The Berry Best Homemade Pop Tarts
I love homemade pop tarts, but I really love these more than others. These berry pop tarts are simple, full of stuff you probably have in your fridge and pantry, and bring back childhood memories of sitting on the floor in my oversized-dad-t-shirt-turned-nightgown watching Saturday morning cartoons and munchin’ on a pop tart.
This homemade pop tart recipe is simple and straightforward. Pie dough + berry jam + fresh berries + icing + sprinkles = pop tart heaven. The jam I used was raspberry and rose, a flavor my neighbor gifted me around Valentine’s day. To add a burst of tartness, I placed 2 raspberries over the jam before closing up the hand pies with their second piece of dough. For these berry pop tarts, just pick your favorite jam and berry combination.
I opted to change things up a bit with Carla Lalli Music’s pie crust recipe from her new book “Where Cooking Begins” because I wanted to try out her butter-ribbon technique. Carla says this method of using a rolling pin and bench scraper yields extra fluffy pie dough because of the distribution of long flattened pieces of butter. This technique was easy to make, but I found with these pop tarts actually baked better by making my dough in a food processor (I used the same ingredients and ratios as Carla for this). Frozen pie dough is also a great option for ease.
After the pop tarts came out of the oven and cooled, I topped them with my all-time favorite glaze, Molly Yeh’s Greek yogurt glaze from her “Yogurt” Short Stack Edition. Yep, that awesome glaze on our ruby red grapefruit, campari and rosemary hand pies makes a comeback! This time, with a squirt of lemon juice and sprinkle of zest.
This kid-friendly recipe for homemade pop tarts is a perfect way to get the whole family in the kitchen but using dad’s oversized t-shirt as an apron this time. Grab your jam, put on Looney Tunes and make the berry best pop tarts on the internet this weekend!
The Berry Best Homemade Pop Tarts
Pop Tart Ingredients
Double serving of Carla Lalli Music’s pie dough
1 jar of berry jam, your choice
1 pint of fresh berries, your choice
1 egg
2 tbsp Greek yogurt
1 cup confectioners sugar
½ lemon, zested and juiced
2 tbsp. freeze-dried berries, crushed into a powder
Sprinkles
Pop Tart Directions
Double your pie dough ingredients and make according to directions.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Roll out pie dough to roughly ⅛ of an inch thick and cut pie dough into 3-inch by 4-inch rectangles. Place 2 teaspoons of jam in the center of half the rectangles. Top with 2-3 berries of your choice.
Brush edges of rectangles with an egg wash. Place empty rectangles over the top. Press together gently with your fingers and then cinch with fork tines. Brush the tops with egg wash. Poke holes in the top of the pop tarts to let steam escape.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown. Let cool completely.
In a bowl, combine Greek yogurt, confectioner’s sugar, lemon zest and juice. Adjust consistency to your preference by adding more greek yogurt for a thinner icing or more sugar for a thicker icing.
Spoon icing over the top and add sprinkles and freeze-dried berry dust.
