Store-Bought Pie Crust Is The Gateway To Easy Homemade Pop-Tarts

Breakfasters of all ages can find a certain joy in ripping open a silver package of Pop-Tarts. For some, it's nostalgia, and for others, it's the delightful start of a sweet meal. As eaters get older, though, they begin to ask an enduring question: Why doesn't the frosting cover the entire pastry?

We can't settle this ongoing dispute, but we can suggest the next best thing. Make your own Pop-Tarts with little effort and a handful of store-bought ingredients. The DIY breakfast is as easy as buying frozen pie crust and your favorite jam at the store. You can frost them to your heart's content, and you'll find the pastry is softer and more nutty and caramelized than the store-bought version.

To make the food at home, defrost two rolls of pie crust, then roll them slightly thinner. You can slice the crusts into neat squares the size of the traditional treat, fashion a giant square tart, or even leave them round. Just remember, the smaller your portions, the more crusty edges you'll have. Then stuff the squares with your filling of choice, crimp and seal the edges with a fork, poke a few holes, and bake until golden. As a finishing touch, add a generous spread of icing made from powdered sugar and milk, plus plenty of rainbow sprinkles.

When shopping for your dough, make sure not to buy the pre-shaped pies, as those crusts will make the shaping process extra work. You can, however, scout out pastry that fits your dietary restrictions, like gluten-free or vegan pie crusts. Depending on your grocery store, you can also pick up chilled empanada dough to make the dupe, or slice the smaller pre-made dough rounds to make mini Pop-Tarts.

Pie crusts aren't the store-bought options for making a Pop-Tarts-like treat. Though you might get into Toaster Strudel territory, puff pastry — all-butter puff pastry, that is — has a magnificent flake and richness that will take the breakfast bite to new heights. Phyllo dough will also create a tasty dessert, but beware that its puffiness and layers will result in an airy bite that's significantly different from dense Pop-Tarts.

Another difference to take note of when you're making the DIY-version is how you reheat and store them. If you eschew the use of dairy fillings, you can store the treats on your counter in a sealed container for nearly two weeks, though the crust may get soggy. If you want to stash the tarts for a far future breakfast, place them in the freezer unfrosted, rather than in the pantry. Skip the toaster when reheating them, and instead use a conventional or toaster oven.

Fresh pie crusts offer more buttery, flaky goodness with every bite, which is reason enough to test out a homemade version. However, cooks can also take the opportunity to break from the classic s'mores and strawberry to integrate fresh flavors into the filling. Make lemon curd Pop-Tarts, for example, or revive a discontinued Pop-Tart like peanut butter chocolate. Bakers drawn to savory tastes can experiment with more perishable stuffings like bacon-onion balsamic jam, ham and cheese, or marinara and ricotta.

Pie dough is a blank canvas that also invites creative cooks to infuse modern salty-sweet flavor combinations like miso and peanut butter or spicy gochujang caramel. Or, you can introduce global ingredients like ube and black sesame into your cinnamon brown sugar filling. Bakers can borrow from classic treats like Cuban pastelitos stuffed with guava and cream cheese, or Danish tebirkes, a flaky pastry filled with almond paste and rolled in poppy seeds, to mash-up multiple childhood favorites.

And don't forget about the frosting. Make a small tweak, like swapping milk for coconut milk, or amp up the aromatics with a dusting of lime zest or chai-friendly spices like cardamom and ginger. Or, you could embrace a textured topping by glazing the treats with egg yolk before baking and sprinkling them with sesame seeds or everything bagel spice. To add color and complexity, you can also add a dollop of jam or pistachio cream to the glaze.