Healthified Pop Tart-Inspired Toaster Pastries
For my Abbie-girl’s 6th birthday she wanted me to make her homemade Pop Tarts. I was excited to do so since I haven’t made them in months, although I only enjoyed the aesthetics of them this time. This is definitely a recipe I don’t keep on hand, but bake only periodically or save for special occasions.
It is funny to think, dare I admit this, that when Jonathan and I first got married in 1999, I started eating Pop Tarts as a part of my lunch when I was teaching high school choir. One package has two Pop Tarts in it. I ate one package of Pop Tarts or Sam’s Choice Toaster Pastries a day for a couple of years, too. The thought now makes me cringe, all the sugar, processed ingredients, empty calories, etc…. So for those of you who are transitioning from processed food to whole food eating, this is a much healthier alternative for you as you move to nourishing foods. I don’t recommend eating them everyday like I did, either:).
The Verdict: I have worked with this dough a number of times. If you want your dough to be easy to work with, don’t do what we did this time, and prepare the dough only to immediately throw it in the fridge. I should have just left it on the counter for an extended time, but I didn’t even think about. After we prepared the dough, my Abbie-girl worked half of it, and then we threw it in the fridge, only to render that half almost completely unusable. We weren’t able to use it for her classroom party, so I just make whole food sorbets (or Slurpees as one of the students called them, which I was happy to hear since they even had spinach in them!! I am posting about those next week). I later did take the same dough and defrosted it for about a minute in the microwave, worked it, and was able to create these for her family birthday party.
The kids loved them!!! I shared these with some friends a few days later, and my friend encouraged me to post this, so I hope you enjoy! This recipe is adapted from Heavenly Homemakers. Updated pics 2/15.
Homemade & Healthified Pop Tart-Inspired Toaster Pastries
Ingredients
Instructions
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Mix the first four ingredients to make a dough.
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Optional, if you are going to let your dough sit to soak, leave it covered on your counter overnight.
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Place dough on a floured surface, and roll out dough.
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Cut rectangles to your desired size. I like to make my rectangles twice as long as the final product, so I can fold them over to have less seams, but you can make two rectangles of the same size for each pastry and place one rectangle on top of another.
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Add one tablespoon of jam or filling to the middle of one side of your pastry. You can see above how I add the jam and then fold mine over.
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Either fold over your double-long rectangles, or place the equal sized rectangles on top of each other, and go around the perimeter of the pastry with a fork.
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Place on a non-greased cookie sheet.
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Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
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Cool, frost if desired or have them plain, and enjoy!
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Store in an airtight container for two days, refrigerate for 4 days, or freeze for up to 3 months and toasted as desired.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup organic powdered sugar (or take your regular organic sugar and blend it until it becomes powdered sugar)
- 2 T or more of water or milk (almond for vegan or dairy milk)
Instructions
- Place the organic powdered sugar in a small bowl.
- Add liquid as needed, stirring in 1 tablespoon at a time until it will drizzle easily onto your special treat.
This four ingredient dough is the same that I have used to make Healthified Ham Hot Pockets,
and Pizza in Less Than an Hour,
and Apple Pie Pockets.
This is awesome! Thanks for sharing this. My children love anything homemade in the bread department. They also love pop tarts. We are a “trying to get away from the processed foods, but not completely there” type of family. I pinned this recipe!
Hi Jill, This is a great “transitional” recipe to whole foods. I hope you all enjoy, and blessings on your journey!!
So much better than store-bought. I would never buy them. I don’t even remember the last time I had one. It has to be over ten years. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Suzy! Totally agreed. I had a bite a few years ago for the first time in a long time, and they were way too sugary sweet. Much better and tastier homemade. Thanks for visiting!
I love pop tarts but never eat them often, either. Love the idea of a healthy, homemade version!
I feel good giving them to the kids, and they love eating them. Thanks for visiting, Nicky!
These look really fun to eat! It’s been a long time since we’ve had Poptarts! The only thing is that we would need to replace the flour to make it gluten-free. Any suggestions for what would be best to substitute for the whole wheat flour? Does soaking the grains take care of the gluten?
Hi Barbara, Soaking the grains doesn’t take care of the gluten. I know that soaked sourdough bread can be eaten by some because of the soaking process makes it easier to digest (but doesn’t remove the gluten), so I would imagine the same for soaking the dough here. I don’t know about gluten-free flour baking, I am sorry. Thanks for asking and visiting!
Poptarts are ABSOLUTELY scrumptious! It’s funny how I have been thinking a lot about them lately! I haven’t had a poptart in about 11 years! How nuts is that 😮
Yummo! Thanks!
can’t wait to try these!
Hi Natasha. I hope you enjoy! Thanks for visiting!
I love that you made a healthier version of pop tarts! I love pop tarts but they are just soo sweet and unhealthy, and I’ve been wanting to make a homemade version too! I’ll have to give it a try sometime! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Hi Maria, You are welcome. I hope you enjoy, and thanks for visiting!
We made something similar to this, and I would say the kids loved them, but they only had a few before my husband and I cleaned ’em ‘out. Ugly pies – so cute!
Awesome recipe! Your pop tarts seems so delicious! Great post!! I included it in my post Βόλτα στη Γειτονιά #22 🙂 Have a great week!!
I found you from Sugar Bee Crafts! I host Fluster Creative Muster Party on Wednesdays and I would love it if you would come by and party with us. Hope to see you there!
Hugs, Smiles, and Blessings,
Robin Fluster Buster
These look great! We are great HOMEMADE poptart fans (commercial ones…not so much)! We’ve made many. Try: pesto, rasp.jam with choc chips melted (choc chips make it lumpy), bacon and eggs (no frosting, of course), how did we miss PIZZA???? Thanks so much for the soaked grain version! I can’t wait to try this one out.
Hi Michelle, Pizza is so easy to make! Hope you enjoy. Thanks for visiting!
My kids love pop tarts but I stopped buying them because of the nutritional concerns ~ this looks like a great alternative!
Have a fabulous week, Mary Beth
I’m gonna have to try these! My husband LOVES strawberry pop tarts, which gross me out because they’re so sugary and who knows whats in there! I hope I can get him addicted to these instead.
Hi Michelle, Ooo, I hope your husband will like the switchover! I’d love to know how it goes! Thanks for visiting!
Wow! I have not let my girl try Pop Tarts because of how unhealthy they are, but now I can make her these!! Thanks!
Hi Jeni, Yes, it’s really so nice to know exactly the ingredients you are getting when you eat food. I can’t vouch for a real Pop Tart, but these are a great substitute! Hope you enjoy, you are welcome, and thanks for visiting!
I am SO excited about this, thanks for sharing!
Hey Jolie, You are welcome!! Hope you and your family enjoys!