These utterly delicious homemade pop tarts are the perfect grab and go breakfast for busy mornings or fun treat a weekend brunch! Jam gets squished between two sheets of puff pastry, baked to perfection, then topped with a not too sweet icing and sprinkles – because who doesn’t love sprinkles!
Whether you go with strawberry pop tarts, blueberry pop tarts, or your favorite jam – these sweet treats are an upgrade on the box kind and will quickly become a new family favorite!
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There is this local coffee shop we like to go to that has tasty homemade pop tarts that my entire family loves. I’ve had this recipe just sitting there for months, waiting to be published.
Then this week after Taylor Swift talked about her love for homemade pop tarts on the New Heights podcast (just added that to my list of Taylor Swift party foods), I knew it time to finally hit the publish button!
Since I’m not a full-time bakery or Taylor Swift, I knew I wanted to create a homemade pop tarts recipe that was delicious but also wouldn’t take up my entire day. This recipe uses premade pie dough rather than puff pastry (that many pop tart recipes use) which makes it easier to work with and do larger batches at once.
I also wanted to make something versatile so you could change up the fillings to work for all sorts of parties in addition to breakfast! Use them with strawberry filling and rainbow sprinkles on a birthday charcuterie board, with blueberry filling and blue sprinkles for a fun breakfast, or even with raspberry jam and pink sprinkles for a girl themed baby shower!
Why You’ll Love These Homemade Pop Tarts
- Quick – these can be ready to enjoy in under 30 minutes since we’re using a pre-made pie crust and not homemade dough! And each batch makes eight pop tarts, so you can make one batch and enjoy all week!
- Easy to customize – I’ve given you the base recipe and some of my favorite filling options, but you can really fill the with whatever combination you want to customize the colors, flavors, and toppings!
- Make them festive – grab a tree-shaped cookie cutter and you have an easy Christmas pop tart. Make a giant pop tart as a treat for a pajama party. Bring in a plate of pop-tarts to work instead of cookies (no offense to cookies, they are equally delicious).
Ingredients in pop tarts with pie crust
Ingredient notes & Substitutions
- Pie crust – you want refrigerated pie crust (not frozen) that you can pull out of the fridge and immediately roll out. One package typically comes with two pie crusts.
- Jam – you can use any homemade jam in any flavor that you like. I’ve tried strawberry, blueberry, and raspberry and they’re all delicious! I recommend jam over something sweeter like marmalade.
- Vanilla extract – this may seem like a weird ingredient to add, but it cuts down on the sweetness of the jam!
- Milk – if you’re trying to avoid dairy, you can also use water or even lemon juice if you want to add a little acid.
How to make Homemade Pop Tarts with Pie Crust
Once you make these simple homemade pop tarts you will never want to go back to the box kind!
These easy-to-follow instructions, with helpful pictures, will have you making your own nostalgic treats in no-time. I’ve included basic instructions below but make sure to check out the full recipe card at the bottom of this post for full directions and measurements.
1 – make the pop tarts
- Roll out the pie crusts and cut into eight rectangles each so you have 16 pieces of dough. Then poke holes into eight of them to make your pop tart tops.
- Make the filling by boiling the jam, cornstarch, and water together on the stove.
- Add filling to the bottom pop tarts (the ones without the holes) then place the top pieces of pie crust to make your pop tarts.
- Use a fork to combine the dough together all around the pop tart edges, sealing the filling inside.
2 – Bake and top the Pop Tarts
- Bake the pop tarts in an oven at 425 degrees for eight minutes, then let cool.
- While the pop tarts are cooking, make your icing by mixing the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla in a small bowl until smooth.
- Pour your icing over the cooled pop tarts and top with sprinkles of your choosing.
- Allow the icing to harden and the pop tarts to cool slightly before enjoying!
Allow your pop tarts to cool to the touch before eating.The inside of the pop tart will likely still be warm and gooey even though the pop tarts are cool enough for you to handle! I’ve burned my tongue many times eating these too quickly!
How to store Homemade Pop Tarts
Store any leftover pop tarts in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days. You can eat them right from room temperature or if you’d like, you can warm them up in the oven for a few minutes to enjoy them warm all over again!
If you’d like to freeze the pop tarts, wrap each one individually in plastic wrap then place all of them in a freezer safe gallon size bag. Freeze for up to three months, taking them out individually to let them thaw on the counter overnight when you’re ready to eat!
More Filling Variations
There are so many different combinations of pop tart fillings that you can use but these are some of our favorites!
- Triple berry – use a combination of blueberry, blackberry, and raspberry jams to make your filling!
- Strawberry lemonade – add a little lemon juice and lemon zest to the strawberry jam while heating it up to add some lemony flavor.
- Blueberry pop tarts – use blueberry jam as your base, I do like to add lemon sometimes to cut the sweetness of the blueberries!
- Apple cinnamon – combine apple pie filling with some cinnamon to fill the pop tarts then sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar on top!
- Brown sugar cinnamon – make this classic by filling the pop tarts with the filling we use in our homemade cinnamon rolls!
Helpful Tips
If you want a thicker crust start with cutting 6 rectangles out of a 12×12-inch rectangle. then re-roll the excess dough to make the final two pieces.
Try making shapes for different holidays! These are really fun as Christmas trees, hearts, and even Easter eggs!
Make an egg wash to give the pop tarts a glossy golden brown color by beating one egg with one tablespoon of water then brushing the pop tarts all over with the mixture before baking. This is an extra step, but it does give them a fun touch of color!
Spoon the jam mixture onto the pop tarts while the jam is still warm to ensure that it spreads to the entire pop tart. No need to spread it around to the edges on your own, it will melt and spread when cooking.
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Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts
Ingredients
Poptarts
- 1 package 9″ refrigerator pie crust (2 crusts)
- ½ cup strawberry jam or jam of your choice
- 1 TBS cornstarch
- 1 TBS cold water
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 TBS milk
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- sprinkles (garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Roll out each pie crust dough into a rectangle roughly 17×13 inches in size. Cut 8 rectangles out of the dough, each measuring 4″x6″ inches. Repeat with the second pie crust.1 package 9″ refrigerator pie crust
- When all 16 pieces of 4×6 inch dough are cut, poke holes in the center of 8 using a fork. These will be the tops of your pop tarts.
- In a small saucepan, heat the jam over medium heat. While the jam is heating up, dissolve the cornstarch and water in a small mixing bowl.1/2 cup strawberry jam, 1 TBS cornstarch, 1 TBS cold water
- Add cornstarch mixture to the jam and stir continuously until mixture begins to boil. Once boiling, remove from heat and set aside.
- Place the bottoms of your pop tarts (the 8 pieces without holes) on your baking sheet. Carefully spoon out ½ tablespoons at a time of your jam mixture. Once all bottoms are covered with the jam mixture, place the tops of your pop tarts (the 8 pieces with holes) and place directly on top of each slice.
- Use the ends of a fork to press along the edges of the pop tarts, combining together the dough from the tops and bottoms.
- Place the sheet of pop tarts in the oven and cook for 8 minutes.
- While your pop tarts are cooking, begin mixing your icing. In a small mixing bowl, combine the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. Mix until smooth.1 cup powdered sugar, 2 TBS milk, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- When cooking time is complete for the pop tarts, remove from the oven and immediately pour your icing over pop tarts and top with sprinkles if desired.sprinkles
- Allow pop tarts to cool before eating.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Info
More Fun Breakfast Recipes
If you’re looking for more fun and nostalgic breakfast recipes, try one of these next!
- Rainbow donuts – these colorful baked donuts are the perfect addition to any breakfast celebration!
- Mini pancakes – everything is better when it’s mini and these fluffy pancakes are no exception!
- Strawberry hand pies – another great way to use refrigerated pie crust for breakfast!
- Cinnamon roll monkey bread muffins – cinnamon rolls made mini!
- Breakfast rolls – everyone’s favorite breakfast ingredients all rolled up into one fun breakfast snack!
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