Homemade Peach Pop-Tarts

Do you ever just want to eat dessert for breakfast? Maybe you don’t want to get judged walking into work munching on a piece a pie🥧 … I have the perfect solution! These homemade pop tarts are definitely a breakfast pastry, but oh boy will they satisfy your sweet tooth! I could eat them for every meal.
I made a peach version for this post, but the flavor possibilities for these pop tarts are infinite! Peach is my absolute favorite, but some other top options include brown sugar cinnamon, strawberry, and apple butter (so good topped with a maple glaze 🤤)!
To make these delectable pastries, we are going to use my Perfect Pie Dough recipe as the base. I used a half batch, which will get you 10-12 pop tarts. Just follow the recipe through step 2! If you don’t feel like making your own pie dough, you can head down to the grocery store and buy some premade pie dough or you could even make this using premade puff pastry. Don’t worry, they will definitely still be homemade 😉.

Homemade Peach Pop Tarts

We’re going to start off making the peach jam. You will need a saucepan, spatula, and, if you like a smoother jam, you’ll need either a food processor or an immersion blender. And again, if you’re not feeling super motivated, just buy some jam and use that… it’ll be our secret!

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1. I used a bag of frozen, sliced peaches for my jam. It’s a HUGE time saver, but if you’ve got time on your hands, start peeling those fresh peaches 🍑🍑🍑! The first step is to combine the peaches, sugar, water, and vanilla in your saucepan, and stir them up a bit.

2. Now we just need to cook down the peaches to a jam-like consistency. Start them on medium heat; once the mixture begins to boil, turn it down to medium-low heat and let it simmer. Stir every few minutes to make sure the bottom doesn’t burn (it’ll burn more easily the more the liquid cooks off). This whole process will take about 30-40 minutes. As you can see in the photos below, your peaches will start to break down and become quite mushy. You can help them along a bit with your spatula if you’re impatient like me 🤣. Once most of the liquid has cooked off and they look and feel like mush, take your jam off the heat.

3. It’s decision time! Do you prefer your jam with some chunks of fruit in it? If so, your jam is done! Put it in a container and set it aside to cool.
If you’re like me, and you like a smoother jam, it’s time to blend it up! You can either use an immersion blender right in your saucepan (which is ideal because, well, dishes aren’t fun) or you can blend your jam in a food processor. I used the food processor because I actually don’t own an immersion blender! I’ll have to remember to add that to my wish list. Just transfer your jam to the food processor and pulse it for a few seconds.

4. While our jam is cooling, it’s time to prepare our pie dough (or grab it out of the freezer 🤐). Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it looks mealy, and then pour in the water and mix until the dough comes together. From that point, you’ll want to dump your pie dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap and press it down with your hands to make a relatively flat rectangle. Then fold up the sides of your plastic wrap around the dough and pop it in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.

5. Now that our pie dough and jam have cooled down, it’s time to get down to business. Let’s turn this into some homemade pop tarts! First, preheat your oven to 350℉. Then, heavily flour a surface to roll out your dough on. Place your pie dough on that surface, and then flour it some more. Grab your favorite rolling pin and roll it out into a big rectangle, keeping the dough about 1/4 inch thick.

6. Mark your dough at approximately half of its length. Try not to cut through it, just a subtle indent so you have a guide to use. Then, measure out little rectangles of dough, approximately 3 x 4, making sure it’s symmetrical on both halves of your dough.

7. Mix up one egg with a tiny bit of water to make an egg wash. You’ll need a pastry brush for this. If you don’t have one and you don’t mind getting messy, just spread it around with your fingers. Egg wash one half of the dough. Now, we’re going to place the jam inside the rectangles we outlined on the half of the dough that has the egg wash on it. Use about 2-3 tablespoons of jam per pop tart. Try to keep the jam towards the center of each rectangle so you have room to seal the edges.

8. The next step requires a little bit of bravery! Just remember what Julia Child told us, “The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.” We can do this! And if it doesn’t look great, we can fix it! Egg wash the other half of the dough and then fold it over the half with the peach jam, trying to line up the rectangles you outlined on our dough. Then, using your rolling pin, roll between each rectangle to seal the edges. It’s okay if they look crazy, the oven will fix it! Just try to make sure the peach jam is secured in each rectangle.

“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.“

Julia Child

9. Phew! We did it! Let’s trim the edges now. I like to use a pizza cutter for this, but you could easily use a knife. Just cut out the rectangles you outlined, trying to keep your pop tarts in similar sized rectangles. Take the excess pie dough and either roll it back out to make a few more pop tarts, save it for a delicious quiche dough, or roll it out and turn it into some cinnamon twists!

10. We’re going to make our pop tarts look a little less rustic now. Take a fork and gently press it into the dough on the edges of each pop tart.
Then carefully move each pop tart onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Once all of your pop tarts are on your baking sheet (or sheets), they need to cool. If you’re baking them right away, put them in the freezer for a few minutes. If you’re not going to bake them for a few hours or maybe a day, the refrigerator will do just fine.
Pro Tip: You can also freeze these unbaked and then once they’re frozen, transfer them to a Ziploc bag, and you can keep them in the freezer and just bake one at a time when you want one!

11. Now that our dough has cooled again, get your egg wash out. Lightly egg wash the tops of each pop tart. This will give them a nice shine and color after they bake. Pop them in the oven at 350℉ and bake for 25-35 minutes. Make sure to turn them if you have an uneven oven. They’ll be done when they have a light golden brown color.

12. While our pop tarts are in the oven, let’s make the glaze. Measure out your powdered sugar into a bowl and pour in your liquid ingredients: vanilla, milk, and melted butter. Whisk them together. Then add the cinnamon. I say to add this at the end because some people like more cinnamon than others. I like A LOT of cinnamon. So you can add some and taste it as you go.

13. While the pop tarts are still warm, but not super hot, pour the cinnamon glaze over them with a spoon. Let them cool, the glaze will harden, and they’ll be ready to serve! Get one for yourself while they’re warm though…ooey gooey deliciousness!

14. Enjoy!