Your eyes are not deceiving you- this really is a giant strawberry pop tart! Yep-a nine portion version of one of your favorite childhood treats! Just like the original, but instead of warming it in your toaster, you’ll bake it fresh in your oven. It has a tender, super delicious crust, is bursting with strawberry jam and topped with the easiest, most delicious icing and some fun, rainbow sprinkles!
WHY MAKE A GIANT POP TART?
Social distancing definitely has me craving comfort food. One comfort food I used to love to tear into as a kid are pop tarts. I love baking with strawberries (check out my incredibly yummy roasted strawberry crumb bars), and love strawberry pop tarts, so went with strawberry pop tarts!
Blueberry is also a favorite pie/pop tart filling of mine. If you love blueberry, you’ll love my blueberry cream cheese pound cake filled with homemade blueberry sauce!
My first batch of pop tarts were really good, but they seemed a more like regular hand pies. I wanted my pop tarts to be a bit more special with lead me to……a giant pop tart!
THIS GIANT POP TART IS:
- Fun! Fun to make, look at and eat!
- Like Real Pop Tarts: They have a similar pastry and jam filling and really look like a giant pop tart.
- Cleaner and Fresher: No need for preservatives and you’ll taste a huge difference in freshness.
- A Perfect Dessert: It wouldn’t be too cool to serve real pop tarts for dessert, but a giant pop tart is basically like serving a pie! Also, unlike real pop tarts, this giant lets you choose between middle and edge pieces!
HOW TO MAKE A GIANT POP TART
This giant pop tart can be homemade or semi homemade with the help of store bought jam and/or pie crust.
HOW TO MAKE THE SEMI HOMEMADE VERSION
For semi homemade, you can skip making the pie crust and jam and go straight to assembling your pop tart. It’s definitely a great option that’ll save you some time and spare you some dish washing.
I recommend you still make the icing because I’m not sure what you’d buy as a substitute and it is literally the easiest icing you can make.
HOW TO MAKE THE HOMEMADE VERSION
To make homemade pop tarts, you’ll need to start by making a pie crust. I start with this step because it needs a couple of hours in the fridge before it’s ready to be used.
ABOUT THE PIE CRUST
I started with my great grandmother’s recipe (pictured above), but made a few tweaks to it. I added some sugar and replaced the lard with more butter.
PIE DOUGH TEMPERATURE
The most important thing to keep in mind when making the dough is to keep the ingredients and dough cold. Bon Appetit has a cool article on the why and the how of keeping pie dough cold.
When making the dough, I like to first cut my butter into cubes and then stick it back in the fridge while I measure out my dry ingredients.
MAKING THE DOUGH
Start by pulsing together the dry ingredients in a food processor so that they’re mixed together. Next, pulse in the chopped butter followed by the ice water.
Swirling an ice cube around in your cold water is a good idea because sometimes cold water straight from the tap is more room temperature. Add the water in a tablespoon at a time while you pulse it into the dry ingredients. You’ll 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.
It’s even helpful to have two sheets of plastic wrap already on the counter and ready for some dough to land on it. Just divide the dough in half, gently push down on the dough to form two disks, wrap each disk up nicely with the plastic wrap and put them in the fridge.
MAKING THE JAM
I like to make the jam after the dough since it doesn’t need as much fridge time. Putting the jam in the fridge allows it to cool and also helps it thicken up a bit more.
ROLLING OUT THE DOUGH
Once your dough is chilled and ready to go, you’ll want to have the following tools:
- a ruler
- a well floured rolling pin
- a sharp knife or pizza cutter: for trimming the edges
- a parchment paper lined baking sheet
- a pastry brush or two: one for brushing the egg wash and one for brushing off excess flour off your dough
Be gentle when rolling out your dough and transferring it to the baking sheet. At the same time, don’t worry if it’s not the perfect 9″ x 12″ rectangle. It’s homemade and some of the beauty of homemade is seeing the imperfections.
Once your dough is rolled out, spread the jam leaving about a 1 ” border. Brush the border with egg wash, but don’t discard the egg wash since you’ll use it on the top of the pop tart to help it get nice and golden when it bakes.
Once your top layer is on, go ahead and trim any extra dough if needed. Use your fingertips to gently press the edges together and then use a fork to press indentations in the edges. This part is fun because you really start to see it look like a pop tart.
Next, you’ll put some holes in the top of your tart to allow steam to release as it bakes. You could do larger slits as you would with a pie, but I like the small holes to keep it looking more like a pop tart. Make the holes with a toothpick or the tines of a fork.
Almost done! Just pop it in the fridge for another half hour then brush it with egg wash and bake it!
The icing will take you all of two minutes to make. Just stir together powdered sugar, heavy cream, milk and vanilla. I like the richness that heavy cream adds but if you don’t have any, you can still make the icing with milk in place of heavy cream.
Feel free to drizzle the icing over top or spoon and spread it. Sprinkles are optional but highly recommended!
HOW TO ENJOY YOUR POP TARTS
To serve, cut pop tarts into thirds both horizontally and vertically. Since it was baked as a giant loaded with filling, it tends to work better when served on a plate rather than hand held!
This giant strawberry pop tart really is the coolest, most fun seasonal dessert to make this spring or summer! It’s a retro treat that’ll take you back to your childhood while allowing you to enjoy some delicious, seasonal strawberry flavor!
FOR MORE FRUIT FILLED DESSERTS, CHECK OUT MY:
- Banana Brownies
- Upside Down Blackberry Cupcakes
- No Churn Raspberry and Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream
- Lemon Crinkle Cookies
- Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Giant Strawberry Pop Tart
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 1 Giant pop tart, 9 individual pop tarts 1x
- Category: Desserts, Baking
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Giant Strawberry Pop Tart recipe is an easy, homemade version of a comfort food classic dessert! Includes recipes for delicious, from scratch pie dough and strawberry jam and options for easy store bought swap outs! All coated in a simple, super easy icing and topped with rainbow sprinkles!
Ingredients
FOR THE JAM FILLING (Use recipe below or about 1 cup store bought jam)
- 3 cups strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
- 1/4–1/2 cup sugar (to taste)
- 1/2 lemon, juiced and zested
- pinch of sea salt
- 1 1/2– 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
FOR THE CRUST (Use recipe below or store bought pie crust)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cold, cubed
- 4–5 tablespoons ice cold water
FOR THE EGG WASH
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon milk
FOR THE ICING
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
FOR THE DECORATION
- Rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
FOR THE STRAWBERRY JAM FILLING
- Add the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, zest, salt and cornstarch to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often for 5-7 minutes or until jam thickens. Stir in vanilla then pour jam into a bowl. Place bowl in the fridge to cool. Jam will continue to thicken as it cools.
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, 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.
- Divide dough in half. Place each half on a sheet of plastic wrap. Loosely wrap each ball in plastic wrap and gently press each dough ball into a disk shape. Place each disk in the fridge for at least two hours or up to two days.
- When ready to assemble pop tart, remove the dough from the fridge and let it stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, generously flour your counter, and prepare your egg wash by whisking together the egg and milk. Set aside.
- Roll the first disk out on your floured counter into a rectangle about 1/8″ thickness and 9″ x 12″ in size. If needed, use a pizza cutter or knife to trim the edges.
- Gently transfer dough to the baking sheet and place the baking sheet in the fridge. Roll out second disk the same size as the first one.
- Spoon the jam onto the crust and spread it with the back of your spoon or an offset spatula, leaving about a one inch border. Brush the edges of the bottom layer with the egg wash. Carefully place the top crust over the bottom crust. Gently press the edges of the dough with your finger tips to seal the top and bottom crusts together. Use a fork to crimp all the edges. (Lightly dip fork in flour if needed to prevent sticking). Use a fork or a toothpick to poke holes throughout the dough and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Remove dough from fridge and brush allover with the egg wash. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown, rotating pan halfway through cooking. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before icing.
FOR THE ICING
- Stir together the powdered sugar, heavy cream, milk, and vanilla. Pour and spread over the pop tart. Top with sprinkles as desired!
Keywords: pop tart, pop tarts, giant pop tart, strawberry, strawberry jam, strawberries, pie crust, pie, pie dough
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