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Just look at these homemade Christmas tree pop tarts. Doesn’t this copycat version of the traditional pop tart look amazing? Pop tarts lovers everywhere will want to try their hand at this Christmas tree pastry recipe with the cute and colourful frosting on top of these Christmas tree snacks. These holiday themed hand pies are such a cute treat!
Christmas dessert tart recipes are hugely popular over the festive season and a delicious toaster pastry makes a nice snack or breakfast item over the holiday season.
If you like these, you can also try 3D stacked Christmas tree cookies, mulled wine Fireball shots or perhaps some Christmas zuccotto cake.
Homemade Christmas Tree Pop Tarts Ingredients
These homemade strawberry pop tarts are made with puff pastry sheets which are timesaving and handy. In fact, these homemade pop tarts are like store bought pop tarts but better because they’re so fresh.
Puff pastry is easier to work with when it’s cold rather than at room temperature so you might want to take them out of the refrigerator one at a time when making this poptart homemade version.
As well as the puff pastry you will need strawberry preserves, an egg, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and sprinkles. The strawberry preserves work as the filling as well as part of the royal icing on top.
How to Make Christmas Morning Strawberry Poptarts
Arrange your puff pastry sheets on a floured worktop and then use a Christmas tree shaped cookie cutter. Roll up the trimmed parts and roll them out so you can use every bit of the dough. You should get twenty-four tree shapes in total.
Put some strawberry preserves on half of the Christmas trees and then put another Christmas tree on top of that, to sandwich in the filling. Pinch the edges together with your fingers or with the tines of a fork.
Brush the egg wash (beaten egg) over each of the toaster pastries, then bake until golden brown. on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Whisk the rest of the strawberry jam with the milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla to make your frosting. Add a drop of red food coloring too if you want a richer pink colour.
Wait for the homemade pop-tarts to cool to room temperature on a wire rack and then spread some icing over each one and add the sprinkles.
Tweaks and Variations
This is one of the most versatile Christmas dessert tart recipes. You can make them any flavour you want. Sub raspberry jam for the strawberry preserves if you want to make a raspberry Christmas tree pastry recipe.
You could even make a homemade pie crust instead of using readymade pie dough. Prefer chocolate pop tarts? Then swap the jam for Nutella and use cocoa powder in the frosting. You can use any kind of sprinkles or even a rainbow sprinkles in holiday colours.
Serve them as they are, or paired with a Little Debbie Christmas tree dip or even paired with something savoury if you’re having breakfast or brunch – sausage breakfast muffins perhaps. These tree shaped hand pies with strawberry jam are a great size and go with almost everything.
History of Pop Tarts
This scrumptious treat has been around since 1964 and they are pastries containing a filling and (nearly always) a frosting. The name comes from the fact you ‘pop’ them in a toaster or toaster oven to warm up, as well as being a homage to pop art which was big back then.
Pop tarts come in lots of different flavours including seasonal and limited edition ones. Frosted strawberry is one of the most popular flavours and the Dunkin’ vanilla latte is pretty good as well. Blueberry pop tarts are unfrosted if that’s your preference.
When making homemade pop-tart recipes, you can decide not only what the filling will be but also what kind of frosting to use and what shape they will be. Whatever shape of pastry cutter you have, you can make them that way. Consider hearts for Valentine’s Day or shamrock shapes as a fun way of celebrating St Patty’s Day.
Homemade Christmas Pop Tarts FAQs
I used a 5-inch Christmas tree cookie cutter for mine. This is similar to the dimensions store-bought pop-tarts and will fit in the toaster.
oil-packed commercial pop tarts keep for months, but since these are fresh they won’t. They will keep for a couple of days at room temperature in an airtight container or wrapped in foil.
Another option is to prepare the Christmas trees and add the jam filling then not bake them until the next day if that fits in better with your plans.
Christmas Tree Pop Tarts Recipe
Homemade Christmas Tree Pop Tarts
Ingredients
Pop Tarts:
- 2 Sheets puff pastry
- 1 Cup strawberry jam
- 1 egg
Fruit Icing:
- 2 Cups icing sugar
- 1 Tablespoon milk
- ½ Cup strawberry jam
- ½ Teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ Cup sprinkles
Instructions
- Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees F.
- Lay your cold puff pastry sheets flat on a lightly floured surface. (If the sheets are warm or even at room temperature, they can be kinda tricky to handle so I like to pull the out of the fridge one at a time while working with them).
- Use your cookie cutter to cut Christmas trees out of the pastries, then knead the leftover dough back together, roll it out to about ¼ inch thick and continue cutting out Christmas trees. Place each of these on a 9X13 baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- On half of the Christmas trees, place about 1 tablespoon of jam and spread it out, leaving space around the perimeter of the entire tree.
- Top each of the jam filled pastries with a clean Christmas tree pastry and pinch the edges together slightly. Then use a fork to press the seams around the edges entirely.
- Crack your egg in a small bowl, whisk it until scrambled, then brush over the tops of each pop tart.
- Bake these for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown, then remove them from the oven and allow them to cool.
- While the pop tarts are cooling, whisk the jam, milk, powdered sugar and vanilla together in a large bowl. Once the pop tarts have cooled a bit and aren’t piping hot, spread the icing on top of each pop tart and add sprinkles (optional). Make sure to allow the pop tarts to cool some or the icing will melt right off.
Notes
Nutrition
Homemade Christmas poptarts are one of the best Christmas dessert tart recipes you can make. They’re better than store bought and have a sweet frosted crust on top of each pop tart. So treat everyone to homemade poptarts shaped like Christmas trees this festive season. They are a tasty after school snack
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
I love this recipe, it’s so easy and it was so fantastic! My kids loved it too! 🙂
This was a total hit with our guests! Excited to make this again. 🙂
these are so cute! way better than package ones