The Flakiest Homemade Pop Tarts with Cherry Filling

The flakiest homemade pop tarts, made with all-butter pastry dough, bourbon cherry jam filling, cherry icing and sparkling sugar! The pastry dough is flaky and crisp, like a toaster pastry or toaster strudel, which I filled with my own homemade bourbon cherry jam. Tart cherry juice gives the icing the prettiest pink color and cherry flavor, and instead of sprinkles, I decorated them with coarse Turbinado sugar. Your favorite childhood breakfast got a major upgrade with this delicious homemade pop tarts recipe!

Looking for more breakfast recipes? You’ll love banana bread coffee cake, oatmeal with caramelized bourbon bananas and hazelnuts, classic buttermilk waffles, and buttermilk cinnamon rolls with brown butter icing.

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Why You’ll Love These Pop Tarts

A Nostalgic Breakfast. What child of the 80s and 90s didn’t grow up eating boxes of pop tarts? Well, as good as those were, if you’ve never had homemade pop tarts, you’re really missing out. While the boxed pop tarts tend to be rather dry and crumbly, this homemade version is anything but with the flaky pie dough and sweet jam filling. I mean, just look at these flaky layers!

Make Ahead. While there are a few steps to this recipe with making the dough, cutting and filling the pop tarts, baking and icing them, you can do quite a bit the night before. I like to make the dough and completely assemble the pop tarts at night, then keep them refrigerated. In the morning, all that needs to be done is to pop them in the oven until golden and crisp, and then drizzle on some icing.

Versatile. You can use absolutely any flavor of jam that you like for the filling! And besides jam, there are so many other flavor options. I’ve included below instructions on how to make brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts, and s’mores pop tarts, two of my favorite flavors.

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

Pastry Dough

• 1 recipe All-Butter Flaky Pie Dough. Be sure to read my full post on making the best pie dough, with step-by-step photos.
• 1 egg, for egg wash

Filling

• Bourbon Cherry Jam or any flavor jam or pie filling

Icing

• Powdered Sugar, sifted
• Lemon Juice
• Tart Cherry Juice, or pureed Cherry Jam
• Vanilla Extract
• Coarse Turbinado Sugar, or Sprinkles

Instructions

Dough

• Prepare 1 recipe All-Butter Pie Dough.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thick. Use a straight edge ruler and a pastry wheel to cut 3×3 inch squares. Gather up the scraps, roll them out again, and cut as many squares as you can. You should be able to cut about 32 squares, for 16 pop tarts.If you like, cut them bigger, like a 3×5 rectangle, for a traditional pop tart shape. You can also try hearts, circles, or any shape you like.

Filling

• If making homemade Bourbon Cherry Jam, you should make it the day before, or several days in advance, so it’s ready to go when you roll out the dough.
• You can use absolutely any flavor of jam that you like, or even prepared pie filling.

Assembly

• Place half of the squares on a large baking sheet lined with a sheet of parchment paper or nonstick baking paper, spacing them 1 1/2 inches apart.
• Spoon about 2 teaspoons of jam onto each square.
• Lightly beat the egg, then use a pastry brush to lightly brush the edges of each square of dough with the egg wash. Place the other half of the dough squares on top, and gently press down the edges to seal the two squares together. Brush the top of the pop tarts with the egg wash.
• Use a fork to press decorative indentations around the edges, then use a small, sharp knife to poke a few slits in the top of the dough, to let the steam vent.
• Place the pan in the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes, or if you have space in the freezer, freeze for 10 minutes.

Bake

• Preheat the oven to 375 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
• Bake the chilled pop tarts for about 25-30 minutes, until flaky and golden brown.
• Transfer the pop tarts to a cooling rack, place the cooling rack over the baking sheet, and let them cool for several minutes while you make the icing.

Icing

• In a bowl, whisk together all of the icing ingredients until smooth. Spoon the icing on top of the warm pop tarts, letting it drip over the edges a little. If you have extra icing, you can spoon on a second layer for a thicker icing.
• Before the icing sets and crusts over, sprinkle on some coarse Turbinado sugar or sprinkles.
• The icing will set in about 15-20 minutes.

Recipe Variations

Brown Sugar Pop Tarts

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 2 tsp dark corn syrup
• 2-4 tsp warm water

Filling: Mix together the soft butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Use about 2 teaspoons of filling for each pop tart. You’ll have filling leftover.

Icing: Mix together the leftover filling with the powdered sugar, corn syrup and water, to form a smooth glaze.

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S’mores Pop Tarts

• 2 oz. good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
• 2 oz. heavy whipping cream, hot
• 1 cup marshmallow creme/fluff
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
• 2 tsp dark corn syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• pinch coarse Kosher salt
• 2-4 tsp warm water

Filling: Make a chocolate ganache by stirring together the chopped chocolate and the hot heavy whipping cream, until smooth and silky. Let sit at room temperature for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened a little, but still has a drizzly consistency. Spread the marshmallow creme over the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border all around. Drizzle with the ganache, then top with the second square of dough.

Icing. Whisk together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, corn syrup, vanilla, salt and water, until thick, but smooth.

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Frequently Asked Questions

If I don’t want to make pie dough, can I use store bought pie dough instead?

Store bought pie dough doesn’t have the best flavor, but yes, you can use it for making pop tarts.

Will frozen puff pastry work for this recipe?

Puff pastry will puff up too high, and isn’t a good choice for pop tarts.

Can I prep these the night before and bake them in the morning?

Absolutely. Make and assemble the pop tarts, and store them (unbaked) in an airtight container. In the morning, brush them with the egg wash and bake.

Is there a substitute for the egg in the egg wash?

You can use milk or cream instead.

Can these be frozen?

You can prep the pop tarts and freeze them (unbaked) until you’re ready to bake them. Then, you can bake them frozen, and just add a few extra minutes of bake time.

Can I use pie filling instead of jam?

Yes, pie filling would work just fine.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

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