Homemade Chocolate Pop-Tarts Recipe

Pop-Tarts have been ruling the breakfast scene for decades — far longer than you might expect, being that the treat is still such a popular option today. Invented in 1964 with just a few flavors, the pastry soon became a popular product for Kellogg's, which now offers over a dozen flavors in thousands of stores nationwide. The hugely popular product started small, testing its original four flavors in none other than my current residence of Cleveland, Ohio — so it felt apt for me to be the developer to try to make my own homemade batch of the gourmet treats.

Pop-Tarts are a unique pastry in that they aren't quite hand pies, but they aren't quite cookies, either — they are a unique mixture of both, and can be hard to nail down when making them homemade. I took it as a challenge and tried to develop what I think is as close to the real deal as possible. It isn't as easy as opening a little foil package, but the results are well worth it: The pastry tastes fresh, extra-chocolatey, and far from processed. Best for home bakers with advanced skills in the kitchen, this homemade Pop-Tart recipe is a labor of love with a delicious gourmet-quality result, perfect to eat at any time of day (yes, even breakfast).

This recipe is made in three parts, which each requires a series of ingredients — which may seem like a lot, but many are ingredients you likely already have. For the dough, you'll need flour, cocoa powder, granulated sugar, salt, egg, ice water, and 2 cold sticks of butter. For the filling, you'll need a little more butter, some heavy cream, and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Then, for the icing on top, you'll need powdered sugar, warm milk, corn syrup, vanilla, and sprinkles.

For the dough, combine the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add the cold butter pieces.

Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse sand.

Add 6 tablespoons of water and pulse until a ball of dough forms.

Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap and shape it into 2 flat squares. Wrap it entirely in plastic wrap and chill it for an hour or overnight.

Remove one block of dough from the refrigerator. On a floured surface, roll the first portion to ⅛-inch thickness, or as thin as possible without breaking.

Cut 3 x 6-inch rectangles out of the flat sheet of dough and place them on a parchment-lined sheet tray. (Yield: 5 to 6 rectangles)

Once the tray is full, use a small baking dowel to poke holes across the tops of the rectangles, then chill the dough.

Repeat with the remaining half of the dough, but this time, do not poke holes in the tops of the rectangles. Chill for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, make the ganache filling. Melt butter and cream in a saucepan over medium heat.

Add the chocolate chips and stir to melt. The mixture will be a thick ganache.

When ready to build the Pop-Tarts, preheat the oven to 350 F.

Remove the Pop-Tart crusts from the refrigerator. On the unperforated pieces, spread the ganache across the middle in a roughly 2 x 5-inch rectangle.

Beat the egg and 1 tablespoon of water together. Brush the egg wash around the perimeter of the dough.

Place the perforated pieces of dough over the ganache, adhering them to the bottom pieces.

Using the edge of the baking dowel, press down to seal the Pop-Tarts.

Slice away any excess dough, leaving a clean, pressed edge.

Bake the Pop-Tarts on the parchment-lined sheet tray until lightly toasted, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

While the Pop-Tarts cool, make the icing. Whisk together the powered sugar, cocoa, warm milk, corn syrup, and vanilla until the consistency is thick but spreadable.

When the Pop-Tarts are cool to touch, spoon the icing over the Pop-Tarts. Immediately top with sprinkles.

Let the icing harden before storing, or eat warm.

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I know what you might be thinking, and yes, this does seem like a lot of work for just five Pop-Tarts. These Pop-Tarts are slightly larger than those that you'd get in a box, but eating one is equally as filling as it would be to eat both Pop-Tarts in the wrapper. You could make miniature Pop-Tarts by halving the size, which is an especially good idea if you'd prefer your desserts on the smaller side. Being that these are very rich and chocolatey, I found myself slicing them in half anyway.

You could also double the recipe to make double the amount of Pop-Tarts that are the same size. To do this, I suggest making the dough in two parts, following the recipe once each time. This way, you can work with each recipe's-worth of dough while the other chills, making it easier to roll, shape, and chill each batch without any pieces getting too warm. It may also be easier for your food processor to handle, depending on the size.

If you've ever made pie before, you may know that the easiest way to ruin a pie crust is to use warm (or even room temp) butter. Though the dough for Pop-Tarts is more dense than pie crust and therefore a little more forgiving, you still want the crust of the Pop-Tart to stay as flaky as possible so that it isn't too crumbly or dry. The reason the dough has to stay cold is due to the butter: If the dough becomes warm and the butter melts before cooking, the dough is baked into one dense texture instead of flaky layers. Cold butter, when baked, steams into the rising layers of the dough, which causes the flaky texture we associate with good pie crust.

You can tell when the dough is beginning to become too warm. It becomes extremely pliable to the point of being sticky and breakable, and it darkens in color, with a slight sheen across the surface. To prevent getting to this point — when the dough is too warm — stop working with the dough when it starts to feel soft, and chill it until it is firm again. You'll want to be working with dough that is firm, still cold to the touch, and fairly stiff.

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