Homemade Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts Recipe

These pastries boast everything you remember about the original Pop-Tarts and frosting lovers will enjoy their irresistibly lickable icing.

Closeup of a homemade brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tart, resting next of several sticks of cassia. A bite has been taken out of the corner of the Pop-Tart to reveal the filling inside.

Serious Eats / Sarah Jane Sanders

Why It Works

  • Buttered breadcrumbs absorb the melted brown sugar, which keeps it from leaking out of the pastry shell.
  • Aging the pastries overnight improves their flavor and texture.

Writing a nostalgia-fueled column about childhood junk foods has some occupational hazards. Trips to the grocery now involve huge chunks of time spent roaming the center aisles ("Chips Ahoy or Famous Amos? Oh, hello Pecan Sandies..."), my notebook at work has more pages devoted to Little Debbie than Petite Syrah, and my coworkers get irate when subjected to taste-testing the same thing twelve too many times ("Soft Batchagain?").

A small price to pay for the chance to revisit my childhood favorites, scrawl tasting notes like "je nais se crap," and bore would-be snack thieves out of my kitchen. But what I love most: a chance to try out the sweets I missed the first time around, like Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts.

Before I began this quest, I would have told you I had boundless love for all Pop-Tartkind. But it turned out my love had bounds, strict ones at that. My heart, smaller than I realized, had no room for anything but Frosted Strawberry. I carried a shameful Pop-Tart prejudice.

Maybe it came from my childhood love for Strawberry Shortcake coloring books, but I always perceived the Brown Sugar Cinnamon variety as somehow inferior. Cheap. I used negative language to describe them (B.S. Pop-Tarts; Poop-Tarts), found their coloring drab and made fun of their lack of sprinkles. I even, it shames me to say, once enjoyed watching a video of someone destroying Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts with a lawnmower.

But I've reformed. You sweet, brown-sugar-loving people have showed me a better way. Your constant, consistent urgings for a Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tart recipe wore me down. Taught me that I couldn't love any Pop-Tart until I could love all Pop-Tarts. That Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts deserved a chance.

Due to your urgings, I bought my first box not so long ago. And, to my total shock, I freaking loved them. The cinnamon flavor shines through without any creepy chemical nuance. Their monochromatic look seems a chic palate of beige and tan. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed licking their smooth frosting, unblemished by sprinkles, without embarrassing myself.

How I survived childhood without their companionship, I will never know. But to compensate, I sought out your memories by taking to Facebook with a Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tart poll. Frosted or unfrosted?

Between my own personal page and the BraveTart page, I had over 60 responses bordering on rabid. Discounting inconclusive comments (e.g., "that just ain't right" and "yes!"), I had 40 responses which broke down curiously: seven conservative votes for unfrosted, 18 frosted enthusiasts, and 15 advocates for buttered (specifically five for unfrosted and buttered; 10 for frosted and buttered).

Buttered Pop-Tarts?

At any rate, getting a good brown sugar cinnamon filling at home involves more than just mixing up brown sugar and cinnamon (pfft, too obvious). Alone, brown sugar will liquefy in the oven, bubble out around the edges and cool into a brittle, caramel-like substance. The filling needs something to give it structure. Something that can soak up the melting brown sugar and keep it from escaping. Something with a neutral flavor and absorbent texture. Something to keep the filling moist, even after baking. Something like... breadcrumbs. Buttered breadcrumbs.

These Pop-Tarts boast everything you remember about the originals and even newcomers like me can appreciate their warm, spicy-sweet flavor. Frosting lovers will enjoy their irresistibly lickable icing while purists can opt to go au naturel. The real question is: Will you butter yours?

February 2012

Recipe Details

Homemade Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts Recipe

Prep 35 mins
Cook 20 mins
Active 60 mins
Resting Time 12 hrs 30 mins
Total 13 hrs 25 mins
Makes 12 Pop-Tarts

Ingredients

  • For the Tart Dough:
  • 8 ounces cold butter, cubed (use shortening for vegan)
  • 10 ounces all purpose flour (see note)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 6 ounces corn syrup
  • For the Brown Sugar-Cinnamon Filling:
  • 3 ounces fresh breadcrumbs
  • 1 ounce unsalted butter, melted (use shortening for vegan)
  • 4 ounces brown sugar
  • 4 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2 1/2 ounces corn syrup
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • For the Frosting:
  • 12 ounces powdered sugar
  • 2 egg whites or 2 ounces corn syrup (see note)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • Cinnamon

Directions

  1. Make the Tart Dough:

    With your fingers, cut butter into flour, along with salt, until reduced to pea sized lumps. Add corn syrup all at once and mix with a fork until it forms a ball. Dust your hands with a little flour, scoop out the dough, and knead lightly until smooth. Flatten dough into a squarish shape, wrap in plastic, and chill at least 30 minutes.

  2. Prepare the Filling:

    Put the breadcrumbs in a bowl, then drizzle with melted butter. Toss with a fork to coat. Add the remaining filling ingredients and mash together with a fork to make a paste.

  3. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and have a parchment-lined sheet pan ready. Roll the dough to a little shy of a 1/4-inch thick. This is important. Each Pop-Tart will ultimately have 4 “layers” (pastry + filling + pastry + icing), so pay close attention to the thickness of each. If you don’t, you may wind up with massively thick Pop-Tarts.

    Take the chilled squarish lump of dough and set it onto a surface dusted in sifted powdered sugar. Roll the dough evenly both left-and-right and up-and-down, but don’t roll diagonally! This will preserve the square shape and minimize re-rolling. Lift and move the dough periodically to make certain it hasn’t stuck, dusting underneath as needed. (If you discover a patch is stuck, slide an offset metal spatula between the dough and the counter to loosen. Pull back the dough and dust the patch with powdered sugar.)

    Once the dough has reached about a 1/4” thickness and an overall square shape, use a ruler to cut it into a series of 3 1/8” wide strips. Cut each strip at 4-inch intervals. Gather up any remaining scraps, roll, and cut likewise until you have 24 pieces all together.

    On half of the pieces, place about a tablespoon of prepared filling. Use your fingers to scatter the filling into a rectangular shape, leaving a 1/4" margin all around the edges.

  4. Seal and Bake the Tarts:

    Cover each filled tart with a plain dough piece. Use your fingers or the heel of a bench knife to smooth the dough over the filling and to gently press out any air pockets.

    Use the handle of a bench knife, the handle of a wooden spoon, or the side of your hand to gently seal the dough along all four sides of each tart. Do not use a fork to crimp the edges; have you ever seen a Pop Tart before? No crimping.

    Once you’ve smoothly sealed the edges of the Pop-Tart, carefully prick the surface with a fork.

    Use a bench knife or spatula to transfer the Pop-Tarts to the parchment-lined sheet pan. Bake for about 20 minutes, until barely beginning to take on some color. You don’t want them “golden brown” by any means, real Pop-Tarts look downright anemic (and, in fact the one pictured at the top is slightly overdone).

    Occasionally, a Pop-Tart or two will spread somewhat irregularly during baking. While they’re still warm from the oven, you can trim the edges quite easily with a bench scraper, knife or pizza cutter. Cool thoroughly.

    Collage of four images showing the pop tarts being assembled: covering the first layer with a piece of dough, cutting the edges, and placing the completed pop tarts next to each other.

    Serious Eats / Sarah Jane Sanders

  5. Make the Frosting and Finish the Tarts:

    Use a clean towel or dry pastry brush to dust off the cooled Pop-Tarts, removing any stray crumbs.

    Combine all of the icing ingredients in a bowl and mix until a smooth paste forms. Put some of the icing into a piping bag fitted with a small, plain tip. Pipe a boarder of icing around the perimeter of each tart, leaving about a 1/4” margin.

    Thin the remaining icing, a tablespoon of water at a time, until it reaches a pourable consistency. Pour a tablespoon of icing onto each tart and use the tip of a metal spatula or spoon to help it reach all of the corners. Pop-Tarts only have a thin smear of icing on top, so take care not to overdo it.

  6. Age the Pop-Tarts:

    Transfer the tarts to a baking sheet and store them in a cool, dry location where they will be undisturbed (the inside an empty microwave works perfectly). Let the Pop-Tarts dry, uncovered, overnight. This will significantly improve their texture. Store in an airtight container, about two weeks at room temperature. The Pop-Tarts will, in fact, get better with age.

Special Equipment

Kitchen scale, rimmed baking sheet, rolling pin, piping bag

Notes

For a gluten free version, replace the all purpose flour with a blend of 8 ounces white rice flour, 1 ounce kinako (roasted soy flour), and 1 ounce buckwheat flour. I often use this blend at work and recommend it highly. For the breadcrumbs in the filling, simply use your favorite gluten-free crumbs.

With the frosting, you can use egg whites or corn syrup as a binder; the biggest difference is in drying time. The egg white version, essentially a royal icing, will crust over within minutes and dry thoroughly in a few hours. Using corn syrup means being patient because the frosting will take up to 18 hours to dry.

Make-Ahead and Storage

Store in an airtight container, about two weeks at room temperature. The Pop-Tarts will, in fact, get better with age.