Ingredients
For the dough:
- 2 ¼ cups (290 grams) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon (65 grams) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons (100 grams) cold water
- ½ teaspoon honey
For the filling:
- ½ cup (100 grams) light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon (8 grams) all-purpose flour
For the egg wash:
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp water
For the glaze:
- 1 1/2 cups (188 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions
Make the dough:
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Adjust the oven rack to the center position and preheat to 375°F. Line two sheet trays with parchment and set aside.
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In a food processor or large mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Pulse lightly, or mix with a whisk, until just combined. Add the cubed butter all at once and pulse for 10-20 seconds, or if mixing by hand, cut the butter into the dry mixture with a pastry cutter for 5-6 minutes, or until the mixture looks sandy and no large clumps remain. Be careful not to overmix as the butter will get too warm.
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Pour in the water and honey mixture in a steady stream while pulsing the dough mixture in the food processor, or if mixing by hand, pour cold water and honey into the dough mixture and mix, until the mixture comes together and a dough ball has formed. Check the dough to make sure that there are no visible flour or sugar patches, but don’t overmix.
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Remove the dough from the food processor or bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Fold the dough 2-3 times and shape into a 1-inch thick, 7-inch diameter circle. Wrap the dough and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Make the filling:
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While the dough is resting, for the filling, whisk together the brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and flour until combined and set aside.
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Once the dough has cooled and rested, flour your work surface to roll out the dough. Roll the dough into a rectangle, about 3 feet in length, 8 inches in height, and about ⅛ of an inch thick. Using a pastry cutter, pizza cutter, knife or bench scraper, cut the dough into rectangles 3 inches wide x 4 inches in height. You should be able to cut between 18-20 rectangles depending on how thick the dough has been rolled.
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Lift 8 of the cut rectangles off your work surface with a spatula or bench scraper and place them onto one of the prepared baking sheets. These will be the bottoms of your pop tarts. Brush the dough lightly with water, ensuring that the edges get wet; otherwise the top and bottom dough won’t stick together completely when crimped and the filling will leak out. Fill each center with 1 heaping teaspoon of brown sugar filling, leaving about ¼-inch border from filling to the edge of the dough. Cover each filled pastry with a second dough rectangle and crimp the edges together with a fork. Repeat process with any remaining cut rectangles onto second prepared baking sheet.
Make the egg wash:
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In a small bowl, mix together the egg and water.
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Brush each filled rectangle with egg wash and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and the pastry is fully baked. Let cool completely before glazing, about 30-45 minutes.
Make the glaze:
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While the pop tarts are baking, in a small bowl, whisk together the sifted powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup, vanilla and cinnamon, mixing until smooth. The glaze should be thick, but not too thick to spread.
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Use a spoon or offset spatula to glaze each cooled pop tart. Leave to set for 30 minutes to 1 hour before eating, or at least 3 hours (or until they are dry to the touch - this will depend on your kitchen environment) before stacking on top of each other, to prevent the glaze from getting messed up and smearing, or sticking to the bottom of the pop tart placed on top of it.
These turned out awesome!! Thank you for sharing!
Absolutely heavenly!! It became a weekend project that was so worth it. Next up, s’mores pop tarts!!!!
I was wondering if there was a corn syrup substitute for the the glaze. I don’t particularly like using corn syrup but I do want mine to have the same consistency as your glaze. thanks.
Hi Jeannette! Tessa discusses this in the pink tip box above the recipe! Corn syrup helps the glaze set up nicely and dry on top of the pop tart, so it’s not wet to the touch. Corn syrup is unfairly demonized and really just misunderstood. At the end of the day it’s an invert sugar (meaning that it’s a sugar that’s liquid at room temperature). Corn syrup is not the same as high fructose corn syrup. If you prefer to skip it altogether, just note that the glaze will stay pretty wet and won’t dry or harden fully, so you won’t be able to store the pop tarts stacked on top of each other without the glaze smearing. It also won’t be as beautifully shiny – but it will still taste great. I hope that helps! Let us know what you think of these Poptarts once you’ve given them a try!
I’ve made these twice and they’ve disappeared both times! Truly delicious!
Would gluten free 1-1 flour work in this recipe? Thanks for all your amazing recipes!
Hi Kerri! I’m sorry, but we don’t test our recipes with gluten free substitutions, so we can’t really say!
Just curious, why an exact 7-inch circle of dough for chilling? Wouldn’t a rectangle make more sense, since it will get rolled into a rectangle? Or is it the 1-inch height that is important? Rolling circles of dough into rectangles isn’t something that I usually do very well, so I would rather chill the dough in a shape that will make it easier for me to roll out. (I once threw a rolling pin across the room. I’m getting better, but rolling out crusts isn’t my strong point.)
Hi Julie! This was just an approximate size that worked well when we tested this recipe. You’re right – it’s more important that the dough is 1-inch thick, just so it chills appropriately in the given time. You can absolutely roll it into a square/rectangle if you prefer – it won’t make any difference to the end result! Let us know how it goes!! 🙂