Homemade Pop Tarts

Pop tarts are a popular type of baked good that can be easily prepared at home. For homemade pop tarts, you don’t need any complicated kitchen gadgets. They look so professional that you might be surprised you don’t need any special culinary experience.

Your children can help you with the preparation of these homemade pop tarts, making them a particularly fun treat to prepare with your family.

You can improvise with the filling – berry, fruit jams, chia jams, chopped dried fruits and candied fruits, brown sugar, Nutella, or even salted caramel. You can combine flavors as well as add sprinklings of cinnamon, cardamom, or mint to the filling.

The base of our homemade pop tarts is a ready-made pie crust, which saves time, but you can also prepare the dough yourself or use puff pastry.

Another part of these homemade pop tarts that you can experiment with is the composition of the glaze. Milk and powdered sugar create a classic flavor or coffee liqueur with powdered sugar for an elegant and unique flavor.

If you want your glaze to pop with a bit of a tart tang, add lemon juice instead of milk.

You can easily prepare vegan homemade pop tarts by brushing the tarts with nut milk (instead of egg) before baking and using coconut milk or almond milk for the glaze. Try almond milk with raspberry sugar for a delightful flavor!

Ingredients for homemade pop tarts

Makes four servings

2 pie crusts
1/2 cup orange jam
1 egg
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 to 2 tbsp. milk
pastry sprinkles for serving

Instructions for homemade pop tarts

1. Prepare a 3×5 inch rectangular paper template (or just use a 3×5 card). Sprinkle the board with flour and lay out the pie crust on it. Cut off the rounded portions. Cut out 4 rectangles from the template. Prepare 4 rectangles in the same fashion from the other crust.

2. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Place the 4 rectangles some distance apart. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of jam on each rectangle in the center.

3. Beat the egg and brush around the perimeter of the rectangles. Cover the pop tarts with the pastry and secure the edges with a fork to prevent the jam from leaking out. Brush the outside of the pop tarts with egg and prick a few times with a fork. Bake the pop tarts in a preheated 400ºF oven for 12-17 minutes until golden.

4. Cool the tarts on a wire rack. Prepare the glaze. Add room temperature milk to the sifted powdered sugar 1 tsp at a time to make a glaze that will not spread. If the glaze is runny, add more powdered sugar. Spread the glaze over the tarts and decorate with sprinkles.