These Strawberry Mango Homemade Pop-tarts are made with buttery, flaky pastry and are filled with an easy homemade strawberry jam and are iced with strawberry and mango icings. I also topped mine with homemade sprinkles to match the icing colors, but that is completely optional.
This was my first attempt at making homemade pop-tarts and now I am hooked. I can’t wait to try out more flavors. Here’s some ideas for other flavors that I came up with:
Homemade pop-tart flavor ideas
- Brown sugar cinnamon
- Mixed berry (also called wildberry)
- Blueberry
- Strawberry
- Chocolate hazelnut (or nutella)
- S’mores
- Brown sugar apple
How to make homemade pop-tarts
To make strawberry mango homemade pop-tarts you need to make a pastry (or use store bought), a filling and a glaze or icing. I kept my pastry recipe pretty simple. You just need flour, salt, butter and shortening to make it.
You combine the above ingredients with a pastry blender or two knives until you get a coarse crumb. Then you drizzle ice water until the mixture comes together. Next you wrap it in plastic and let it chill. This is important because it gives the flour time to hydrate and makes the pastry easier to work with.
Then, you roll it out, cut it into rectangles and fill it with homemade or store bought jam and top them off with another rectangle of pastry. The pop-tarts get a quick chill in the freezer before being baked to golden brown perfection.
Lastly, you let the pop-tarts come to room temperature before icing them and topping them off with sprinkles.
Mine are completely homemade, down to the sprinkles. But, you can make this process faster by using store bought ingredients. If you use my recipe, you will have some leftover jam.
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What to do with leftover jam
Leftover jam is great on toast or used as a filling for a layered cake. Here are some leftover jam ideas:
- Spread it on toast
- Make a PB&J sandwich (peanut butter and jam)
- Fill a layered cake
- Use it on a charcuterie board
- Use it in a savory sandwich for a sweet note
- Use it as a layer in a tart
- Add it to a white chocolate and cream to make a fruit ganache
- Add it to a smoothie
- Top ice cream with it
This recipe is adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction.
Tips:
The key to working with pastry is chilling the dough each step of the way. Do not skip those chilling times!
Test if the jam is ready by putting a dab on a plate and putting it in the freezer. After 5-10 minutes, remove it from the freezer and check out the consistency. If it is thick and jam-like, then it is ready. If it is still runny, cook out more of the liquid.
Greasing your fork will make crimping the edges easier and less sticky.
📖 Recipe
Strawberry Mango Homemade Pop-tarts
Ingredients
Pastry
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (313g)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter chilled and cut in ¼-inch cubes (90g)
- ⅔ cup vegetable shortening chilled and cut in ¼-inch cubes (130g)
- ½ cup ice water more or less
- egg for an egg wash
Jam
- 1 large mango finely diced (230g)
- 8 oz strawberries finely diced (230g)
- ½ cup sugar (100g)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- pinch citric acid
Icing
- ¾ cup powdered sugar (90g)
- pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon milk or water plus more as needed
- ¼ teaspoon mango flavoring optional
- ¼ teaspoon strawberry flavoring optional
- food coloring optional
- sprinkles
Instructions
Make the pastry
- Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the chilled butter and shortening. Toss to coat the fat in the flour. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the fat into the flour until you have a coarse crumb and the fat pieces are no bigger than a pea.
- Begin adding water one tablespoon at a time until the dough just comes together. You may not use all of the water. Stop when the dough can be clumped into a ball.
- Tip the dough out onto plastic wrap and form a disc while wrapping it up. Chill for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator or overnight.
Make the jam
- While the pastry is cooling, make the jam. Combine mango, strawberries, sugar, salt, lemon juice and citric acid in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 20 minutes.
- Mash or puree the fruit, if desired. Cook 5-10 minutes more, or until thickened. Transfer to a heat proof container to cool completely.
Assemble the pastries
- Cut the chilled disc of dough in half. Keep one half in the fridge while you work with the other. Roll out the dough into a rectangle about ⅛ inch thick and 9×12 inches in size on a lightly floured work surface.
- Trim the edges with a pastry cutter to make a perfect rectangle. With the long side closest to you, make one horizontal cut in the middle of the rectangle lengthwise. Then make four vertical cuts. Each small rectangle you make from these cuts should measure about 3×4 inches. You will end up with 8 rectangles.
- Transfer the rectangles to a baking tray lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Place a small dollop of jam in the middle of each rectangle and spread it out, leaving a ¼-inch gap around the outside.
- Roll out the second half of the dough and repeat the same trimming and cutting process.
- Dip your finger in some beaten egg and brush the edge of the dough rectangle with the jam on it. Place another rectangle of dough on top of each pop-tart. Crimp the edges with a fork and prick the tops of each pop-tart with a toothpick or fork.
- Transfer the pan to the freezer to chill for at least 20 minutes while the oven is preheating to 350°F.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350°F until golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack to cool completely before adding glaze.
Make the icing
- Combine powdered sugar, salt, milk and flavoring with a whisk in a medium bowl. If desired, transfer to two small bowls and add flavor and coloring. Spoon over cooled pop-tarts. Top with sprinkles, if desired.
Notes
- Test if the jam is ready by putting a dab on a plate and putting it in the freezer. After 5-10 minutes, remove it from the freezer and check out the consistency. If it is thick and jam-like, then it is ready. If it is still runny, cook out more of the liquid.
- Greasing your fork will make crimping the edges easier and less sticky.
- The key to working with pastry is chilling the dough each step of the way. Do not skip those chilling times!
