Homemade Heart Shaped Strawberry Pop Tarts
Looking for a fun breakfast pastry for a Valentine’s Day treat? These heart shaped homemade Pop Tarts are made with an easy puff pastry like crust and filled with strawberry jam for a delicious take on your favorite toaster pastry.
My friend, you may strongly dislike me when if you decide to make these. Not because they taste bad. In fact, quite the opposite. They are just too good.
You won’t be able to stop eating them and your waistline will not thank you for it! But if you are looking for a special breakfast or brunch (or snack!) for Valentine’s day then you are going to want to try these.
I haven’t had a Pop-Tart since I was a kid, how about you? My mom would buy them as a treat for me and my siblings maybe once or twice a year. Most of the time we didn’t even bother putting them in the toaster – instead we ate them right out of the foil packet.
Those were the good days of being able to pretty much eat whatever you wanted and not worrying about the ingredients.
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These days I’m very conscientious when it comes to what I put into my and my kids’ bodies, and we try to stay away from overly processed foods as much as possible. Of course, that’s not always possible (Goldfish are life when you’re 3 years old!) but I do always bake from scratch.
Don’t let my home baking kid you. These Pop Tarts are by no means healthy. The yummiest treats rarely are! The amount of butter in the pastry and sugar in the icing takes care of that! But at least I know what’s in them.
Don’t worry if you’ve never made pastry from scratch. This dough is so easy to make. I promise you can do it!
This crust tastes like like you’ve spent hours laminating it (rolling and re-rolling with butter to create flaky layers) when in fact you just whizzed it all together in a blender!
It really tastes legit. It’s up there with any bona fide puff pastry but without all the hassle, rolling out and excessive chill time. I’ve been working on it for quite some time – trying different fat to flour ratios and so on and I’ve finally got it down.
Each of these delicious homemade pop tarts is filled with raspberry jam and then once baked, covered in a simple icing and rainbow sprinkles.
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You can of course switch out the filling for anything you like – raspberry jam, cherry jam, Nutella….they would all be delish! Strawberry is just always my personal go-to. And a good quality one – without corn syrup. The Hero and Bonne Maman brands are my favorite.
Homemade Heart Shaped Pop Tarts
Ingredients
For The Dough
- 4 cups flour
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 16 ounces very cold unsalted butter, cubed (2 cups)
- 1 egg
- ½ – ¾ cup ice cold water
- For the egg wash:
For The Egg Wash
- 1 egg
For The Filling
- 1 jar of raspberry jam
For The Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-4 tablespoons milk
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
- pink food coloring
- rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
- In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, and salt until blended. Add the butter and pulse until the mix is crumbly, about 2 – 3 pulses.
- Add the egg and ½ cup of cold water and pulse until the mixture just comes together. You may need to add more water, but do so with only 1 tsp at a time.
- Divide the dough into one flat disc. Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until cold (about 30 minutes).
- Once your dough is chilled, roll out on a lightly floured surface, until no more than â…› inch thick.
- Using a large heart shaped cookie cutter, cut out individual heart shapes and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Alternatively, use a sharp knife to create equal size rectangles.
- Preheat your oven to 375°F.
- Place approximately 1 tablespoon of jam in the center of each heart. Don't overfill the tarts, you want them more flat than round.
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg to create an egg wash. Brush the edges of each heart.
- Cut out more heart shapes and top each filled heart with one. Seal the edges together with your fingers, then with a fork, crimp the edges together along the entire heart. Prick the fork in the center of each tart to allow steam to escape.
- Repeat with remaining hearts.
- Bake the pop tarts in your preheated oven for 20 minutes until the tops are lightly golden and you can see the jam bubbling out of the sides.
- While the tarts are cooling, make the icing.
- In a small bowl, mix together the powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, vanilla. Add in more milk if needed. Keep the consistency thick enough so that the icing won't completely run off the pop tarts.
- Add pink food coloring once you're happy with the consistency.
- Using a teaspoon, spoon the icing onto the top of each pop tart and smooth it out with the back of the spoon. Top with rainbow sprinkles.
Notes
