so your pastry doesn’t end up rubbery!
Can I reheat these Strawberry Pop Tarts in a toaster?
We haven’t tried that, but I wouldn’t recommend it! Real Pop-Tarts contain a bunch of artificial ingredients that are designed to keep intact and not melt their way into your toaster; these homemade ones don’t contain those same ingredients. The glaze would definitely make a big old mess and probably ruin your toaster! If you wish to eat these pop tarts warm, I would recommend reheating them for a few minutes in a hot oven, and then serving a little of the glaze on the side, if you wish (glazing hot pop tarts will cause the glaze to soak right into the pastry, making the pastry soggy).
Do I have to use corn syrup in the glaze?
The pop tart glaze contains just a little corn syrup, which helps the glaze set up nicely and dry on top of the pop tart, so it’s not wet to the touch. Corn syrup gets a bad reputation, and sure, it’s not exactly a health food, but it’s really just an invert sugar (meaning that it’s a sugar that’s liquid at room temperature). I think people confuse the corn syrup we use for baking with the commercial variant, high fructose corn syrup, which can be found in processed foods. They’re not the same thing, and the basic baking variety can actually do some really cool things in baked goods. If you prefer to skip it, just note that the glaze will stay pretty wet and won’t dry or harden fully, so you won’t be able to store the pop tarts stacked on top of each other without the glaze getting messed up.
PS: Did you know that agave syrup contains more fructose than high fructose corn syrup? (not that it’s used in this recipe, but interesting nonetheless)
Can I use any other type of jam in Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts?
Yes, you can use any type of jam or preserves you like for the filling! Everything else can stay the same, but just swap out the same quantity of jam filling for any other flavor you prefer.
Can Homemade Pop Tarts be made ahead of time?
You can make the pastry dough up to a day in advance – just store it in the fridge, wrapped well in plastic wrap. Alternatively, you can fully assemble the pop tarts and cover well with plastic wrap, and store in the fridge for up to one day before baking.
Also, just know that these pop tarts are just as delicious if not more so on the second day as they are right after baking!
How long will Homemade Pop Tarts keep?
Store pop tarts in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days. They will keep a day or two past that, but they won’t be as flaky and delicious past three days.
Can you freeze Homemade Pop Tarts?
Unbaked, assembled pop tarts can be frozen on a baking tray until solid, then transferred to a ziptop bag or airtight container for up to a month. Thaw in the fridge for an hour or so before baking, cooling and glazing!
You can also freeze baked, cooled and unglazed pop tarts in an airtight container or ziptop bag for up to a month. Simply thaw at room temperature for an hour, then reheat in the oven for a few minutes or until crisp again, then cool, glaze and serve! Just note that the crispness of the pastry is definitely lost somewhat using this method – but they will still taste good!
More Copycat Recipes You’ll Love:
- Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts
- Cosmic Brownies
- Oatmeal Cream Pies
- Homemade Oreo Cookies
- Homemade Fudge Rounds
- Brown Butter Rice Crispy Treats
Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts
By: Tessa Arias
5 from 1 vote
Yield: 12 pop tarts
Prep Time: 45 minutes mins
Inactive Time: 30 minutes mins
Total Time: 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins
Review Print
Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts have a sweet, slightly flaky pastry, are filled with strawberry jam, and iced with a simple vanilla glaze and sprinkles. This copycat recipe is SO much better than the sickly sweet store-bought version!
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 2 ¼ cups (290 grams) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon (65 grams) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons (100 grams) cold water
- ½ teaspoon honey
For the filling:
- Strawberry Preserves
For the egg wash:
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons water
For the glaze:
- 1 ½ cups (188 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup (about 22g)
- Sprinkles (optional)
Instructions
Make the dough:
Adjust the oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two sheet trays with parchment and set aside.
In a food processor or large mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pulse lightly, or mix with a whisk, until just combined. Add the cubed butter all at once and pulse for 10-20 seconds, or if mixing by hand, cut the butter into the dry mixture with a pastry cutter for 5-6 minutes, or until the mixture looks sandy and no large clumps remain. Be careful not to overmix as the butter will get too warm.
Pour in the cold water and honey in a steady stream while pulsing the dough mixture in the food processor, or if mixing by hand, pour cold water and honey into the dough mixture and mix, until the mixture comes together and a dough ball has formed. Check the dough to make sure that there are no visible flour or sugar patches, but don’t overmix.
Remove the dough from the food processor or bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Fold the dough 2-3 times and shape into a 1-inch thick, 7-inch diameter circle. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Once the dough has cooled and rested, flour your work surface to roll out the dough. Roll the dough into a rectangle, about 3 feet in length, 8 inches in height, and about ⅛ of an inch thick. Using a pastry cutter, pizza cutter, knife or bench scraper, cut the dough into rectangles 3 inches wide x 4 inches in height. You should be able to cut between 18-20 rectangles depending on how thick the dough has been rolled.
Lift 8 of the cut rectangles off your work surface with a spatula or bench scraper and place them onto one of the prepared baking sheets. These will be the bottoms of your pop tarts. Brush the dough lightly with water, ensuring that the edges get wet; otherwise the top and bottom dough won’t stick together completely when crimped and the filling will leak out. Fill each center with 1 heaping teaspoon of strawberry preserves, leaving about ¼-inch border from filling to the edge of the dough. Cover each filled pastry with a second dough rectangle and crimp the edges together with a fork. Repeat process with any remaining cut rectangles onto second prepared baking sheet.
Make the egg wash:
In a small bowl, mix together the egg and water.
Brush each filled rectangle with egg wash and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and the pastry is fully baked. Let cool completely before glazing, about 30-45 minutes.
Make the glaze:
While the pop tarts are baking, in a small bowl, whisk together the sifted powdered sugar, vanilla, milk, and corn syrup, mixing until smooth. The glaze should be thick, but not too thick to spread.
Use a spoon or offset spatula to glaze each cooled pop tart. Top with sprinkles of your choice.
Leave to set for 30 minutes to 1 hour before eating, or at least 3 hours (or until they are dry to the touch – this will depend on your kitchen environment) before stacking on top of each other, to prevent the glaze from getting messed up and smearing, or sticking to the bottom of the pop tart placed on top of it.
Show us!If you make this recipe, be sure to snap a picture and share it on Instagram with #handletheheat so we can all see!
Recipe Notes
Optional: After crimping the edges, you can trim the edges of each Pop Tart with a sharp knife or pizza cutter for a super-straight, perfect finish!
This post was originally published in 2013 and updated in 2022 with new photos and recipe improvements. Photos by Joanie Simon.
