Sweet Tarts: Homemade Pop Tarts Recipe a la Peabody

Oh, Pop Tarts. No matter what the makers of Toaster Strudel may say, I'd never hoard you uneaten in my locker.

After having made a batch of Avatar-inspired pop tarts for my most recent Serious Eats post, from which I adapted a recipe for homemade pop tarts on Culinary Concoctions by Peabody, I was naturally also tempted to make a batch in the more traditional pop tart format.

Made using an all-butter crust (Peabody's called for part shortening, but lacking shortening I went the all-butter route), these are a bit flakier and less soft than the pop tarts I remember, but they've got a leg up in the delicious department--and who wouldn't be delighted to choose their own Pop Tart flavorings? (isn't that every child's--and some adults'--dream?)

The sky's the limit with these babies--you could fill them with jam and top them with a thin icing with sprinkles for the traditional look and feel of the pop tart--or you could go straight for the fatty jugular as I did with half my batch, filling them with decadent dark chocolate and topping them with peanut butter icing (photo to come). You're welcome.

Homemade Pop Tarts

Makes 6-8 tarts, maybe even more, depending on size; adapted from wonderful, wonderful Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

For the crust

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened and cut into cubes
• 3 tablespoons cold water

For the filling

Jam, about 1 heaping teaspoonful per pastry (your choice of flavor; I used blueberry)

For the icing

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
• heavy cream, to thin (you could use milk...but I like cream)

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set to the side.
2. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and blend with a fork, pastry cutter, or your impeccably clean hands. Blend until the mixture is fairly coarse. Add the water, bit by bit, gently mixing the dough after each addition, until the dough is cohesive enough to form a ball.
3. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. Cut out rectangles approximately the size of index cards (3x5 inches), or smaller if you prefer a more modest portion (I didn't). Make sure you have an even number of cutouts. I think that mine might have been a little thicker than 1/8 an inch, but I ended up with 12 rectangles (for 6 pastries).
4. On half of the rectangles, place a small spoonful of the jam of your choice in the center. You don't want it to be too thick or the top crust will mound on top of it.
5. Place the remaining rectangles of dough on top of the ones with jam. Crimp all four edges by hand or with a fork to ensure that your filling won't ooze out. I also poked the top of each with a fork, to vent them.
6. Place the tarts on your prepared baking sheet, and bake for 7 to 8 minutes, or until light golden on the edges. Remove from the oven and let them cool completely.
7. While the tarts cool, prepare your icing; make sure it is fairly thin but not so thin that it will just drip off. Once the pop tarts are cool, drizzle it on top. Garnish with sprinkles.

Comments

[Dana McCauley]

You know that I love you, right? And, you know that I generally think scratch is best, right? But here I have to say you have wasted your time. Pop tarts are the one food that has to be manufactured. Really, it's just not the same if you take any time or thought to create them in a new or better format. What makes them bad also makes them good!

[Nicole]

Peabody's pictures are delightful! I love the large glassy sprinkles that they used on their site!
<3 I would try my hand at a mayer lemony tart!

[dianE]

thumbs up for this out've the box entry. now time to make some tarts, thns cakespy

[Leslie F. Miller]

Let me state for the record that I both love you and hate you. :-)

[Sean]

Never thought about making my own poptarts, though now that you mention it, it sounds pretty interesting and good.

[Tonya @ What's On My Plate]

WOW! This sounds like the best idea ever.

[Lucy]

I've never tried a pop tart ( very bad, I know) but my these look good. I don't think I would be able to stop at just one of these - they are far too cute and delicious :)

[peabody]

I need to make these again. They were good. I think the shortening helps with the flaky aspect. But then again, who knows. :)

[Chou]

Oh yum. Square pie?

[Serious Cakes]

Oh MY. Finally got a chance to try this recipe (the hubs was sick and thought pop tarts would be the cure). I remembered seeing this recipe on here and got to work (rather than travail the soggy outdoors). They were sooooo very delicious! I made a double batch and ended up with 16; 8 blueberry (for the sick boy), 4 strawberry, and 4 brown sugar cinnamon.
This recipe will find a nice home in my recipe box, thank you!!

-SeriousCakes

[jake the dog]

to me i dont care how much toster strrudel sais you taste horrible,you will always be my favorie breakfast AND snack