Strawberry pop-tarts were the ultimate breakfast champion, remember eating these when we were young, something we would look forward to. The packet pop tarts are super sweet, so we share a delightful recipe which you can recreate at home. You can thank us later for it.

Pop tart is all about shortcrust pastry, you can use ready-made, but we choose to make it as its super quick and easy. 

This recipe serves 9 

Ingredients:

For the shortcrust pastry:

  • 240g plain flour - plus extra for dusting
  • 200g butter - chopped into chunks
  • 1 tbsp caster sugar
  • 2 large free-range eggs
  • 2 tbsp full-fat milk
  • Pinch of salt

For the strawberry filling:

  • 9 heaped tbsp strawberry jam
  • 1 tbsp cornflour

For the topping:

Method:

For the shortcrust pastry:

  1. Pulse the butter, sugar, flour and pinch of salt in a food processor. The mixture will turn into breadcrumb; this is what you want. Tip the mixture into a bowl. Beat 1 egg with the milk. Add this to the dry mix, add over 1 tbsp and reserve the rest. Knead into a dough, divide into two's and shape into a rough rectangle. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes while you make the filling.

For the filling:

  1. Mix the cornflour with 1 tbsp of cold water; all should be dissolved. 
  2. Stir into the jam and set aside. Remove the shortcrust pastry, roll both on a lightly floured surface until you have two rectangles, approximately A4 size. 
  3. Cut each sheet into 9 even-sized rectangles. You can use a ruler if you like, make sure its appropriately washed before use. 
  4. Beat the remaining egg. 
  5. Taking two rectangles in turn, brush one entirely with the egg wash. Spoon 1 tbsp of mixture onto the other and sandwich together. Transfer to a lined baking tray, use a fork to press the edges to seal. Glaze with the egg wash and prick with a skewer all over for the steam to escape. 
  6. Repeat for the remainder of the rectangles. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Do not cover the tray when placing in the fridge. 
  7. Preheat the oven to gas 6, 200°C, fan 180°C. Remove the tray, glaze again and bake for 20 minutes until golden. Allow cooling on a wire rack.

For the Glaze:

  1. Mix the icing sugar with almond extract if using, then add enough cold water, one drop at a time, until you have a runny icing so that you can paint onto the tarts. You can also add pink food colouring if you wish or can be left plain white.
  2. Once the tarts are cooled, brush with the icing glaze, scatter with hundreds and thousands if you like.
  3. Store in an airtight container for three days.