Even better than the real thing! These Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts are completely homemade and seriously delicious. If your a fan of the original pop-tart, be prepared to be blown away by these.
Brown sugar cinnamon pop-tarts were my THING growing up. I don't think I ever ate another pop-tart flavor because these were my literal favorite. If there wasn't brown sugar cinnamon, I wasn't eating them.
I've always wanted to make my own pop-tarts so I thought what better time than now! While this recipe does have a lot of steps and prep to do, I promise the end result is SOOO worth it. These are so yummy!
The pastry dough is buttery and flaky, but still dense like an original pop-tart. The filling is loaded with brown sugar and cinnamon- is it too bold to say this filling is lightyears better than the original? Also we can't forget about the glaze on top- sweet and cinnamon-y and absolutely perfect.
After eating these, you won't go back to store bought pop-tarts- I promise!
What you need to make Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts
- Flour- all purpose flour for the dough, as well as a little in our filling
- Sugar- only a little bit of granulated sugar is used in this recipe for the dough
- Salt- I like kosher salt
- butter- unsalted (if you only have salted, just omit the salt in the recipe). You want your butter cold here, so keep it in the fridge until you are ready to cube it up and add it to the dry ingredients.
- Eggs- in both the dough and used for our egg wash.
- Milk- I used whole milk for this recipe, but you could try another milk you like.
- Brown sugar- I used light brown sugar for this recipe and it makes the perfect filling!
- Cinnamon- obvi!
- Powdered sugar- key ingredient in our cinnamon sugar glaze.
- vanilla extract- just a little for the glaze.
How to make Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts:
- Make the dough: the dough comes together pretty easily- combine the dry ingredients and then cut in the butter. Add the egg and milk and then form it into dough. Once you break in half and wrap it up, it has to chill in the fridge for 2 hours.
- Shape the pop-tarts: This is probably the most tedious part of the recipe. Rolling the dough and cutting into rectangles to make the bottoms and tops of your pop-tarts.
- Make the filling: The yummiest part- just brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour!
- Assemble: After some egg wash, spooning the filling in, and topping with more dough, they finally start to look like pop-tarts- exciting!
- Bake: stick them right in the oven and forget about them (or at least for about 22 minutes)
- Make the glaze: Another easy part of this recipe- but one of the most important parts because what is a pop-tart without the glaze????
- EAT AND ENJOY!
Other recipes to try:
📖 Recipe
Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-tarts
Even better than the real thing! These Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-tarts are completely homemade and seriously delicious. If your a fan of the original pop-tart, be prepared to be blown away by these.
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoon milk
Filling
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon flour
Egg wash
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
Glaze
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make the dough: whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add in the cold cubed butter and cut in using a pastry cutter or forks. Do this until it forms pea-sized crumbles. Whisk together the egg and milk and add it to the dough, mixing until it clumps together.
- Roll out the dough on a floured surface or on a piece of parchment paper. The dough should come together easily and should not feel too sticky. Form the dough into a ball and then divide in half. Using your hands, shape/flatten each half into 1-inch thick discs. Wrap each tightly in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for AT LEAST 2 hours.
- Make the pop-tarts: take 1 of the doughs from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes (this helps with rolling it out). Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll into a 9x12 inch rectangle (about ⅛ inch thick). Cut your dough into the pop-tart shapes, about 3x4 inch rectangles (these will be the bottoms of your pop-tarts). I used a ruler and a pizza cutter to do this, but it doesn't need to be perfect! You will end up with about 9 total rectangles for the pop-tarts. If you need to re-roll the dough and cut it again, you can do so.
- Place each of the 9 rectangles onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The pop-tarts will not spread in the oven much, so you may place them near one another. Place the baking sheet in the fridge. Repeat the steps above with the 2nd disc of dough. These 9 rectangles will be the tops of your pop-tarts. Place this baking sheet into the refrigerator as well, as you make the brown sugar cinnamon filling (below).
- Make the filling: Mix the brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the egg wash (egg and milk). Remove the 1st baking pan from the fridge (the one that has been in there longer) and brush the egg wash over the entire surface of each pastry. Place 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar filling in the middle of each pastry, using the measuring spoon to spread out the filling. Leave about a ¼ inch of space around the edges. Take the second baking sheet of rectangles out of the fridge and brush with egg wash, then place each rectangle on top of the filling-topped rectangles – egg wash side down. Use your fingertips to press firmly around the outside, sealing the dough well on all sides. Seal the edges by crimping with a fork, to prevent the sides from opening as the pop-tarts bake. Use a toothpick to poke 8-10 holes on the tops of each of your pop-tarts.
- Refrigerate the filled pop-tarts for at least 20 minutes (up to 1 hour). This helps with the baking process and firms up your dough before the hit the oven (since it's gotten a little warm since being out of the fridge). Preheat your oven to 350° while they chill.
- Bake: Once your pop-tarts are done chilling, take them out of the fridge and brush the tops with more egg wash (for that nice golden color). Bake for 22-26 minutes (rotating the pan half-way through baking) until golden brown. Let pop-tarts cool on pan for about 5-8 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Make the glaze: whisk all of the glaze ingredients together in a bowl until it reaches a spreadable consistency. You want a thick glaze, but not too thick that it is hard to spread (add a teaspoon of milk if too thick). You also don't want it to be too thin that it runs right off the top. Use a spoon or knife to glaze each pop-tart. The glaze starts to harden about an hour after (if you can wait that long lol).
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days or the fridge for a week. To reheat, bake in a 350°F (177°C) oven for 10 minutes or in the microwave using 15-30 second intervals until warm.
Notes
- Freezing: Baked and unglazed pop-tarts freeze well, up to 3 months. Defrost and then re-heat with the steps above.
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