Homemade Chocolate Pop Tarts! This simple recipe makes buttery, cocoa filled pastries filled with a rich chocolate filling all topped with pools or drizzles of white chocolate icing.
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Theese pop tarts are made with so much chocolate! The dough is made with cocoa, the filling is super chocolatey and fudgy and the icing is made with white chocolate!
HOW DO YOU MAKE POP TARTS EVEN BETTER?
Homemade definitely makes pop tarts taste better. They are fresher and you can choose your fruit or chocolate filling!
You can also make pop tarts better by making them different sizes! You will love my Giant Strawberry Pop Tart as well as my Giant Blueberry Pop Tart. They’re both so fun and delicious!
I went from making a giant pop tart to these super cute Mini Strawberry Pop Tarts. They’re made with sprinkles in the crust and filled with strawberry jam! This from scratch Blueberry Pie Cookies are also like mini pop tarts!
ABOUT THE PIE CRUST
I started with my great grandmother’s recipe, but made a few changes to it. I added some unsweetened cocoa and replaced the lard with more butter. I learned so much from baking my great grandmother’s recipes. The one recipe that I will never change is her classic banana bread recipe. It’s the best!
If you haven’t made pie crust recently, check out this post from Joy the Baker! It’s an easy read and has some great basic tips.
KEEP INGREDIENTS COLD
One of the most important things to keep in mind when making the crust is to keep the ingredients and dough very cold. (Joy the Baker explains why we keep things cold in the aforementioned article).
Here are some tips for keeping things cold:
- COLD BUTTER: Place the butter back in the fridge while I measuring out the dry ingredients.
- COLD WATER: Swirl an ice cube around in your bowl of cold water. Sometimes cold water straight from the tap is more room temperature so the ice cube will make it COLD.
- CHILL THE DOUGH: Chill it after making it and then again briefly before baking the pop tarts.
HOW TO MAKE THE PIE CRUST
Start by pulsing together the dry ingredients in a food processor so that they’re mixed together. Next, pulse in the chopped butter until the butter is the size of peas. It’s okay if you have a few larger pieces.
Add the water in a tablespoon at a time while you pulse it into the dry ingredients. Add about 4-5 tablespoons of water until you see that the dough is just coming together. You definitely don’t want it to be wet/sticky.
Wrap the dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Once the dough has chilled for at least a half hour, leave it out at room temperature for 20 minutes before rolling it out.
WHAT SHAPE TO MAKE YOUR POP TARTS
I make these pop tarts traditional rectangular shapes mini round ones as well! If you want to serve them for dessert, rectangular might be the way to go. If you want a more bite sized, cookie- like treat, I’d recommend making them round.
MAKING THE CHOCOLATE FILLING
My favorite part of these chocolate pop tarts might be the thick, fudgy chocolate filling!
To make the filling, you’ll need:
- cocoa powder
- heavy cream
- semi sweet chocolate, chips or chopped
- unsalted butter
- vanilla extract
- brown sugar (light or dark)
- salt
Cool the filling in the fridge. It will also thicken up as it cools. You’ll want the mixture to be thickened, but still spreadable.
EASY WHITE CHOCOLATE ICING
This white chocolate icing is so good! You’ll love how the white contrasts with the dark pop tarts. Not only is it incredibly delicious, it’s also easy to make. Just melt and let cool a little white chocolate and stir it together with powdered sugar, milk and vanilla.
A COUPLE OTHER ICING OPTIONS:
- CHOCOLATE ONLY: Just melt some white, semi sweet or milk chocolate and drizzle it over the pop tarts as is.
- POWDERED SUGAR AND MILK MINUS THE WHITE CHOCOLATE: If you don’t have white chocolate or wish to omit it, you can use the icing recipe I used for my Giant Pop Tart.
DRIZZLE, SPOON OR PIPE IT ON
There’s no one way to ice these! The easiest way would be to literally spoon it on. It’ll spread a lot on its own so it’s pretty easy. You can also use a spoon to just drizzle it over the pop tarts.
To make it a little neater, you can use a pastry bag with a fine tip or, even simpler, a small zip lock bag with a corner snipped off.
AND FOR A LITTLE SPARKLE
If I had had chocolate sprinkles, I probably would’ve topped these with them. So, definitely try them with chocolate sprinkles! I topped mine with turbinado sugar. I had just used turbinado sugar on the crust of my mixed berry galette and loved the taste, texture and little touch of sparkle it added!
HOW TO ENJOY THESE PASTRIES
I recommend letting the pop tarts cool before icing them because the icing will melt quite a bit if you ice them while warm.
That said, I also recommend eating them warm because they’re SO GOOD warm from the oven!
If you’re serving these for dessert, wait it out and cool them before icing them then allow another 15 minutes or so for the icing to set. If making just for you and your household, I’d say dig in ASAP!
I’d say this is a delicious home baking project for any chocolate lover! They’re so much better than store bought and easy and fun to make! With their buttery pastry, gooey rich filling and sweet white chocolate glaze, these homemade chocolate pop tarts are the ideal dessert or breakfast!
Chocolate Pop Tarts
Ingredients
FOR THE CHOCOLATE FILLING
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 1 ½ cups semi sweet chocolate chips or chopped
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar light or dark
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
FOR THE CRUST (Use recipe below or store bought pie crust)
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ cup cocoa unsweetened
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter very cold, cubed
- 4-6 tablespoons ice cold water
FOR THE EGG WASH
- 1 egg beaten
FOR THE ICING
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ cup white chocolate chips melted and cooled
- 2-4 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
FOR DECORATION
- Coarse sugar turbinado, for sprinkling
Instructions
FOR THE CHOCOLATE FILLING
- Place the heavy cream, sugar and salt in a small saucepan on medium heat for two minutes, stirring. Add the chocolate and continue to stir for another three minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter followed by the vanilla. Stir until smooth.
- Pour mixture into a bowl and refrigerate until it thickens but is still spreadable.
FOR THE DOUGH
- Chop butter into cubes and place in the fridge while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.
- Fill a small bowl with some cold water and an ice cube. Stir the ice cube around a bit and set bowl aside.
- In a food processor, pulse together the flour, cocoa, sugar, and salt. Add the cubed butter and pulse until the dough forms pea sized balls. Add ice water a tablespoon at a time while continuing to pulse mixture until it is just combined.Wrap the dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Once the dough has chilled for at least a half hour, leave it out at room temperature for 20 minutes before rolling it out.
- Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Turn dough as you roll it out to make sure it is not sticking to your surface. Roll out to a 1/8-inch thickness. Use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut dough into 4 x 3 inch rectangles or use a cookie or biscuit cutter (I used a 3 inch round cutter) to make mini pop tarts. Place one of the rectangles (or circles) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spoon about a tablespoon of chocolate filling on one half of the rectangles (or half a tablespoon if making mini pop tarts). . Spread the filling using the back of a spoon or a knife. Leave about a 1/4 inch border and brush the edges with the egg wash.
- Lay another half of the dough on top and gently seal the edges with your fingertips then crimp the edges with the back of a fork. Poke the tops of the pop tarts with a fork or a tooth pick to create tiny air vents.
- Continue until all the dough has been used. Dough can be rolled out a second time (or third, if necessary). Cover the baking sheets and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the pop tarts for 20-25 minutes (17-20 minutes for mini pop tarts and 20-25 minutes for regular pop tarts). Allow pop tarts to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
FOR THE ICING
- Stir until smooth the melted white chocolate, powdered sugar, vanilla (if using) and cream or milk. Start with 1 tablespoon of cream or milk and continue adding until icing is the consistency you like. Drizzle or spoon over cooled pop tarts. Top with some turbinado sugar while icing is still wet, if desired!
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that nutritional values are created by an online calculator and should only be used as an estimate.
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