Junk Food Remade: Pop-tarts

I’m super excited about this post.  Did you ever make something and it turned out ridiculously better than you expected.  Yup, that’s this one.  These were so good I actually ate some pieces of my little guys, which he for some reason didn’t eat.  I don’t do that normally.   I think the other reason I enjoyed this was because the man of my dreams took our enthusiastic little hiking boys out into nature for a bit.  It was pretty peaceful and Miss F and I really felt like baking.

First turn on some awesome music.  Really…just do it.

Whisk the flour, sugar and salt, and combine those with the butter using a hand blender or a food processor.  You want it combined to the point that you have pea-sized pieces.  I had a 6-year-old doing most of the blending so she got as close as she could, shown above.  Over-mixing will result in less flaky crust so err on the side of less blending.

Mix the  milk and eggs with the flour/butter mixture until just combined.  Then divide the dough in half.  One half will be for the top and one for the bottom of the pop-tart.

Roll the dough out (about 1/8 inch thick) to about the size of a 13×9 pan.  Your goal is to make 9 3″x4″ rectangles. Repeat with the other half of the dough.

Brush the dough with the beaten egg.

I let my sweet girl pick the flavors so she picked cherry preserves and nutella.  Love her.

Other options:

Pumpkin filling from a can or homemade

cinnamon and sugar

goat cheese, lemon zest, and thyme

other jams/preserves like this one

melted chocolate chips

onion jam

cooked meat (ode to the British Isles)

sun-dried tomatoes and feta

You can pretty much put whatever you want as a filling, sweet or savory.  We were making these for dessert, so we chose sweet.  When I make these again, I will throw some onion jam in…for sure.  Just make sure, whatever it is, that you leave a 1/2 inch space along each side to close it off.  You will see in the next photos that I overfilled mine, but I knew I would prefer them on the messy side to eating a mouthful of pastry with no filling.  You get me?  :)

Once filled you can place the cut out tops on.  Press down the sides with a fork and poke with a few holes so they don’t puff up too much.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until slightly browned

Since we were making these for dessert, I made up a little glaze with 1/2 c. powdered sugar and about 1 T. of milk.  Add the milk in gradually, as it doesn’t take a lot to make it thinned.  I tossed in a little vanilla bean paste (1/2 tsp) simply because I’ve been obsessed with it for the last year.  My love hasn’t faded for it yet.  Get it here.  I will change the life of your baking.

Drizzle after the pop-tarts have cooled.

Pop-tarts

(adapted from King Arthur Flour)

Pastry:

2 cups flour
1 T. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pats
1 large egg
2 T. milk

1 egg, to brush pastry

Icing:

1/2 c. powdered sugar

1 T. milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste

 

There were more licking fingers than I could handle at this point.

Enjoy making these.  I really did.  If the weather is cool and you turn some Ray Lamontagne on, you might enjoy it more.

17 comments to Junk Food Remade: Pop-tarts

  • I will definitely enjoy making these (with my daughter helping me out, and messing with all the ingredients too…makes baking a lot more fun!)
    Thanks for posting!

  • Definitely making these this weekend for my housemates! Brown sugar and cinnamon with sweet potatoes :)

  • Lois Haley

    I made these with the kids last week and they were a huge hit…..the jam filled was the #1 favorite(we took a vote after tasting every variety. The jam ones reminded my kids of the tarts their English grandma makes for them. We also did the Nutella and cinnamon/sugar filled. Fun, fun. Frances and I are thinking about baking some to sell at our cycling team fundraisers. Thanks for inspiring us with your creative posts. Keep them coming!

  • Wow these look delicious – I am definitely inspired to make these ASAP.

  • This is such a wonderful idea! :) I will definitely be testing this recipe out sometime! Thanks for sharing – my little brother LOVES poptarts, but he cannot have them very often. He’ll love this alternative!

  • yum!! I can’t wait to make these this week…

  • Jo

    Looks delicious. Would love for you to share this with us over at foodepix.com.

  • Heidi

    Can you use whole wheat flour?

    • Bon

      I don’t see why not, Heidi :) I’ve used it for other crackers, just maybe use a little less since whole wheat flour tends to make a more dense dough :) Let me know how it works out!

  • daria

    Hi Bon,
    I really enjoy your blog and found this recipe just today.
    I’m not very much familiar with US measures, so can you please clarify what is T. for milk and butter?

    thanks a million!
    cheers,
    daria

  • Becca

    Love this!what a great idea! I featured your craft on my blog’s weekly inspiration post! I love if you shared the post and we can keep the love flowing to all the bloggers! http://thenotsosecretlifeofbee.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/be-inspired-2/

  • emily

    Having just made some baked goods to sell for my daughter’s school, I wanted to suggest:

    Make something super easy yet truly delicious. We made tarts, pies etc. but the Irish Soda Bread with Chia seeds

    was just as popular and 90% easier to make! Think: mix, pour, bake, cool, slice and bag or wrap.

    Enjoy!

    Emily

  • I am making these right now for my son’s 2nd birthday party. The first batch just came out and they are AMAZING. I used boysenberry preserves. The pastry is seriously perfect. I am not a baker and have never even made a pie, but this recipe makes me feel like a baker. So so good. Thanks so much for sharing! My cinnamon sugar goat cheese ones are in the oven right now and I can’t wait till they come out!!!