Homemade pop tarts made with a buttery whole grain crust, easy strawberry chia seed jam for the filling, and coconut butter drizzled on top for icing. Kids and adults will love this more wholesome version of a childhood classic!
LET’S MAKE POP TARTS.
But, like, better.
Because, instead of this:
“Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Vitamin B1 [Thiamin Mononitrate], Vitamin B2 [Riboflavin], Folic Acid), Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Dextrose, Soybean And Palm Oil (With Tbhq For Freshness), Sugar, Bleached Wheat Flour, Contains Two Percent Or Less Of Wheat Starch, Salt, Dried Strawberries, Dried Pears, Dried Apples, Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Citric Acid, Gelatin, Modified Wheat Starch, Yellow Corn Flour, Caramel Color, Palm Oil, Xanthan Gum, Cornstarch, Turmeric Extract Color, Soy Lecithin, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Color Added”
We’re making our pop tarts with simple, wholesome ingredients like:
whole wheat flour, grass-fed butter (or use vegan butter like Miyoko’s for a vegan/dairy-free option), strawberries, maple syrup, chia seeds, vanilla, and coconut butter, to yield a buttery, flaky pie crust, sweet, fruit-forward jammy filling, and 1-ingredient frosting.
No bleached flours, unstable oils, food coloring, modified starches, or high fructose corn syrup here.
And, if I’m being totally honest, pop tarts are kind of hard, dry, sad little excuses for pies anyway, and I really think we need to change that.
So, let’s do this thing.
A super simple pie crust gets mixed together (by hand or in the food processor), then chilled in the fridge while you make a simple stovetop jam out of berries and chia seeds. Once everything is cool, dough gets rolled out, cut into pop tart shapes (aka rectangles), filled with jam, sealed, baked, and drizzled with softened coconut butter for frosting.
It’s slightly more work than my usual recipe, but each step is so simple, and the end result is absolutely worth the added steps and wait time when you’re biting into a warm, flaky, buttery breakfast pastry and your entire house smells like strawberry pie.
If you make this recipe, let me know how it turns out! Leave a comment below, or take a picture of your homemade whole wheat strawberry chia seed pop tarts and share it with me on Instagram so I can see!
Whole Wheat Strawberry Chia Seed Pop Tarts
Time: 60 minutes
Yields: 8
Ingredients:
filling
- 3 cups strawberries, fresh or frozen, tops removed if fresh
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup chia seeds
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
crust
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour (or any combination of all-purpose + regular whole wheat)
- 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) cold, salted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/2 cup cold water (+ a few tablespoons extra, as needed)
icing
- 1/2 cup coconut butter
- optional: a handful of freeze-dried strawberries, for topping
Instructions:
- Place the strawberries and maple syrup into a small pot on the stove over high heat. Once bubbling, reduce heat to medium, use a potato masher to mix/mash up the berries, and let cook for 2-3 minutes, or until strawberries are soft. Turn off the heat and add in the chia seeds and vanilla, then stir well to combine. Let the jam sit in the pot on the stove to start cooling off while you make the dough for the crust.
- To make the crust, cut your butter into 10-12 slices and place it in a large bowl with the flour and salt. Use a pastry cutter, a sturdy fork, or your fingertips to mash the butter into the flour, stopping when you have butter pieces about the size of chickpeas. Add water and maple syrup, and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. If dough is very dry and crumbly, add more water a Tablespoon at a time, until the dough holds together (I usually need 1-2 extra tablespoons). Press dough into a 1-inch thick circle, place it on a plate, and place in the fridge to chill for at least 20 minutes, or up to 3 days, if needed (in this case, cover the dough with plastic or put it a container with a lid) before using.
- Pour the strawberry jam into a bowl and place it in the fridge to chill while the dough rests. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set it aside for later.
- Once both the dough and the jam are cool, remove the dough from the fridge, sprinkle a large countertop with flour, and roll out the dough into a large, 1/8th of an inch thick oval, using more flour on top of the dough, as needed, to prevent it from sticking.
- Once your dough is rolled out, cut it into 2×3 inch rectangles, to yield 16 total. I like to make myself a template to ensure they’re all the same size- just cut a piece of paper into a 2×3 rectangle, then place it on top of your dough, cutting around the edges with a sharp knife.
- Transfer 8 of the rectangles to your sheet pan, and place a heaping tablespoon of the jam into the center of each. Top with the remaining 8 rectangles of dough, and use a fork to crimp the edges, sealing the pop tarts shut. Poke a hole in the top of each with your fork to let steam escape while they bake.
- Place the sheet pan in your freezer (if it fits!) or the fridge while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Once the oven is preheated, bake the pop tarts for 10-14 minutes, or until puffy and just barely golden. The longer they stay in the oven, the more likely the jam will burst out the sides, so I recommend checking them after 10 minutes and keeping a close eye on them as they bake!
- Let pop tarts cool completely on the pan before drizzling each with coconut butter (if yours is solid at room temperature, pop it in the microwave for 10-20 seconds first, to melt it to a drizzly consistency). If desired, crush a few freeze-dried strawberries in your hands and sprinkle them over the iced pop tarts. Serve immediately.
- Leftovers keep well at room temperature for 2 days or in the fridge for 3-4. If you’d like to make these in advance to heat in the toaster before eating like real pop tarts, leave off the icing and ice each one after reheating.
NOTES:
If you have a food processor handy, the dough can easily be made there instead of by hand. Pulse together the flour, salt, and cut up butter, then drizzle in the water and maple syrup and pulse again just until a dough forms, adding the extra water in, if needed.
You will likely have some leftover jam and dough scraps after cutting out the 16 rectangles needed for these pop tarts. Instead of re-rolling the dough into another 1-2 pop-tarts, I usually just toss the random pieces of dough onto a sheet pan, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, and bake for 15 minutes to get them nice and crunchy and use as a snack. The leftover jam is great spooned over yogurt…maybe with a few cinnamon sugar pie crust pieces crumbled on top?