Make your own strawberry, raspberry, or brown sugar pop tarts. Our homemade pop tarts are made with a flaky crust and are EASY to make! Our homemade version tastes 100x better than store-bought pop tarts. The crust is flakey and delicious making these the perfect sweet treat!
You might also like our lemon curd hand pies, our fresh blueberry pie, or our Pop Tart ginberbread house!
Watch our step by step video!
I love making popular treats and snacks at home for my kids. We've made homemade Hostess cupcakes, homemade star crunch cookies, and even homemade butterfingers. Today I'm sharing our pop tart recipe---our version. They don't taste like store-bought pop tarts and I like them better! No toaster oven necessary.
Homemade Pop Tarts
I use the same pasty recipe for my pop tarts that I've used for years to bake up the most delicious pies. My pie crust recipe calls for shortening, butter, AND oil. Just a bit of each to give it the best texture and flakiness.
My pop tarts have more of a flakey turnover consistency and I'm not mad about it. No need to toast these bad boys, they are delicious straight from the oven or at room temperature.
Homemade pop tarts are super fun to customize. You can make any flavor you'd like! My recipe makes 6 pop tarts. Simply select which filling you'd like to add and make a batch to spoon in between pop tart layers. I'll share 3 options: strawberry, raspberry, and brown sugar. Raspberry is our favorite.
Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts
The filling is a combination of strawberry jam and a bit of corn starch to thicken it up. Vanilla glaze is spooned over the top and sprinkled with sprinkles for good measure.
Homemade Raspberry Pop Tarts
My personal favorite. Tangy raspberry jam and corn starch combine for a delicious filling. I even added a tablespoon of raspberry jam to the glaze to give it a bit of pink color before adding red sugar sprinkles.
Homemade Brown Sugar Pop Tarts
If you like cinnamon rolls you'll love brown sugar pop tarts. Loaded with brown sugar and cinnamon flavor then covered in a cinnamon vanilla glaze.
Homemade Pop Tart Ingredients
(scroll to the end of the post for a printable recipe)
Dough
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup shortening
- 3 Tbsp. cold butter (salted or unsalted butter)
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup buttermilk (or ⅓ cup buttermilk + 1 teaspoon lemon juice)
- 1 egg + 1 Tbsp. water (egg wash)
Filling
Strawberry Pop Tarts
- ½ cup strawberry jam
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
Raspberry Pop Tarts
- ½ cup raspberry jam
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
Glaze
Strawberry
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- 4 teaspoons milk
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
Raspberry
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- 3-4 teaspoons of milk
- 1 Tbsp. raspberry jam
Brown Sugar
- ⅔ c. powdered sugar
- 3-4 teaspoons milk
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
Note: use more or less milk to achieve the desired consistency for the glaze.
How To Make Pop Tarts
Make a batch of pastry dough then roll it out ¼ of an inch thick.
You'll need to cut it into 3"x8" rectangles. I use plain copy paper to make a template then lay it over the dough as I slice around it with a pizza cutter. Continue to do this until you have 6 rectangles. You'll need to roll up scraps and roll out again to get 6 rectangles.
Poke the pastry all over with a fork then brush the egg wash around the edges. Spoon the filling onto one side of the rectangle.
Fold the dough over then seal the edges by pressing down with a fork, all the way around. Poke a few more holes on top of each pop tart with a fork, brush the tops with egg wash, then place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes at 400 degrees.
Spoon desired glaze over cooled pop tarts.
Homemade Pop Tarts Recipe
Homemade Pop Tarts
Ingredients
Pop Tart Crust
- 2 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup shortening
- 3 Tbsp. butter
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup buttermilk or ⅓ c. milk + 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp. water
Strawberry Filling
- ½ cup strawberry jam
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
Strawbery Glaze
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- 4 teaspoons milk
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
Raspberry Filling
- ½ cup raspberry jam
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
Raspberry Glaze
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- 3-4 teaspoons milk
- 1 Tbsp. raspberry jam
Brown Sugar Filling
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
Brown Sugar Cinnamon Glaze
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp. milk
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in shortening using a pastry cutter. Cut in butter.
- Add oil and milk and stir until a soft dough forms.
- Prepare desired filling mixture recipe.
- Roll dough, using a rolling pin, on a lightly floured work surface ¼" thin.
- Use a pizza cutter to cut 3" x 8" rectangles out of the dough. A paper template works great for this. I simply cut a piece of copy paper to size and lay it on the dough then cut around it.
- Collect scraps of dough, form into a ball then roll out again to cut more rectangles. You should be able to get 6 rectangles of dough from each recipe.
- Poke rectangles with a fork.
- Brush egg wash around the edges of each rectangle of pastry dough.
- Mix filling ingredients together in a small bowl. Spoon 1-2 Tbsp. of filling on one side of pastry rectangles. Fold the dough over, covering the filling.
- Press edges all the way around with a fork (this will seal/glue the edges during baking). Use the fork to pierce a few more holes on the top of the pop tart for venting.
- Place pop tarts on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Brush with egg wash.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.
- Allow pop tarts to cool. Whisk desired icing ingredients together then spoon icing over each pop tart. Add sprinkles, if desired.
Mary says
I agree with you, I hate the pop tart crust taste but love the convenience you made it so easy. Thanks'
Joy Potestio says
If I don’t have shortening, is there anything else I can in its place? Thanks!
Brandy says
You can use cold butter if you’d like. The texture will be a little different, but all butter pastry is delicious.