Berry Patriotic Easy Homemade Pop Tart

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We probably all have memories of starting our days off with those packaged Pop Tarts that you could pop in the toaster, or eat, gasp, cold and dry straight from the package.

Y’all know how I love my fresh pastries and home baked goods. When the idea to create a DIY Pop Tart came into my head as a 4th of July celebration dessert, I was excited to take all of the things that made Pop Tarts so tasty – the fruit filling, the flaky crust, and the frosted tops – even better with a little time and effort.

I was excited to bring this childhood favorite to life in my own kitchen and I’ve made a patriotic version as a special treat for celebrating America’s birthday!

What is a Pop Tart?

If you want to really figure out how to make a Pop Tart at home, you have to truly understand what they even are.

Pop Tarts, also known as, breakfast pastries or toaster pastries, are fruit filled scone like pastries designed to be eaten for breakfast and easily warmed in the toaster. They’re comprised of two thin layers of pastry dough with a sweet, often fruit-based filling smashed between them.

Sounds easy enough to replicate, right?

What you need to make a homemade pop tart.

While there are countless options available – blueberry, strawberry, apple, brown sugar cinnamon, just to name a few – I chose to create my pop tart with a mixed berry filling.

Here’s what I used for my mixed berry filling:

• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1½ lbs fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice, + 2 large pieces of lemon peel
• Pinch sea salt
• 1 pint fresh blueberries

You can easily make this a more classic flavored, strawberry filling tart by increasing the strawberries and removing the blueberries.

In addition to the filling, to make these delicious homemade pop tarts, you will need ingredients for the crispy flakey crust!

Here’s what you need for the buttery crust:

• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes

Finally, you will need to make an egg wash for the crust as well as a frosting to ice your tarts with. You will then top it off with some fun, patriotic decorations if you desire.

Egg Wash

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon heavy cream

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

2-3 tablespoons heavy cream

½ teaspoon almond extract

Decorations

Red and Blue sprinkles

Products

• star cookie cutters
• pastry brush
• Sheet pan
• mixing bowls
• parchment paper

How to make a homemade pop tart.

Once you have all of the necessary ingredients, you’re ready to get started with making your pop tart!

I recommend starting with the filling:

For the Strawberry/Mixed Berry Filling

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and water and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, add the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, lemon peel and salt. 

Bring to a boil on medium heat. Stir in the cornstarch water mixture. 

Reduce the heat to where the mixture is simmering. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until the strawberries are tender and the filling thickens, stirring often. Remove from the heat. 

Pour half the mixture into a bowl and set aside. Add the blueberries to the pot with the remaining strawberry mixture. Return the pan to heat. Simmer for 3-5 minutes or until blueberries soften. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Pour the mixed berry filling into a bowl, remove the lemon zest. Place both fillings in the refrigerator to allow them to cool. When cool, transfer the fillings into separate resealable bags.

Next, it’s time to work on your crust!

For the crust

Dissolve the sugar and salt in 1/3 cup of water and chill until cold.

Pulse the flour and butter in a food processor until the mixture looks like coarse meal with some pea-size pieces. Add the water all at once and pulse until the dough almost forms a ball. Divide the dough in half; flatten and shape into two thick squares

Wrap each square tightly in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 30 minutes or up to one day. 

Now it’s time to put everything together.

Assembly of Tart

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Flour your work surface. Remove one dough square from the refrigerator, remove the plastic wrap and gently roll it out into a 9” x 12” rectangle. Carefully transfer the dough onto a parchment paper covered sheet pan. Using a 2 1/2″ star-shaped cookie cutter, cut out five stars, in a decorative pattern. Place the cut out stars on a plate. Place sheet pan and plate in the fridge until ready to bake.   

Roll out the second disk of dough into a 9” x 12” rectangle. Carefully transfer the dough onto a parchment paper covered sheet pan. Remove both bags of fruit filling from the refrigerator. Cut an inch off one corner from each bag to create a piping bag. Leaving a 1” border on all four sides, start with the mixed berry jam. Pipe a horizontal row of filling one inch from the top of the dough. Flatten jam slightly with a butter knife. Switch to the strawberry filling and pipe a row next to the mixed berry and flatten. Continue this process until the dough is covered. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and heavy cream. Use a pastry brush to brush the 1-inch edge of the crust with the egg wash. 

Remove the rolled cut-out dough from the refrigerator. Carefully place the cut-out dough on top of the filled bottom crust. Use tines of a fork and crimp the edges. Place the pop tart in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. 

Remove the pop tart and stars from the refrigerator and brush with the remaining egg wash. Place the stars on a parchment covered sheet pan. Bake for 7-10 minutes or until golden brown. Bake the filled tart for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown, making sure to rotate the pan after 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. 

And, last, but not least, you’re ready for the icing and decorations.

For the icing

In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, heavy cream and almond extract until smooth. 

Decorate the stars with icing and sprinkles as desired.

When the pop tart is cool, pour and spread the icing all over the top of the pop tart. Place the stars on top of the glazed tart in a decorative pattern.

Making your own pop tarts may take a bit of work, but believe me when I say they blow stare-bought pop tarts out of the water and are totally worth it!