Giant Pop Tart

This giant pop tart checks all the nostalgic boxes, with its buttery, insanely flaky pastry, tart fruit filling and smooth glaze on top, it’s incredibly easy to make and is a guaranteed favorite for both kids and adults! 

One of my core beliefs is that working with your hands is a basic human necessity. Now before you leave my website and swear me off as crazy, I’m not putting this need on the level of food, water and other actual human needs. I am, however, saying that as we move more into the modern age where so many jobs and hobbies are digitized, working with one’s hands can feel like somewhat of a lost practice.

Enter pastry–well, enter baking in general. There’s something about baking pastry that takes me back to childhood pottery classes or playing with playdough. Working the pastry with my hands, shaping the dough to the shape I need, is all satisfying and relaxing to me. This giant pop tart ticks all of those nostalgic boxes!

The recipe for this giant pop tart is SO easy and straightforward. The most difficult part about it will be waiting for the dough to rest in the refrigerator! 

Steps to make this giant pop tart

Make the dough and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Pastry needs to rest in the refrigerator so that the gluten in the dough has time to relax, creating better structure and texture for your final giant pop tart! 

 

Remove the dough and make folds to add flaky layers to your pastry. GIRL! This simple step performed right before rolling out your dough adds the flakiest layers to your pastry. Roll the chilled dough to a rectangle roughly 10” x 5” then fold one short end ⅓ of the way over itself. Lastly fold the other short end over the previous fold. This process is similar to folding a piece of paper into thirds. Roll the dough into another 10” x 5” rectangle and perform the folds one more time.

Divide the dough in half and roll into two roughly 12” x 8” rectangles. Roll one of the pastry rectangles directly onto a parchment paper sheet. The pastry will be rolled thin to achieve this and there will be very little excess dough in the end.

 

Spread your favorite jam over one of the rectangles leaving roughly a 1” border around the edges. You are welcome to make your own jam, I’m not here to stop your genius in the kitchen. But if you’re short on time there’s no harm in grabbing that favorite jar of fruity jam and using it for this giant pop tart! 

 

Brush the outer 1” border with egg wash and place the second rectangle of pastry on top. Seal all edges by pressing a fork lightly around the outer edges of the pastry and three times down the center to allow air to escape. 

Brush with egg wash and bake! Egg wash will give the final pop tart a gorgeous shine!

 

Top with icing and sprinkles of choice and enjoy! And enjoy it you will. Seriously, I had to get these out of my house before I ate the whole thing and tried to justify it because technically it is ONE pop tart. I chose to decorate with a lavender colored icing and edible confetti hearts for Valentines Day, but the decoration is up to you!   

A word on the filling

For this giant pop tart I’ve opted for store bought raspberry jam so that the only “work” to be done for this recipe is the making of the pastry. While I chose to buy my favorite brand of raspberry jam, you may choose to make your own and you may also choose a different flavor! The brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts were like, all I could eat as a kid, so if you want to fill it with that delicious filling, do it! I’m not forcing you to do anything but have fun and enjoy the nostalgic yet elevated flavors in this giant pop tart!

Looking for more recipes using this delicious pastry?

Check out my recipes for a Peach and Thyme Galette or Blueberry Ginger Mini Galettes.

Can baking be therapeutic?

I often talk about baking being a therapeutic hobby but I’d like to share more about why I feel that way as well as how it can become a relaxing hobby for you!

When I bake, it’s my creative time. I may put on my favorite nostalgic movie or tv show in the background, or a Spotify playlist titled “French café” and leave my troubles behind.

Sometimes I pour myself a glass of wine and light a candle. Then, with the mood set, the mixing of batter, kneading of dough and smoothing of icing is my only care in the world.

When I say baking is therapeutic, sometimes people respond saying “not for me it isn’t!” I completely understand why someone might feel that way. There have been plenty of times where I spend hours on something only for it to fail or something breaks that shouldn’t or I forget to clean as I go and am left with a disastrous kitchen to clean. 

So I should in reality, have a caveat to my “baking as therapy” claims…

Baking is therapy when you curate the experience to be relaxing.

How do you curate that relaxing experience for yourself, you ask?   

How to make baking therapeutic…

1.  Prepare your mind–know that it’s okay if the cake doesn’t rise, or the butter wasn’t chilled enough. Shift your mindset from seeing your failures as mistakes to seeing them as opportunities for learning.
2. Prepare your space–I cannot and will not bake on top of a messy kitchen. If I were to do this I would be starting from a place of stress! Take an extra 10 minutes to clean any dishes in the sink and wipe down the counters, this small effort will pay you back greatly in brain space and clarity.
3. Clean as you go! I’ll tell you the one way to make baking stressful and tiresome, is to not clean as you go! After I use each ingredient that I no longer need, I put it away. 

After each major step in the process, I wipe down the counters and put dishes that are no longer needed in the sink. If there is chill time or baking time I don’t sit, I do the cleaning then. Make this shift and you’ll really notice the difference! 

By the way, this last tip really helped me when I was on The Great American Baking Show–and the crew that cleaned up behind us made a point to tell me that my workspace was always so clean they didn’t have much to do! 

I would reply by saying “it’s how I stay sane in this tent!”

 

Additional suggestions:

*Maybe try printing off the recipe instead of looking at it on your phone, tablet or laptop and use this time to unplug from technology for a few hours

**Invite friends or family over to share your creation with you. Time spent with loved ones over food is a universally special experience

And that’s how I discovered baking for my mental health. If you try any of these suggestions, let me know how it went for you! I’m really invested in spreading this message to others in hopes that baking will enhance your lives more than it already does!

Happiest Baking! 

 

Ingredients

For the Pop Tart

• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (cold, cut into cubes)
• 2 Tbsp ice water
• 1 Tbsp vodka*
• 1 large egg
• ¾ cup favorite fruit jam

For the Icing

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 4 ½ tbsp milk or heavy cream
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

 

Instructions

For the Pop Tart

• In a food processor, pulse together 2 ½ cups of all purpose flour, 1 Tbsp of granulated sugar, and 1 tsp of salt until combined. 
• Add 1 cup (2 sticks) of cold unsalted butter cut into cubes directly into the food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse sand. 
• Add 2 Tbsp of ice water and 1 Tbsp of vodka* and mix until the mixture comes together. Do not overmix.
• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured clean surface and bring it together with your hands. Form the dough into a round disc and wrap with plastic wrap.
• Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour or overnight. 
• Preheat the oven to 365℉ (roughly 185℃).
• Once the dough has finished chilling, remove it from the refrigerator and roll it into a rectangle roughly 10” x 5”. The dough will be very hard to work at first. You may allow it to warm up slightly on the counter but not for longer than 10 minutes. It’s important to work with pastry while it is cold. 
• Perform the ⅓ fold technique to the dough by folding one short end ⅓ of the way over itself. Then fold the other short end over the previous fold. This process is similar to folding a piece of paper into thirds. Roll the dough into another 10” x 5” rectangle and perform the folds one more time.
• Divide the dough in half and roll into two roughly 12” x 8” rectangles using a knife to cut them to the size. Roll one of the pastry rectangles directly onto a parchment paper sheet. The pastry will be rolled thin to achieve this and there will be very little excess dough in the end.
• Carefully drag the pastry rectangle that was rolled onto the parchment paper onto a baking sheet. Spread ¾ cup of jam over that rectangle leaving roughly a 1” border around the edges. 
• In a separate small bowl, whisk one egg and 2 tbsp of water together to create an egg wash. 
• Brush the outer 1” border with the egg wash and place the second rectangle of pastry on top by rolling it around a rolling pin and carefully unrolling it over the jam-covered pastry rectangle. Seal all edges by pressing a fork lightly around the outer edges of the pastry and three times down the center to allow air to escape. 
• Brush the entire pastry with egg wash and bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. 
• Remove from the oven to cool completely.  

For the Icing

• Whisk together 3 cups of powdered sugar, 4 ½ tbsp of milk or heavy cream, ¼ tsp of salt and 1 tsp vanilla extract in a medium bowl
• Pour over the cooled pastry, cover with sprinkles and enjoy!
• The giant pop tart can be cut into 6-8 pieces.