Homemade Poptarts
Skip the store-bought pastries and try these! They’re a great homemade substitution for poptarts or toaster pastries with a flaky crust, fresh strawberry filling, topped with a light icing and of course - sprinkles.
Prep Time: 3 hours
Cook Time: 30 minutes (plus 1 hour for cooling)
Total Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
Yield: Eight pastries
Ingredients
For the pastry crust
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
6-8 tablespoons ice cold water
1 egg for the egg wash
For the strawberry filling
1 pound (1 container) fresh strawberries, rinsed, dried and diced
3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons cold water
Pinch of salt
For the icing
2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons of milk
Sprinkles
Instructions
The day before or a few hours before you want to make your poptarts, prep the crust and strawberry filling. For the crust, cut the butter into small cubes and place in the freezer to chill for 5-10 minutes. While the butter is chilling, prep a bowl of ice water by adding cold water and ice cubes. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and salt. Once butter and water are chilled, add the cubed butter to the flour mixture and with a fork or pastry cutter, cut the butter cubes into the dry ingredients until you start to get a crumbled texture; it should look like pea sized crumbles of butter and flour. Then, two tablespoons at a time, add the ice water, stirring with a spatula after each addition. You want to add enough water so the dough starts to come together and it forms a shaggy dough ball if you press it together with your hands, but you do not want the mixture to be overly wet so start slow; you can always add more water, but you can’t take it out! Shape the dough ball into two disks and cover each disk in saran wrap. Place the dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to two days.
Next, make the strawberry filling. Mash the diced berries in a medium-sized saucepan (I use a potato masher; you can also use a fork). Add the sugar, lemon juice, salt and vanilla to the mashed berries then heat over medium heat until mixture just starts to bubble. Add slurry of corn starch (the water and corn starch mixed together in a small bowl). Stir the slurry into the strawberries with a spatula then simmer on low for 5-6 minutes until the strawberries have started to cook down and thicken. Let the mixture cool for a few minutes then transfer to an airtight container and place in the fridge for a few hours and up to a few days to chill and set.
Once you’re ready to bake your poptarts, pre-heat your oven to 375 °F. Roll one of the pie crust disks out on a lightly floured surface to about a 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Using a pizza cutter, pastry cutter or sharp knife, cut the edges off so you have an even rectangle with straight edges. Fold the dough in half and cut it evenly into two pieces, long ways. Take one of the pieces and fold over three times so you have four even sections, cut along these lines to get four rectangles then repeat with the other half. This will get you the top and bottom crust for four poptarts. You can save the other pie crust for another time or repeat this step to make all of the poptarts at once.
Place four of the crust rectangles on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, then add 2-3 tablespoons of filling to the center of the crust, leaving room around the edges. Place the remaining four rectangles over the filling and using a fork, press down on the edges to crimp the top and bottom crust together and seal the pastry. You may want to dip your fork in a bit of flour as you’re doing this to prevent it from sticking to the dough.
If you like a more golden, crisp pastry, you can add an egg wash before baking. Wisk a tablespoon of water with an egg in a small bowl and using a pastry brush, brush a light layer of the mixture over the top of each poptart.
Bake at 375 °F for 25 minutes or until pastry has puffed up and started to turn golden brown. Let cool for at least an hour before adding the icing.
While the pastries are cooling, prep the icing. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and milk. This icing should be fairly thick otherwise it will run off the sides of the poptarts so start with one tablespoon of milk and add more as needed but you want the icing to be able to hold its shape if scraped with a spoon, it should not be runny.
Once poptarts have cooled, add a dollop of icing to the center of each pastry and if needed, gently spread with a knife to even it out. Top the icing with sprinkles, then enjoy!
Tips & Tricks
I recommend cooling these for an hour before enjoying as the filling inside will be quite hot right out of the oven and if they’re too hot when you add the icing it will melt and run off the sides. Wait an hour and you should get the best of both worlds- a warm pastry and a nice layer of icing.
This recipe can be done fully homemade as described above, or with a few purchased ingredients if you need to cut down on the preparation time. Try it with a store-bought pie crust and/or store-bought strawberry preserves.
Nutrition Facts (per 1 pastry serving)
Estimates. Will vary based on ingredients and serving size
Calories: ~475 kcal
Protein: ~5 g
Total Fat: ~24 g
Carbohydrates: ~75 g