These homemade pop tarts from scratch are 110% better than store-bought, with flaky melt-in-your-mouth crust and delicious fruit filling.
Prep Time45 minutesmins
Cook Time30 minutesmins
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Keyword: hand pies, homemade pop tarts
Servings: 10
Calories: 561kcal
Author: Melissa Norris
Ingredients
Pastry Dough
4cupsall-purpose flourspoon & level into cup to measure
1and 3/4 cup lardbutter, or coconut oil
1Tablespoonsugar
2teaspoonssea salt
1TablespoonApple Cider VinegarYou can use white vinegar, but I prefer apple cider in baking
1egg
1/2cupcold water
Filling
3/4cupjamjelly, pie filling, fruit butter or apple sauce (1 heaping Tablespoon for each pop tart)
Wash
1large egg
1TablespoonwaterSprinkle on top
1Tablespoonsugar
Instructions
Mix flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in lard, butter, or coconut oil. Note: In order to achieve a flaky crust, your lard, butter, or coconut oil needs to be cold. It’s the pieces of solid fat distributed throughout the flour which melt upon baking that create the flakiness. You can freeze your butter or lard before cutting it in. The large side of a cheese grater works great with frozen butter.
Fat is fully cut in when the flour is crumbly pea-size pieces. Add in liquids (your egg is a liquid in this recipe) until the dough just holds together. You don’t want to over mix it.
Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Separate pie dough into four equal balls, place other 3 pieces of dough back in the fridge.
Sprinkle flour on the counter, no need for parchment paper with this dough. Roll dough out to a 1/8 inch thick. Using your cookie or canning ring, cut out your circles. If you want the same rectangle shape of pop tarts (I'm too lazy to measure and cut out the dough with a ruler and pizza cutter for anything except homemade croissants) you can roll dough into a 9 x 12 rectangle and cut into 3 x 4-inch rectangles.
Place cut out dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Put this in the fridge as you roll out the disc of pie crust in the same manner for the tops (depending on how thin you roll, I get 10 circles per disc).
Bring back out the cookie sheet with the bottom pieces of dough. Place a good-sized Tablespoon of fruit filling in the center. Take your top piece of dough and center it over the filling. With the tip of a sharp knife, cut three slits in the center. Push down on edges of dough to crimp and seal your pop tart. Use the tines of a fork to press them together firmly.
Once all your pop tarts are filled, topped and sealed, place the cookie sheet back in the fridge.
Mix together your egg and water until well blended.
Bring back out the pop tarts and brush with the egg wash. Sprinkle with sugar. Place in preheated oven and bake for 28 to 32 minutes (my oven was 30 minutes).
Video
Notes
Make Pastry Dough Ahead Make the pastry dough ahead of time and store sealed in fridge for up to 3 daysHow to Freeze Pop Tarts Bake pop tarts and allow to cool fully. Wrap well or place in a sealed air-tight container and freeze for up to 3 months