Rise and Shine! 25 Pop Tart Recipes to Start Your Day
You know what’s weird? Even though we’re moving more and more toward whole, real foods and away from sugary, processed junk, there are some bad-for-us treats we just can’t get off the brain. One of those foods? Pop Tarts. These sugary little pastries are more popular than ever, and we’re big believers in having your cake and eating it, too. Or rather, having your pop tart without the artificial ingredients. We’re bringing your childhood breakfast back to the table sans the weird ingredient list.
1. Strawberry Pop Tarts: Let’s start with a classic. With strawberry preserves and sprinkles, you’ll feel like you just pulled this pop tart out of the box, and we mean that in the best way possible. (via Cooking Classy)
2. Gluten-Free Cinnamon Plum Pop Tarts: Pop tarts go haute cuisine and celiac-friendly with these sweet and spiced pastries. (via Free Eats Food)
3. Apple Cinnamon Pop Tarts: It’s fall in one handheld bite. We know you’re totally excited for that upcoming apple picking trip, so we’re helping you decide what recipes to make with your haul. Hint: Make these. (via Carissa Miss)
4. PBJ Pop Tarts: Forget that mushy sandwich. Send your kid to school with one of these babies. Then obvi eat the rest yourself. (via Cleverly Simple)
5. Vegan Berry Pop Tarts: One of our favorite things about reclaiming junk food favorites and making our own versions is the ability to cater to our friends with dietary restrictions. Enter awesome vegan pastry dough and healthy berry filling. (via Minimalist Baker)
6. Maple Cinnamon Oat Pop Tarts: Who needs those store-bought brown sugar tarts that actually kinda taste like cardboard? Certainly not you, now that you’ve got this maple-y alternative. (via Back to the Cutting Board)
7. Blueberry, Lime + Mint Pop Tarts: If you’re dreading the approaching cool weather, whip up these babies and pretend you’re sipping your fave cocktail on a tropical beach. (via Une Gamine dans la Cuisine)
8. Nutella Pop Tarts: We don’t really think Nutella needs an explanation. But we would like to point out that we really appreciate the Halloween-colored sprinkles on top. (via Tablespoon)
9. Orange Ricotta Pop Tarts: Creamy ricotta pairs so well with the bright notes of citrus. Serve this to someone and they might not realize it’s a pop tart. ‘Cause they fancy. (via 10th Kitchen)
10. Cherry Vanilla Pop Tart Cookies: Alright, so we may have started this article with the intention of finding healthier homemade alternatives to the original, but then this happened. And we’re not sorry. (via Simply Southern Cooking)
11. Butter Rum Pop Tarts: We know you’re excited to put rum in a breakfast. (via Lighter and Local)
12. Whole Wheat, Sugar Free Pop Tarts: A Pop-Tart exec somewhere is shaking his head at the thought of a sugar-free tart. After all, the original is about 1/3 sugar. But a naturally sweetened jam makes a great filling for that flaky, whole-wheat crust. (via 100 Days of Real Food)
13. Pistachio Bakewell Pop Tarts: Holy fancy breakfast, Batman. To the uninitiated, bakewell is an almond shortcrust tart popular with the Brits. Here, combined with pistachios, it’s worthy of an elegant dessert table. (via My Name is Yeh)
14. S’mores Pop Tarts: We know we’ve already found some uh-mazing summer s’mores recipes, but let’s get real. Camping and bonfires in autumn is when s’mores really shine — especially when you wrap them in a pastry crust. (via Handle the Heat)
15. Paleo Pop Tarts: Yep, you can even make pastry crust paleo by useing coconut flour instead of wheat flour. These berry pop tarts are even sweetened with coconut sugar. Yum yum. (via Predominantly Paleo)
16. Pumpkin Spice Bourbon Pop Tarts: Could you repeat that, please? Forget what we said earlier. This is fall in a pop tart. Coincidentally, it’s also the only thing we’re eating until December. (via Butter Lust)
17. Pop Tart Cupcakes: For the truly nostalgic, a substitute won’t do. Bake your original Pop Tarts into a cupcake, so you’re still getting a little twist on the classic…. one sugar coma-inducing twist. (via Cookies and Cups)
18. Gluten-Free Fruit Pop Tarts: These pop tarts can be whipped up with your choice of GF flour blend, making them a super simple way to make your gluten-sensitive friend’s day. (via Janice Amee’s Gluten Free)
19. Fruit and Rum Almond Pop Tarts: Let’s be honest. Alcohol in a breakfast pastry probably isn’t the best idea… nor is it the worst. Cheers and good morning. (via Spoon Fork Bacon)
20. Cranberry Orange Pop Tarts With Ginger Glaze: If you haven’t noticed, we’ve basically found a pop tart recipe for every seasonal baking spree you could run into. This is our pick for the holiday season, if you can wait that long to make them. (via Dolly and Oatmeal)
21. Blueberry and Saturn Peach Pop Tarts: Saturn peaches are those weird, squashed-looking things. And while we suppose you could make these with another peach varietal, we wish you wouldn’t. Saturn peaches are sweeter and more fragrant, pairing beautifully with blueberries. (via Twigg Studios)
22. Strawberry Pop Tart Pie: Why yes, that is exactly what you think it is. Hand pies are super cute individual-sized servings of the original, but it’s also fun to play that trend in reverse. You can feed a crowd with a full-sized pop pie. (via Willow Bird Baking)
23. Sweet Glazed Avocado Pop Tarts: An avocado pop tart with lime frosting is one of those flavor profiles that’s so quirky, you know it’s gotta be amazing. Also, if it has an avocado in it, we’re trying it. Period. (via Scarletta Bakes)
24. Five Spice Cider Buttermilk Pop Tarts: There are so many beautiful things going on here we don’t know where to start. Pairing Chinese five spice with apple cider and working buttermilk into the dough is a lot of effort, but it’s an effort that will def pay off. (via Cherry Tea Cakes)
25. Chocolate and Red Wine Pop Tarts: Stick a fork in us. We’re done. And we’re kind of fine with that, considering our last meal was this food-on-a-stick perfection. (via Crunchy Creamy Sweet)
What was your favorite breakfast food as a kid? Share your breakfast memories/recipe ideas in the comments!
