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Melt in-your-mouth Nutella Brown Sugar Pop Tarts cocooned in buttery, flaky pastry smothered with Cinnamon Vanilla Icing are 1000X better than store-bought and so good you will never go back to the box kind again!
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Nutella Brown Sugar Pop Tarts

These melt in-your-mouth Homemade Pop Tarts are addicting!  They boast a brown sugar Nutella filling cocooned in buttery, flaky pastry smothered with Cinnamon Vanilla Icing.  They are made from scratch without any preservatives or food dyes and are worth every minute! -  you will never go back to the box kind again! 
Prep Time 3 hours
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 30 minutes
Servings 9 pop tarts

Ingredients

Dough

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 10 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter, chopped*
  • 1/4 cup chilled vegetable shortening
  • 6 tablespoons ice water

Nutella Brown Sugar Filling

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 9 teaspoons Nutella

Egg Wash

  • 1 large egg, whisked

Glaze

  • 1 cup sifted powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Dough: Add flour, sugar and salt to food processor and pulse a few times to evenly combine. Add butter and shortening and pulse about 8 times, just enough to cut butter into smaller pieces. With processor running, pour ice cold water down the feed tube and pulse until the dough begins to clump together. Turn dough onto a floured surface and gather into a ball. Divide into 2 even portions and flatten or roll each portion into an approximate 6” disc and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Chill at least one hour in the refrigerator.
  • Assembly
    : Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside. Remove 1 disc from the refrigerator and let rest 10 minutes to soften (keep the other disc in the refrigerator). On a lightly floured cutting board, roll dough into a little larger than a 9x12-inch rectangle in order to create 9 3x4-inch rectangles. Using a ruler and a pizza cutter, cut 3 3” rows across the 9-inch side. Across the 12-inch side, cut 4 4-inch rows. Transfer the 9 rectangles to one of the baking sheets (space them evenly) and place in the refrigerator. Repeat with remaining dough to create 9 more rectangles then transfer them to the other baking sheet.
  • Filling
    : To these rectangles, brush egg wash over all of the edges. In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cinnamon and flour then spread down the center of each rectangle leaving at least a 1/2-inch dough perimeter. Top each brown sugar center with 1 teaspoon Nutella down the center (it will spread more when baked).
  • Remove the other baking sheet from the refrigerator and brush the entire surface of all of the rectangles with egg wash and place them WASH SIDE DOWN over each Nutella rectangle. Press the edges firmly together all the way around to seal in the Nutella. Use the tines of a fork to double-seal the perimeter of each of the pastries. Prick the top of each pastry several times with a fork (so steam can escape while baking), or use a toothpick to prick about 8 times. Freeze pastries for 30 minutes or refrigerate up to 1 hour. Refrigerate remaining egg wash.
  • Bake
    : When ready to bake, brush the tops of each pastry with remaining egg wash. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until lightly golden, rotating once while baking. Let pop tarts cool for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.
  • Glaze
    : Meanwhile, whisk together all of the Glaze ingredients until smooth, adding a teaspoon more milk at a time if needed to reach spreadable consistency. When pop tarts are cool, spread Glaze over the top. Glaze will begin to harden after 30 minutes, but I can never wait that long. Store in an airtight container.

Notes

*After you chop your butter into 1/2 inch pieces or smaller, return to refrigerator to chill.
Total time includes chill time.

POP TART FILLING VARIATIONS

Today, I shared with you my FAVORITE filling for homemade pop tarts, but it is super easy to customize them with YOUR favorite filling!
  • brown sugar pop tarts:  skip the Nutella and combine 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon and 1 tablespoon flour.
  • strawberry pop tarts:  whisk 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1 tablespoon cold water together in  saucepan.  Add 3/4 cup strawberry jam and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer for 2 minutes then let cool completely.  This will yield a thicker filling then just strawberry jam which will melt and become runny otherwise when baked.
  • mixed berry pop tarts:  follow the instructions above but use 3/4 of your favorite mixed berry jam or combine part strawberry, raspberry and blackberry.
 

How to Freeze Pop Tarts

  1. After baking, allow the pop tarts to cool completely.
  2. Once they are cool, place them on a baking or cookie sheet in a single layer, cover with foil or plastic wrap, and place into the freezer.   This is called "flash freezing" and eliminates the risk of them turning into a solid pop tart brick when later transferred to the same bag.
  3. Allow the pop tarts to freeze for several hours or overnight until solid.
  4. Once solid, remove pop tarts from the cookie sheet and transfer to an airtight container or into a zippered bag and squeeze out any excess air in order to prevent freezer burn.
  5. Freeze homemade pop tarts for up to three months.
  6. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or microwave.
  7. Bake thawed pop tarts a 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until warmed through.