Pop Tarts!

Homemade Pop Tarts FTW

 

Original recipe from Cooking Classy

Let's make these when the rain pours! The below recipe is a bit more time consuming, but really fun if you have the patience.

And upon purchasing all of the ingredients, I later stumbled upon the brilliant Rhea Drummond’s version which included purchasing pre made pie crusts—a much easier alternative. I would go that route and follow the steps from there if you have little ones who can't contain their excitement.

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  • 2 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour , plus more for rolling
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp granulated sugar
  • 1 cup unsalted butter , cold and diced into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 4 - 5 Tbsp ice water
  • 3/4 cup strawberry preserves , divided (or other preserve of choice)
 
For the Icing
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 Tbsp half and half , plus more as needed
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  1. In a food processor, pulse together flour, salt and granulated sugar. Add butter and pulse mixture until resembles coarse meal (it won't really come together in pieces much at this point, so don't over-process, just pulse until butter is no longer in large pieces).
  2. Add 4 Tbsp water and pulse several times, if it doesn't come together in clumps add remaining 1 Tbsp water. Drop mixture onto a clean surface, gather dough into a ball then divide into two portions. Shape each portion into about a 5-inch disk. Cover each with plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.
  3. Line two large, rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with 1 disk at a time (keep other in fridge to chill), roll dough out onto a floured surface to about 13 by 11-inch rectangle (when edges start to crack a little when rolling, seal them and continue rolling), then trim edges to get a 12 by 10-inch rectangle (to even the edges). Then cut into eight 5 by 3-inch rectangles (cut in half through the longness then three cuts through the opposite).
  4. Arrange 4 of the rectangles, spaced evenly apart on prepared baking sheet. Spread 1 1/2 Tbsp of jam evenly down the center of each rectangle, leaving about a 3/4-inch rim on all sides uncoated.
  5. Top each with another rectangle, then seal edges with your fingertips, then reseal with a fork. Poke the top center of each tart about 4 times with a toothpick. Cover and transfer to freezer to chill at least 2 hours or up to one week. Repeat process with remaining disk of dough.
  6. Position one oven rack near top third of the oven and a second oven rack near bottom third of the oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake frozen tarts until golden, rotating racks once halfway through baking, about 25 - 30 minutes (some of the preserves may leak out, which is fine, just peel it off once it cools). Allow to cool on baking sheet several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing: In a mixing bowl whisk together all icing ingredients well then add more half and half about 1/2 tsp at a time to reach desired consistency. Spread over tops of cooled pop tarts, leaving a small rim uncoated around all sides. Sprinkle tops with sprinkles if desired and allow glaze to set at room temperature. Store in an airtight container.

Note: You need to seal the edges of the homemade pop tarts very well, otherwise the filling will leak out. I used my fingers to seal the pop tarts, but you may need to use the back of a fork to properly seal the edges.