Blueberry Pop Tarts
A plump, sweet blueberry filling wrapped inside a buttery flaky crust, these Blueberry Pop Tarts are a real breakfast treat. Add a cinnamon icing and these are way better than the store-bought variety.
If I could get away with it, I’d make these Blueberry Pop Tarts a regular breakfast but, alas, I no longer have a teenage metabolism but that just means these little breakfast pastries become a real treat when I have them.
Possibly the most loved of all breakfast pastries, pop tarts are actually quite easy to make from scratch, just a few simple steps. These ones, filled with a filling of plump, juicy blueberries are one you definitely need to try.
These also make the perfect addition to all the other Sweet Breakfast recipes on the blog already – go ahead and check them all out – after you’ve made these of course.
How to make Homemade Blueberry Pop Tarts
There are three parts to these homemade Blueberry Pop Tarts – the crust, the filling and the icing. All are made from scratch and are very simple to do.
How to make the blueberry filling
Start with the filling so that it has time to get cold before filling the pop tarts.
- Throw some fresh or frozen blueberries into a saucepan, along with lemon zest, juice and sugar.
- Bring it to a boil then add a slurry of cornstarch and water.
- Now just let it simmer until it thickens.
Using fresh or frozen berries will make a difference to how much liquid there is in this filling – frozen will release more water than fresh. Cook it until you can draw a line through the back of a spoon without the sauce running but if it looks too thick on chilling, just add a dash of water to loosen it up.
How to make the pop tart crust
This is my absolute favourite pie crust and I’ve used it in everything from these Nutella Hand Pies to my Warm Apple Crostata. It’s buttery, crisp and super flaky and takes just minutes to put together.
- All the ingredients are blitzed together in a food processor just for a minute or so with iced water added last while the processor is running.
- Gently pull it together into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap or baking paper and chill it for 45 minutes.
- Cut the dough in half. While one half goes back into the fridge, roll the other half out into a large rectangle. You should be able to get 10 small rectangles – 8 from the first roll and another 2 from the scraps. Put these onto a baking tray and back into the fridge.
- Repeat the process with the second disk of dough.
- While the second batch goes back into the fridge to chill, pull the first one out and top each with about 1 ½ tablespoons of filling. Run water around the edge.
- Now place one of the chilled pieces of dough over the top, seal the edges and crimp together with a fork.
- Brush the top with an egg wash and cut two small slits in each one, then bake.
If you don’t have a food processor, you can make this crust by hand by using a knife or pastry cutter to ‘cut’ the ingredients together in a bowl.
Tips for perfect pop tart crust
I can’t stress enough, the golden rule with this pie crust is not to process or play with it too much. Make sure there are visible small pieces of butter and make sure it stays cold. The cold butter is what creates the flaky texture. If the butter melts – no flakiness.
It’s best to only work with what you need and keep chilling between steps to get the very best results, especially if it’s warm where you are.
For the pop tart icing
This icing is the perfect compliment to the buttery crust and blueberry flavor. Mix powdered sugar, a pinch of cinnamon and a little milk together to make a thick icing. The cinnamon gives these cute little breakfast pastries a nice, cosy kick.
The icing should be of a consistency that is thick but levels out after 10 seconds or so. You can thicken the icing with a little more powdered sugar or thin it out with a little more milk or water.
Make these blueberry pop tarts your own
I’m all about being able to customize recipes exactly the way you like them so here’s a few ideas to change up these pop tarts and make them just how you like.
- The filling: You don’t need to stick to blueberries. Use any fresh or frozen berries, or even things like peaches and apricots will work beautifully made the same way as this filling. You can even fill them with Nutella, peanut butter or your favourite preserves.
- For even more filling ideas, try this Homemade Apple Pie Filling or the gorgeous filling from this Blackberry Marionberry Pie.
- The icing: Add a little lemon juice to the icing instead of milk for a lemon icing.
- Decorating: You can see in these photos, I’ve decorated these 3 different ways. On top of the regular icing, I mixed a little blueberry sauce to some icing and created a purple zig zag drizzle (below). On some I dotted a little blueberry sauce and dragged a toothpick through the dots (first picture) and others I scattered over some sprinkles (first picture)
These pop tarts are ridiculously delicious and totally simple, plus super cute. You can eat them warm or cold, with or without icing, and even freeze them for later so spoil yourself and make a batch – you deserve it.
If you love these pop tarts, I know you’ll love these recipes too:
- Blueberry Pecan Pancakes
- Blueberry Peach Crumble
- White Chocolate Blueberry Pancakes
- Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins
- Honey Blueberry Danish
- Coconut Blueberry Muffins
- Mini Blueberry Pies with Hazelnut Crust
- Blueberry Mascarpone Tart
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Blueberry Pop Tarts
Ingredients
FOR THE BLUEBERRY FILLING
- 1 lb fresh or frozen blueberries
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/3 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
FOR THE POP TART CRUST
- 1 1/2 sticks (6oz) unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
- 8 oz (1 3/4) cups all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- up to 1/2 cup ice water
TO FINISH
- 1 egg yolk
- dash of water
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons milk
- Good pinch of cinnamon
Instructions
FOR THE BLUEBERRY FILLING
- In a medium saucepan, combine the blueberries, lemon zest, juice and sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Mix together the cornstarch and water then stir it into the blueberries.
- Turn the heat down so the mixture is just simmering.
- Simmer stirring every so often for about 10 minutes until the blueberries have softened and the liquid has thickened. Draw a line across the back of your spoon and the line should hold.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool completely
FOR THE POP TART CRUST
- Place the butter, flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until it looks like lumply sand. Add the ice water 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse between each until the dough just starts clumping together. Don't add more water than you need.
- Turn the dough out onto a sheet of baking paper and just gently pull it together – don’t knead it too much as you want it to stay cold for it to become flaky.
- Shape the dough into a rough square, then cut in half. Wrap each piece up separately and chill for at least 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 395F. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
- Cut the dough in half. Return one half of the dough to the fridge.
- Roll the other out to a rough rectangle approximately 9 inches x 12 inches and about 1/6th of an inch thick.
- Trim it to make straight sides and cut 8 smaller about 2.5 x 4 inches each. Reroll the offcuts to make another 2. Place them all on a baking tray and back into the fridge.
- Repeat with the other piece of dough.
TO ASSEMBLE
- Hold back about 1 tablespoon of the filling if you'd like to use it for decorating.
- Top 10 of the rectangles with about 1 1/2 tablespoons of blueberry filling. Keep it quite centred, leaving a 1/2 inch edge all the way round and don’t be tempted to overfill them.
- Use your finger to brush a line of water around the edge, then top with another rectangle of dough. Use a fork to crimp the sides firmly all the way round.
- Beat together the egg yolk with a dash of water and brush over the tops. Pierce two small slits with a sharp knife.
- Place them on the prepared baking trays and bake for 25-27 minutes, turning at the halfway point, until golden and crisp.
FOR THE ICING
- Sift the powdered sugar and cinnamon into a medium bowl, then mix in the milk. Adjust the consistency so that it settles after about 10 seconds when stirred - powdered sugar will make it thicker, milk or water to thin it.
- For purple icing: push the reserved blueberry filling through a strainer and use the juice to colour the icing.
- For the blueberry dots: use the juice from straining the filling as above and dot it onto the tarts with a toothpick, then run the toothpick through the middle of the dots to make swirls.
- Spread the icing over the cooled pop tarts with a spatula. Serve immediately or wait a few hours for the icing to set up a little.
Notes
- Fresh and frozen blueberries will release a different amount of liquid. If the filling is too thick, just add a touch of water to thin it. If it's too thin, cook it a little longer or add a touch more cornstarch slurry.
- It's very important not to over-process the dough so that you still have very small lumps of visible butter in it when rolled out.
- It's equally as important to keep the dough cold so chill where recommended, and even more if it is warm where you are.
