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It’s no secret that my older daughter has an interest in pop tarts (since I recently shared on facebook that she’s apparently been “trading” at snack time to get some!) so clearly I had to do something about it.
First of all, we took her to the store and let her pick out a box of organic frosted pop tarts. Organic or not…they are still completely junk food with loads of added sugar. I am not the one who is 7-years-old though, and I can understand how “store-bought” and “packaging” may sometimes play an important role at school.
So I showed her how much sugar they contain, in order to convey that they are really more of a dessert than a snack, and she decided she’d like to take one as a snack anyway and one as a dessert on another day (they come in packs of 2). I let my younger daughter do the same, and she was beyond thrilled to be an innocent bystander in all of this decision making :).
After all of that was behind us I put the box of remaining pop tarts “away” (up high and not visible in the pantry of course!) and thankfully neither child said much else about it. Hoping their need for “store bought” pop tarts was satisfied I decided we should try making our own as well.
I am not the first person to make a homemade knock-off pop tart recipe so just think of these as the super EASY whole-grain version. I honestly can’t believe how easy these are to make and how good they taste…everyone loves them! They are for the “kids” of course, but I find myself rationing out my share as well.
I never liked pop tarts as a kid myself because I was a toaster strudel girl, but this recipe somehow unites both of those worlds with one pretty awesome outcome. Just try for yourself, and you’ll see that this recipe does not disappoint.
Whole-Wheat Toaster Pastries (aka Poptarts!)
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cup whole-wheat flour (plus extra for rolling out the dough)
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup butter (cold, unsalted (2 sticks))
- ½ cup water (plus ice)
- 1 egg (beaten with a splash of water)
- 8 tablespoons jam (we prefer either homemade jam or an all-fruit spread that’s sweetened with fruit juice concentrate as opposed to sugar or high-fructose corn syrup)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Put the flour and salt in a food processor with the dough blade and pulse it together briefly.
- Meanwhile fill a glass measuring cup with ½ cup water and add a few ice cubes to it.
- Take the cold butter straight out of the fridge and cut it into ½ inch chunks. Sprinkle the pieces of butter on top of the flour in the food processor. Be careful to spread out the butter as opposed to letting it all clump together in one piece.
- Turn on the food processor and blend until the mixture resembles a crumbly meal. While the food processor is still running add 1/3 cup water through the top. Watch the dough come together and add 2 – 3 more teaspoons of water as needed so a dough ball will form. If some of the dough is in a ball and some is stuck to the sides that is okay…you can fix it with your hands. At this point the dough could be stored in the fridge in plastic wrap for up to 3 days or in the freezer (in a freezer safe container) for up to 6 months.
- Remove the dough from the food processor and put it on a lightly floured counter or large cutting board. With a rolling pin (and another sprinkling of flour) flatten out the dough to one big rectangle or square that’s no more than a quarter inch thick. Trim any uneven ends and use those to patch other edges as necessary.
- Using a knife cut out 14 to 16 rectangles of dough. Actually you could make them any shape or size that you want at this point. Lay half of your dough shapes onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Spoon about a tablespoon of jam down the middle of those bottom dough pieces.
- Top them with matching dough shapes and seal around the edges by pushing down with a fork. Make a few holes in the top with the fork as well. Lastly, brush the tops of the uncooked toaster pastries with the egg wash.
- Bake at 375 degrees F for 18 – 24 minutes or until golden brown. Cool the cooked pastries on a cooling rack (if you have one) then either eat them right away or store them in the fridge for 3 days or the freezer for several months. They can be eaten cold or reheated. Enjoy!
Can you make cinnamon pop tarts? How would you make the filling? Has anyone every tried? Sorry if the answer is above – I read thru and didn’t see anything pertaining to my question………
Thank you
My son and we’re talking about the same thing!! Could u not make a cinnamon roll filling and use that? That’s kinda what we were thinking, but it would add sugar, our idea was to use brown sugar.
I’m sure you could, but we haven’t tried yet. – Nicole
If you don’t have a food processor, what is the method?
I am wondering the same thing! My food processor is too small to handle this amount. Thanks!
I was wondering the same thing! My food processor is too small.
Hello. It is like making any dough. You would mix the ingredients, cut in the butter, and knead by hand. It is easier with a food processor but certainly doable. :)
Just made these with my 7-year old, amazingly delicious!! Everyone agreed they tasted much better than the store-bought (Trader Joe’s) variety
Just checked on them after cooling on the rack for about 45 minutes. They sort of crumbled and weren’t firm enough to hold. I used frozen unsalted butter, ice cold water, and made sure to refrigerate before putting them in the oven to cook.
I will say the dough seemed to have good texture. They looked beautiful and tasted great. Just very very crumbly.
Have you been able to heat them in the toaster?
Hi there. A toaster oven works better. :)
Thank you so much for this! My husband and girls love pop tarts so this is a great modification from the store-bought items. I don’t mind them myself:) Will post how they turn out..
I don’t think that the amount of butter makes this “unhealthy”. I’ve lost 45 pounds in 5 months while adding butter to everything. It’s the chemicals that make things unhealthy. Corn syrup? Soy? Artificial sweeteners, flavors and colors??? All those other things that should never be put in anything edible? THAT’S unhealthy. Butter never hurt anybody ;)
Exactly!! :)
Two sticks of butter does not make this healthy!
I don’t think it is the exact point of this to be “healthy.” It is “whole” food. If you make butter yourself or find one with three simple ingredients, it is not bad for you. Just like anything else, you have to use in moderation. I also think that the fact that it makes several of these pastries, not just one, allows for the butter to go along way.
I personally love pop tarts, but can’t seem to even take a bite of one now that I know what is really in them. If only there was a way to make the frosting for the outside “whole food” :)..
you could always make a frosting with powdered sugar (or tapioca powder as a replacement for whole food if you like) and milk for that Ashley, adding whatever else you may want otherwise (cocoa powder for example if you wanted chocolate). That’s what a basic frosting would be for a pop tart I’d imagine, and maybe a small amount of butter.
Do your research. Saturated fat is actually good for you!! Trans fat is the real enemy!!
Hi Samantha, Lisa’s recipes are all about staying away from highly-processed items. If you take a look at the ingredients on a box of Poptarts, you’ll see that making your own is much better than consuming all those ingredients. – Nicole
Can I make these with white whole wheat flour? If so, is the measurement the same? . It has been 4 weeks and we are doing GREAT, but Pop Tarts are his weakness. He really loves grape pop tarts, but we can’t find them anywhere. I’m really hoping these will be an acceptable surprise for him. I think white whole wheat flour might make them look a little more like the processed ones.
Hi there. You can and the measurements would be the same.
First I want to say the crust is amazing and so lovely to work with. Genius using the food processor. I’m using a pumpkin filling which has sugar in it a little bit. Maybe in the future I will try something to substitute for that. In the meantime this is the third time I’ve made them and usually I make a half batch but this time I decided to make a full batch and freeze them. To reheat them this time I toasted them but the filling didn’t thoroughly heat up. Do you have a recommendation for reheating?
Hi. I use a toaster oven. :)
Toasting in ours the edges burnt and the filling was cold. We were pulling from the freezer. Do you bake in yours?
No, typically just reheat. You can cover in tinfoil to help it reheat more evenly. Same is true in a regular oven.
Pumpkin sounds delicious! Can you please post your filling recipe.
I’m new to real foods still and struggling to get my son to eat real. I crunched through the ingredients and while I appreciate being able to pronounce everything in them, I get 8 pastries that are very calorie and fat dense. By my ingredient calculations, I get single pastry at about 50% bigger than a brandname tart and while the sugar is dramatically lower 6 gram range, the fat is brutal, tilting in at 25 grams of which 20 grams are saturated and packing around 350 calories. Granted, I can slash the size of the tarts, they’ll still be 65% of calories from fat. While fat, particularly good, real fat (i.e. from grass fed ‘real’ sources), is healthier, 65% still seems quiet high.
Any way to ‘healthy’ these up or is that not a concern?
Hi there. This post will explain why we do not spend time calculating all the nutrition details: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/01/04/healthy-eating-defined/.
I agree. Recipe is just trading high sugar PopTarts for high fat homemade Pop Tarts, neither of which are healthy.
Hi Gloria, sorry you feel that way, but have you taken a look at the ingredient list on a box of Poptarts? They definitely don’t fall under Lisa’s Real Food Rules! – Nicole
Can these be made gluten free? If so what is the best way to make the dough?
Hi. You could try with a gluten free flour.
I just made these today and I have to say these are fantastic. I filled them with Polaner All Fruit seedless strawberry jam and drizzle a little vanilla glaze on top afterwards. The kids and I love them!!! Thank You
Tried these today with organic strawberry preserves and they came out perfectly. I added some raw sugar on top before baking. They might not make it to tomorrow
Hi, I like to go things by hand and u really wanted to try this. Could I do this by hand without a food processor?
Hi there. Sure. You can make it by hand.
Great! So, when the recipe calls for the food processor that just means I need to mix it by hand. Right?
With this recipe, yes. ;)
While good they are a bit boring. Need to add some natural sweetener to the dough and come up with a good glaze (that will harden).
Any ideas?
Hi Kevin, you can try different fillings that might be a little sweeter for your tastebuds, or possibly try this frosting that we use on the cinnamon buns. https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/cinnamon-rolls-recipe-whole-wheat-pecan-maple/
– Nicole
I tried this today but didn’t come good. I just melted butter and mixed it with the flour since I didn’t had the processor . But the dough without adding water was moist so I just sprinkled little water . But couldn’t take it as nice shape before baking since it was crumbling ..I put only 1 and 1/2, butter sticks . So the top part to cover got all crumbled ..
No the butter has to be cold cold cold. If no food processor use 2 butter knives and cut the butter into little pieces while it is in the flour. Or – use a fork to mash the butter into the flour. The idea is to make little pieces if cold butter mixed into the flour and THE N add the water to make a dough. Good luck – try again!!
I have three boys who would love these. One of my boys has an egg allergy, but he also has an allergy to flax (so no flax eggs here). Any alternative to the egg in this recipe? Thank you!
Use a pizza cutter to make rectangles!
Make sure you have cold butter, not melted. – Nicole
Any ideas on how to make these gluten free? Thank you!
HI Nikki. We’ve not adapted this recipe to be gluten free but this might help you do so: https://simplygluten-free.com/blog/2012/07/gluten-free-dairy-free-pop-tarts-recipe.html.
Could I add a nut butter or sun butter to this before baking? Thanks!
You could. We have not done it, but I don’t see why they wouldn’t be good
Several of your recipes call for the use of a dough blade in your food processor… What is a dough blade? What does it look like? Maybe that’s a dumb question, but I’m not sure my processor came with one, and I don’t know what to look for. Thanks!
Hi Deanne. Here is an example: http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-FP-749-Dough-Blade/dp/B000PJ6UOG.
I used an old Hershey Cocoa Powder container to cookie cut my perfect rectangles!
Has anyone come up with any toppings to put on these. They are in the oven now. Can’t wait to try.
How many carbs on in each toaster pastry?
Hi. We don’t provide nutrition information. This post helps explain why: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/01/04/healthy-eating-defined/.
We love these but the past couple of times I have made them the dough never resembled corn meal like it should. It is VERY sticky and super difficult to work with. Could it be the brand of flour that I am using? I used hodgson mill stone ground whole wheat flour with a little white whole wheat this time to try and reduce the sticky. Any suggestions would be great!
Hi there. So it wasn’t crumbly before you began to add water? Was your butter cold?
My son has a dairy allergy and I was wondering if coconut oil could be replaced for the butter or if you know of a good substitute. Thank you!!
Hi there. See reader comment below. She did not have good results with coconut oil. :)
Hey, love your blog!!
I made a batch of these last week. EVERYONE fell in love, even my husband who is a “non bleiever” in healthy/er food. I made them using butter. But saw this comment and thought; If they could work with coconut oil I’d definitely prefer it. It definitely didn’t work. They are literally the texture of sand…I mean LITERALLY sand. lol The taste is good, and I’m not one of those ‘texture freak” people. But I could barely swallow it. So I just wanted to let you know.
p.s. I tried everything. Keeping the dough cold, warming it up, adding more water, etc. Every time i tried something different i made a few more to see if they cooked better….nope! But I will definitely be making these monthly in my house…just with butter for sure!
Thanks for sharing your experience! :)
Have you tried any of your recipes with gluten free flours ?
Hi Jennifer. Yes. I’ve used blends like Bob’s red Mill and some that I’ve thrown together myself. :)
I’m so glad that I finally found the recipe for the pop tart.My kids love them but I never bought some from the supermarket because of the ingredients.Thanks!!!! I can’t wait to try them!!!!!
These turned out just AMAZING!! I really enjoyed using the food processor. The dough came together super quick and was perfect. This is going to be a go to recipe for sure. I can’t wait to share this with my family. Thank you so much!!
Wondering if I could thicken the jam somehow? I tend to make these to take as breakfast on the way to work and the jam comes spilling out onto the car seats or my clothes…big mess. Could I add corn starch without affecting the pop tart too much? Or some other way to thicken the filling?
We use chia seed or arrowroot to thicken ours.
What if I don’t have a food processor? How do I mix this by hand? Will the results be similar?
Hi Emily. You can make this by hand just as you would a pie crust and the results will be very similar. It is just a bit more work by hand. ;)
Can you use whole grain pastry flour to make these?
HI Sarah. Other readers have. ;)
These were delicious!! After reading several of the comments before making it I made sure the flour/water consistency was good and not too floury. I added 2 T. Honey to the dough and I drizzled them with Greek yogurt mixed with maple syrup. My kids gobbled them up and this is their first day of the Real Food Challenge so their pallets are still very used to sugar and processed foods! I will make these again.
These are AWESOME! I made them this morning for my 2 boys using my own Strawberry and raspberry Jam. They gobbled them up. I also made your 5 minute fudgey brownies last night which were also a huge hit. Thank you so much for this website.It has been a huge help in cutting out processed foods in our household.
I need a version of this made without a food processor
I made these yesterday afternoon, and they were delicious! However, I put the leftovers in an air-tight container and then forgot to put them in the fridge, so they sat out until this morning. Do you think they will keep okay still for about 3 days?
Hi Sharon. Sorry that we are rarely able to answer recipe questions in real time. Did they keep okay? :)
We used cinnamon, coconut palm sugar and organic palm oil for Brown sugar cinnamon. I didn’t measure, sorry. I just used enough palm oil to make it clumpy. It was really good.
Any suggestions on a brown sugar cinnamon type? I would love to make some for my boys…they love them (had them other places) but I refuse to buy pop tarts!
Hi Heather. We’ve not tried but if you experiment, let us know. You might consider coconut palm sugar vs brown sugar.
We can’t use butter and prefer not to use margarine. Any chance this can be made with oil?
Maybe coconut oil would work.
Amazing! So good!
Made these today with organic (no added sugar) jelly and added flax to flour. They were super delicious! I did find I had to bake mine longer – like closer to 30 min. I just watched for the desired browness. Also, I will use less jelly next time. Got a little too happy with the jelly. I wasn’t sure I was putting enough in, but it spreads some while baking so use less over using more. Of course these aren’t as sweet as sugar laden Pop Tarts, but my kids never made one mention of that. They just asked for more!
I found an Organic Raspberry jelly at Trader Joe’s and all the ingredients look good – the only one I question is fruit pectin….okay to use?
Hi Jennifer. Pectin is often derived from GMO corn but that is not so in certified organic products. If it is the only added ingredient, I don’t think you have to discount it. Here is more info on pectin: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/avoid-pectin-home-canning/.