Easy Homemade Pop Tarts

Who doesn’t like PopTarts? This household does and so I decided I’m going to be fancy non fancy and make some because then I can say Ohh Ahh I made PopTarts.  I looked at a couple recipes online and they all looked pretty simple; I’m figuring, I got this!  Well I’d like to say that after my attempt, I’ll probably maybe perhaps never make them again.   I can't claim that they look amazing as I had hoped, but they tasted oh so good. I might even venture to say better than the real PopTarts.  Maybe I’ll make them once more. And maybe the next time it’ll go much smoother.

So my first feeble attempt was quite messy. I don’t know how these other people do it but I’d like to see their behind the scenes. I toggled between two recipes on Bake Me More's site and Smitten Kitchen's.  In the end, I was starting to feel real lazy and semi defeated that I gave up on the idea of making the fancy filling with the cornstarch (a la Smitten Kitchen) and just went straight for the easy squeeze bottle in the fridge and nothing more.  I honestly found it to be just fine and delicious.  So for those of you who plan on trying this, I think there’s no need for the added step of mixing in the cornstarch bla bla bla. But what do I know, maybe it makes the filling that much better. I didn’t even attempt the other filling options.

Here goes, the simplest way I found:

Ingredients:

1 package of refrigerated pie crust

Jelly – I used the standard Grape Smuckers.

Butter – few spoons will do.

Glaze, Icing, Sprinkles – whatever you want to top it with.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

There will be 2 pie crusts in the package. It’ll help to let the open package sit for a bit to room temperature. Impatient me didn’t wait THAT long...but I did let the dough soften up some. Dust your workspace with flour and unroll one of the pie crusts out into a rectangular shape. You should have it rolled out enough to cut a 9x13 piece.  I used a baking pan to measure it out and a pizza cutter to cut it.

Repeat with the 2^nd roll.

Next you’ll want to cut the big pieces into several smaller, even rectangles (your Pop Tarts), again using the pizza cutter. I managed a total of 16 smaller pieces.

Now many will say to use the cut off edges to make more or to make other treats.  This is about the point where I was getting annoyed because I couldn’t get it even enough. NOTE: a ruler would help. BUT, I didn’t have a ruler and after a couple attempts to make it look fancy and even, I say forget it... cut what I could cut..tossed the excess. Oooh, so wasteful!

Once you get all your pieces cut you’ll want to melt your butter.  I just tossed a couple spoons in a bowl and nuked it for 20 seconds in the microwave. Brush the butter along the edges of each rectangle. This will help seal your yummy packages.

Now place about 1 tsp of jelly (or whatever you opt for as your filling) in the center of each rectangle and then top it with another piece.  Press down on the four sides lightly to seal, then take a fork and crimp the edges all the way around. You’ll then want to poke small holes on the top of the pop tart so it puffs right when it bakes.

Baking time was about 8 minutes, give or take.  The jelly may ooze out (mine did) but that’s ok. It kind of hardens like a fruit roll up. I just peeled it off and ate it because I was feeling hungry and greedy.

While they are cooling on a rack, you can create your topping.

GLAZE

I did attempt this and semi- failed because I can never seem to get this mix right...

You will need:

1 cup of powdered sugar

Milk to thin.

Place the powder in a bowl and slowly pour milk in until it’s a thick syrup.  I swear I did this... but my results proved otherwise.

It never glazed over in that white tone that I wanted, more so rather an opaque. It still worked and held the sprinkles and tasted fine. Make sure your pop tarts are cooled first before pouring it on. I was impatient and threw them in the freezer.

ICING

Of course you can make your own or be non fancy lazy like me and buy a squeeze pouch and have the kiddos squeeze it on. Fun times for all.

SPRINKLES

Sprinkles makes even the non fancy, fancy.

Now comes the time where you can step back and be amazed by your creation. Even my horrible cutting skills were saved by the icing and sprinkles. Likely you can do a better job than me, but nobody in my house complained and the plate was empty before the day was over.