These homemade apricot pop tarts are a delicious treat for breakfast. Made with a flaky pastry crust, stuffed full of apricot jam and smothered in caramel icing.
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Hi Friends! I’ve been busy in the kitchen lately, mostly baking delicious treats. It really is my happy place, developing fun new recipes and learning along the way. I like to make a day of it, I set up with some music, a podcast or a movie to watch (more recently they have been scary movies because I am so excited for fall!) and I bake my day away. It’s so lovely.
Something that I have been wanting to bake at home is pop tarts! When I was a kid my parents stuck to the basics when grocery shopping, mostly to save money and also in the effort to be healthy. We would get pop tarts but just the plain ones.
I remember my sister and I executed a covert mission to sneak a box of pop tarts with the fancy icing and sprinkles into the shopping cart. We would have made it too, but I was too sweet of a kid to lie to my dad and I pointed them out at the register. My sister was not impressed.
Now that I know how easy pop tarts can be made at home, I am making all the flavors and the fancy icing! They are delicious, you guys! They are easy to make and the flavor combinations are endless. I chose to make an apricot pop tart with a caramel icing because even though apricots are a summer fruit, they still have that fall vibe and like I said above I am kinda into fall right now.
What makes this recipe so easy to make is the jam for the filling. Homemade jam is delicious and I encourage you to make it if you want, but its so easy to use store bought jam and add a little fresh fruit to it.
To be completely honest, I used fresh plumcots in with my jam because they were out of apricots at the store. Have you heard of plumcots!? They are cross between plums and apricots! So good!
Enjoy these with a cup of coffee in the morning (maybe eat a hard boiled egg with it so you don’t crash later) or as a dessert. The flaky crust is a classic pie dough recipe stuffed full of gooey jam and smothered in homemade caramel icing. Now this gal gets to enjoy fancy pop tarts whenever she likes!
Homemade Apricot Pop Tarts with Caramel Icing
Ingredients
For the Pop Tarts
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup shortening + 2 tablespoons
- 1/3 cup lard + 2 tablespoon - can be replaced with shortening
- 1/3 cup cold water
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 1/4 cup apricot jam
- 2 small apricots
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 egg for egg wash
For the Caramel Icing
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
For the Pop Tarts
- I use my pie dough recipe for these pop tarts. Click the link for full instructions on how to make the perfect pie crust. You can also use puff pastry rolled thin.
- Sift the flour and salt in to a medium bowl.
- Add the shortening and use a pastry cutter or two butter knives to cut into flour until very fine, like large grains of sand. Don't add the lard/second amount of shortening yet.
- Place the flour mixture in the refridgerator and make the pop tart filling.
- Cut the apricots in half and remove the pit. Dice apricots and set aside.
- Place the water and corn starch to a small saucepan on low heat. Whisk until combined.
- Add the apricot jam and diced apricots and bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, stirring constantly for 2 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Add the cinnamon and stir until combined.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Remove the flour mixture from the fridge and add the lard and cut in coarsely or until the size of small peas. You should not see any large chunks of lard or shortening.
- Add the cold water a little bit at a time. Mush dough with hands until mixed thoroughly, and no more than that. You don’t want to handle pie dough any more than you have to. Bring the dough together into a ball.
- Place the dough on a floured board and roll out into a large rectangle and about 1/8 inch thick. Using a ruler and a sharp knife, cut into 3 x 4 inch rectangles. You should get about 18 – 20 rectangles.
- Place the rectangles on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place in the fridge for 5-10 minutes.
- Remove the rectangles from the fridge and match up in pairs. Brush the edges with egg wash and then add a tablespoon of apricot jam in the center.
- Place the secong rectangle on top and press down the edges. Use a fork the press down the edges ensuring there are no air bubbles. Using a sharp knife, pierce a couple small slits on the top for ventilation.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until browned on the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
For the Icing
- Place the butter, brown sugar and cream in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat.
- Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, stiring constantly for about 1 minute.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Whisk in the powdered sugar gradually until smooth.
- Spread the icing on top of the pop tarts and enjoy!
