Homemade Pop Tarts

I have a confession…my littles love pop tarts. Don’t worry, I’m not feeding my toddlers these treats daily, but every now and then, we make our own homemade pop tarts. This is a fun activity to do with young ones because the recipe is simple, not too messy, and they can even fill and decorate their treats all by themselves.

Our household fave is cinnamon streusel, but there are a gazillion ideas for fillers such as flavored jellies or jams, chocolate chips, nutella or pie filling. Want a healthier option? Leave off the icing and use a fruit filling.

Ingredients:
Refrigerated pie crusts (we used our local store brand)
1 1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Cookie icing
Various sprinkles/toppings
Cookie cutters (optional)

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out two refrigerated pie crusts—one for the top and one for the bottom. We stacked the two pie crusts when cutting to ensure the tops matched the bottoms.

Using a pizza cutter, we cut the dough into (6) 3” x 4” sections. Any leftover dough can be rolled out to use with fun cookie cutter shapes.

Next, combine the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon to create the filling. Take about 3 tsp of the filling mixture and sprinkle onto the bottom crust. Before placing the top crust back on, poke a few holes with your fork to vent the top dough. Repeat for all of the bottom pieces and cover with the top dough. Crimp the top and bottom together with a fork.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Once they cool, let the kiddos have some fun! Give them a ready-made icing bag, and let them create their very own treat! If you want to get really creative, use writing icing to write notes to your kids on their treats or wrap the pastries with wax paper and embellish with a decorative printable band for an on-the-go treat!