I’ve seen quite a few homemade Pop Tart recipes on the internet. They look delicious and fun, but for me they were still made with white flour, and well – I wanted to find a way to bring them even further Out of the Box. These homemade Pop Tarts are chock full of whole grain wheat, flax meal, and fresh fruit – Making them a win in both taste and nutrition.
Pay special attention to the top six “main” ingredients in the store-bought Pop Tarts — Four out of the six are versions of sugar, one is a flour stripped of all it’s nutrients, then “enriched”, and one has been preserved with a form of lighter fluid. Yep, take a peek.
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WHAT’S IN STORE-BOUGHT POP TARTS?
(All ingredients followed by an * can be referenced at www.wikipedia.org by clicking on the ingredient)
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Kellogg’s Pop Tarts
Ingredients
- Enriched Flour
- Corn Syrup
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Dextrose
- Soybean and Palm Oil (with TBHQ for freshness)
- Sugar
- Cracker meal
- Wheat Starch
- Salt
- Dried Strawberries
- Dried Pears
- Dried Apples
- Cornstarch
- Leavening
- Citric Acid
- Corn Cereal
- Gelatin
- Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
- Caramel Color
- Modified Corn Starch
- Soy Lecithin
- Xanthan Gum
- Modified Wheat Starch
- Tricalcium Phosphate
- Color Added
- Tumeric Color
- Vitamin A Palmitate
- Red #40
- Niacinamide
- Reduced Iron
- Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (vitamin B6)
- Yellow #6
- Riboflavin (Vitamin B2)
- Thiamin Hydrocholoride (vitamin B1)
- Folic Acid
- Blue #1
**All listed product ingredients are taken from product’s package label. Though Out of the Box Food makes every effort to provide complete ingredient information, please check the package for the most current information.
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Whole Grain Pop Tarts
Makes: approximately 20 Pop tarts
Pop Tart Pastry
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour
- 4 tbsp flax meal
- 16 tbsp butter, cold
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 5 tbsp ice water
Strawberry filling
- 2 12oz bags frozen organic strawberries
- 1/4 C raw sugar
Directions:
For the Jam:
- In a medium saucepan, heat frozen strawberries until they begin to soften and release their juices.
- Add sugar.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Cool and set aside.
For the Pastry:
- Place butter in the freezer for about 15 minutes (to make it extra cold).
- Whisk together flour, flax meal and sea salt.
- Cube butter into 1/2″ pieces and add to flour mixture.
- Blend together with pastry cutter, or pulse briefly with food processor until crumbly with small pea-sized pieces of butter ( Do not over mix or crust will not be flaky)
- Drizzle ice water over flour mixture and toss with a fork to combine. If you can squeeze a small amount of dough and have it stick together, dough is done. Otherwise, drizzle another teaspoon of ice water over dough.
- Turn dough out onto smooth surface and divide into four pieces.
- Using the heal of your hand, press dough forward a couple times to distribute the fats. Do not overwork the dough.
- Scrape all dough back together and place on a sheet of plastic wrap. Press down to form a 4-5″ disk and wrap in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until ready to use.
To Assemble the Pop Tarts:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Roll dough into a large rectangle.
- Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut an even number of equal sized squares or rectangles out of the dough.
- Place a dollop of the strawberry jam onto the center of half of the dough pieces.
- Top each jam topped piece of dough with one of the equally sized plain pieces.
- Crimp the edges of each Pop Tart with a fork.
- Brush with an egg wash and bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
These Whole Grain Pop Tarts can be frozen individually and then crisped up in the toaster when ready to eat. Enjoy!
Mmmm that’s some tasty red#40
Is that 16 or 6 tbsp. of butter?
Is there any possible substitute for the egg wash? My son is allergic to eggs. I love that the rest of the recipe is ok for him, except for the final step before baking. Any suggestions?
Hi Nora,
You can brush on a little milk or cream which works great too. It’s just to give them a bit of shine, so if you leave it out completely it won’t actually change the flavor of the recipe. Pop back on and let me know how they turn out!
Hello Kim!
Can prepare these in advance and freeze them?
It sounds lovely and I will give it a go.
Thank you!
Yes, definitely! Just pop them in the oven (toaster oven) for a few minutes to crisp them back up. You may want to under-bake them slightly initially so that when you rebake to reheat they don’t brown too much.
Hi Kim! I’m a new reader/follower!
My son is 21 and still loves poptarts. I’m going to try your version (for him and my 4 yr old grandson) and I’m betting that he’ll like them much more than the store bought ones. For me, I’m going to try your kid friendly mushroom soup (I am, after all, a kid at heart, lol)!
Thanks, Cynthia!