Homemade Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts

Homemade brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts, with a buttery sugar cookie crust, brown sugar cinnamon filling, and sweet cinnamon vanilla icing. Your favorite brown sugar pop tarts just got even better with this delicious, made from scratch recipe, with staple ingredients from your own pantry.

You might also love these homemade strawberry pop tarts, soft and chewy brown sugar pecan cookies, and brown butter crumble apple pie bars.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Better Than Store Bought. If brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts were one of your favorite pop tart flavors when you were a kid, then you’ll love this homemade version, without any of the weird or mysterious ingredients or chemicals found in store bought pop tarts. With the brown sugar filling, you can expect these to be sweet, though, just like the originals. So with that in mind, they’re really more dessert than breakfast.

Tender Cookie Crust. Many pop tart recipes use pie dough for the crust, which makes a great breakfast pastry, but it’s more like a flaky toaster strudel or hand pie than a traditional pop tart. But by using my sugar cookie dough recipe, the crust is just like a store bought pop tart, but softer, more tender, more buttery, and just so much tastier.

Assemble at Night, Bake in the Morning. Although these are pretty easy to make, you will need a little time to make, chill and roll out the dough before assembling and baking your pop tarts. If you like, you can assemble them at night, keep them chilled in the refrigerator, then just bake them in the morning. And who wouldn’t love a freshly baked brown sugar pop tart for a special breakfast!

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

Ingredients

Crust

• All-Purpose Flour. Provides structure and strength to the cookie dough.
• Powdered Sugar. Sweetens the crust, while the fine texture of the powdered sugar makes a softer crust than granulated sugar.
• Salt. Coarse Kosher salt balances the sweetness.
• Unsalted Butter. Adds flavor, moisture, richness and fat. As the water in the butter evaporates, the steam creates tiny flaky layers for a very tender cookie crust.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
• Milk + Egg Yolk. Adds moisture and binds the dough together.

Filling

• Butter. The butter will add moisture to the brown sugar, as well as richness, so it’s not just a sweet sugar filling.
• Brown Sugar. I used light brown sugar, but you can also use dark brown sugar for your pop tarts.
• Cinnamon. Adds spice to balance the sweetness and complement the brown sugar.
• Flour. Binds together with the sugar as the pop tarts bake, giving it structure.

Icing

• Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the icing.
• Meringue Powder. Helps the icing to set quickly and stay set, rather than getting soft and sticky on the leftover pop tarts.
• Whole Milk. Thins the icing to a thick but spreadable consistency.
• Vanilla Bean Paste or Extract + Cinnamon. Flavor.

Instructions

Crust

• In your food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar and salt until combined.
• With the processor running, drop in the pieces of butter, one at at time, pulsing a few times until the butter is evenly distributed, and the dough is moistened and crumbly.

• Add the vanilla, milk and egg yolk (save the egg white for later), then process until the dough starts to stick together.

• Dump the dough out onto a clean counter and use your hands to finish bringing the dough together, kneading in any stray bits of flour. The dough should be soft, smooth and supple.
• Shape the dough into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Prepare two large baking sheets by lining them with sheets of parchment paper.

• Working with half the dough at a time, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to an even thickness of 1/8 inch thick, using enough flour so that it doesn’t stick to the counter or the rolling pin. Using a ruler for guidance, cut the dough into rectangles measuring 3×5 inches. Handling the dough carefully (it’s delicate when rolled thin), place the cut dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.
• Gather up the scraps of dough, roll them out again, and continue cutting as many rectangles as you can. You should be able to cut 18 rectangles to make 9 pop tarts. Chill the cut dough in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

TIP: I find it easiest to transfer the cut rectangles of dough by sliding a spatula or a bench scraper under them to move them to the baking sheet. This way, there’s less chance of tearing the dough than if you use your hands to pick them up.

Filling

• In a bowl, stir together the soft butter with the brown sugar, cinnamon and flour.
• Your butter should be very soft, almost to the point of melted, so that you can easily mix everything together.

Assembly

• Spoon the brown sugar cinnamon filling onto half of the rectangles of dough, using about 1 tablespoon (or slightly less) of filling per pop tart. Use a small offset spatula to spread the filling out, leaving a 1/2 inch border all around.
• Brush the edges of the dough with the reserved egg white.
• On the other half of the dough, use a knife to cut an “x” or several slits in the dough. This will help to vent the steam from the filling, so the sides don’t burst open in the oven.
• Place the top pieces of dough on the bottoms, and press the edges to seal. Use a fork to press the edges together all around each pop tart.
• Place the baking sheet back in the refrigerator to chill while the oven is preheating.

Bake

• Preheat the oven to 375 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
• Bake the pop tarts for about 25 minutes, until the bottoms and edges are golden brown, and the tops are baked through and starting to puff.
• Cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes before icing.

Icing

• In a bowl, stir together the powdered sugar, meringue powder and cinnamon.
• Add the milk and vanilla, and stir until smooth. The icing will be thick, but should slowly run off a spoon.

• Immediately spread the icing onto the warm pop tarts with a small icing spatula or the back of a spoon. After the icing crusts over, you can sprinkle the pop tarts with a little more cinnamon. You can eat the pop tarts warm, or let them cool and enjoy them at room temperature. The icing will crust over quickly, but will not fully set for an hour or two.
• Let the brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts cool completely so the icing fully sets, before storing in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

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!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make the dough without a food processor?

If you don’t have a food processor, you’ll need a large bowl and a pastry cutter.  In the bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt.  Scatter with the cold butter pieces and use the pastry cutter to cut the butter in until very finely cut and evenly distributed.  Drizzle with the vanilla, milk and egg yolk, then use your hands to work the liquid into the dry ingredients until it forms into a soft dough.

Do I have to use the meringue powder in the icing, and where can I buy it?

You really need to use the meringue powder in your icing. It’s a common ingredient in royal icing, and it helps to set the icing quickly, and keeps it set, even days later. Without the meringue powder, the icing on your leftover pop tarts can become soft, sticky or runny, which would make them gross and soggy.

You can buy meringue powder at your local craft stores like Joanne’s, Michaels and Hobby Lobby, or find it on the baking or cake decorating aisles at Walmart. And you can buy meringue powder on Amazon, too. It has a long shelf life, and will keep in your pantry for years. I also use it in every single batch of American buttercream I make, for improved texture and stability, so it’s not just for icing cookies.

Can I make these in advance?

To make the dough in advance, wrap the disk of dough in plastic wrap, labeled, and refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze for 3-6 months.  Frozen dough should be thawed overnight in the refrigerator.  Then take the dough out of the fridge about 1 hour before you’re ready to roll out the dough.  It should still be cool to the touch when you roll it out, but pliable enough to roll without too much difficulty.

You can also make the dough and assemble the brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts in the evening, and keep them refrigerated overnight. In the morning, simply bake the pop tarts and finish with the icing.

Will this recipe work with pie dough?

Yes, it should work fine with both homemade pie dough and store bought.

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