Homemade “Top Tarts”

My kids love Pop Tarts, but for some reason I get heart palpitations every time I buy them.  Could be that I practically lived off of them in college and now the mere sight of them makes me nauseous.  Or it could be that I know they are packed with preservatives and sugar and I feel like a bad mom for letting my kids eat them.   So when I found a recipe for homemade pop tarts, I thought well they have to be better than the store bought ones. 

So I checked out the numbers…calories were higher in the homemade ones than the store bought ones (200 calories vs. 398 calories), and the fat grams were higher as well (5g vs. 16g.)…sugar was about the same!  So what gives???  I guess the benefit is that there are a heck of a lot less preservatives, they are baked fresh, and they taste SO much better than the store bought ones.  The recipe calls for refrigerated pie crust, so maybe making the crust from scratch will help with the numbers?  What are your thoughts? 

Either way, they were good and the boys had fun helping me make them.  It was definitely fun mommy and sons time, and you can’t put a number on that.  One thing I learned, is that my oldest needs some help with his straight lines:

Do you know how hard it is to piece together unequal rectangles??  Our homemade pop tarts definitely would not package well in a rectangle box:

And be warned…if you don’t crimp the edges well, you will end up with something that looks like it should be in a horror movie:

But the final products were yum-o!

 

The best part?  Well the sprinkles of course….figures!

 

 

I would love other recipes to try if anyone has them.  Please pass them along!

Home Made Top Tarts

Ingredients:

1 (15 ounce) package refrigerated pie crusts

1/4 cup strawberry jam, divided

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon colored decorating sugar, or as needed

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.  Unroll the pie crusts, place on a lightly floured work surface, and roll the crusts slightly with a rolling pin to square the edges. Cut each crust into 8 equal-sized rectangles. Place about 2 teaspoons of strawberry jam in the center of 8 squares, and spread the jam out to within 1/4 inch of the edge of the pastry square. Top each with another pastry square, and use a fork to crimp the squares together, sealing in the jam. Use a knife to trim the pastries, if desired. Move the filled pastries to the prepared baking sheets.

3.  Bake in the preheated oven until the edges are lightly golden brown, about 7 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheets. Meanwhile, stir together the confectioners’ sugar, milk, and vanilla extract in a bowl to make a spreadable frosting. Spread the cooled tarts with frosting and sprinkle with colored sugar.