Homemade PB&J Pop Tarts

This recipe for peanut butter and jelly pop tarts not only recreates your favorite childhood snack but also elevates it for your adult palette. They’re perfect as a snack in your lunch box or as dessert with a scoop of ice cream.

We start with a simple peanut butter and jelly filling, encased in a flaky homemade pie crust, garnished with two types of glaze and some magical sprinkles. Get ready to sit back and enjoy a flashback to your childhood.

Why you’ll love this recipe

• These homemade PB&J pop tarts are most definitely better than store bought!
• It is a very easy recipe, and it is even easier when you take some shortcuts with refrigerated pie dough. 
• You can customize your filling to make all different flavor pop tarts.

Ingredients and Substitutions

As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips:

1. Pie dough – I use 1 batch of my all-butter pie dough which is made with all purpose flour, granulated sugar, salt, unsalted butter and water. You could substitute store bought pie dough.

2. Peanut butter – I use creamy peanut butter for the filling and the glaze. You could use homemade peanut butter or store bought, either should work just fine. If you prefer crunchy peanut butter, you can substitute that for the filling but I still recommend creamy peanut butter for the glaze.

3. Jelly – I have used strawberry jam and guava jam in this recipe. Both were good, you can use any type of jelly, jam or preserve of your choice. Of course, strawberry jam and grape jelly would be the classic flavor to pair with peanut butter.

4. Powdered sugar – I use powdered sugar in the glazes.

5. Salt – a little bit of kosher salt is used in the glazes to enhance the flavor and balance out the sweetness.

6. Egg – just one egg is used for egg wash to help seal the two pieces of pop tart dough together and to promote browning when the pop tarts are baked.

7. Milk – is used in the egg wash and the glazes. You could substitute cream if that’s what you have here. Sometimes you can also substitute water in the egg wash, but for the glaze, don’t use water.

8. Turbinado sugar – adds a little sparkles and crunch to your pop tarts, especially if you’re planning to leave them plain. It’s good even with the glazes on top, but you can skip it if you want. 

Tools you’ll need

There aren’t really any special tools you need for this recipe. You can make the pop tart dough by hand, but if you want you can use a stand mixer or food processor to assist you with it.

How to make PB&J pop tarts

The following instructions, step-by-step photos, and tips are here to help you visualize how to make the recipe. You can always skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.

First, we need to make the shell for the pop tarts. I use my all-butter pie crust for this recipe. You can check out the separate post showing how to make pie dough three different ways, with video.

Tip: you can use refrigerated pie dough to save time! However, I still think homemade tastes better.

Once the pie dough is ready to be rolled out, roll it to between ⅛” and ¼” thick and cut into 18 rectangles about 2.5”x3.5”, keep them refrigerated. This will yield 9 homemade pop tarts.

Tip: you won’t be able to cut 18 rectangles on the first roll, you’ll need to reroll the scraps and cut again at least one more time. If the dough gets too soft, refrigerate it for 15-30 minutes before working with it again.

Once ready to assemble, brush egg wash on the border of the dough rectangles that will be on the bottom. Add 2 teaspoons of peanut butter and 1 teaspoon of jam or jelly in the middle. Cover with another piece of dough, press the edges down and seal with a fork.

Tip: work with just a few pop tarts at a time to keep the dough cold. Once finished, freeze or refrigerate the pop tarts before baking. 

When ready to bake, pierce the top of each pop tart with 3 steam vents. Brush egg wash all over them and sprinkle turbinado sugar generously. Bake at 400°F for 15-17 minutes until golden brown.

Make the jelly glaze by whisking together powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, milk and jelly until smooth.

Make the peanut butter glaze by whisking together powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, milk and peanut butter until smooth.

Tip: the peanut butter glaze is quite a bit thicker than the jelly glaze, if you want them the same consistency, you could add a little more milk to thin it out. Though I don’t think it is necessary.

Once your homemade pop tarts cool completely, drizzle the glazes over them in a criss cross pattern or however you wish. Add sprinkles if desired.

Variations

• Skip the jam or jelly to make these peanut butter pop tarts instead if you’re a fan of just peanut butter. Omit the jelly glaze as well and double up on the peanut butter glaze.
• Skip the peanut butter and use just jelly or jam for more fruity classic pop tart flavors. Omit the peanut butter glaze and double up on the jelly glaze.
• You can also fill it with seasonal fruit butter like apple butter and pumpkin spice spread during the Fall season. Use a regular sugar glaze with apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice to pair with the filling.
• Chocolate fan? Try using nutella instead of peanut butter, skip the jelly, and substitute nutella in the glaze.
• The options are truly endless!

More baker’s tips

• Make your pie dough ahead of time to cut down on preparation time when you make these PB&J pop tarts. My homemade pie dough can be refrigerated for up to a week and frozen for up to 6 months.
• Use store bought refrigerated pie dough to simplify the recipe and make it even easier.
• Refrigerate or freeze the unbake pop tarts before baking – this will help the butter in the pie crust from melting, yielding a more tender flaky crust in the end. 

Storage

• Room temperature: store these peanut butter and jelly pop tarts in an airtight container, they will last up to 5 days.
• Refrigerator: you can also store them in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, let them come to room temperature before serving.
• Freezer: you can freeze these homemade pop tarts for up to three months. Simply thaw at room temperature before serving.

FAQs

More hand pie recipes

• Pumpkin hand pies
• Apple hand pies
• Peach hand pies
• Strawberry hand pies
• Blueberry lemon hand pies

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📖 Recipe card

Homemade PB&J Pop Tarts

Recreate your childhood but better with these homemade PB&J Pop Tarts. They’re perfect as a snack in your lunch box or as dessert with a scoop of ice cream.

5 from 3 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 17 minutes minutes

Chilling Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 2 hours hours 17 minutes minutes

Yield: 9 pop tarts

Author: Trang

Equipment

• Food Processor
• Stand Mixer

Ingredients

Pop tart crust

• ▢ 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour (200 g)
• ▢ 2 rounded tablespoon granulated sugar (31 g)
• ▢ ¼ rounded teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ 5 oz unsalted butter (cold, 10 tablespoon, 142 g)
• ▢ 3 tablespoon cold water
• ▢ Extra flour for rolling

Pop tart filling

• ▢ 18 teaspoon creamy peanut butter
• ▢ 9 teaspoon jelly or jam (flavor of your choice)

Peanut butter glaze

• ▢ ½ cup powdered sugar (50 g)
• ▢ 1 tablespoon peanut butter (15 g)
• ▢ A pinch of salt
• ▢ 1 tablespoon milk

Jelly glaze

• ▢ ½ cup powdered sugar (50 g)
• ▢ 1 tablespoon of jelly or jam (use the same flavor as the filling, 19 g)
• ▢ A pinch of salt
• ▢ 1 tablespoon milk

Egg wash

• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 1 tablespoon milk
• ▢ Turbinado sugar (optional)
• ▢ Sprinkle (optional)

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Prepare the crust

• Add flour, sugar and salt in a small bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk. Then transfer to a food processor fitted with the dough blade.
• Cube the cold butter and add to the flour mixture. Pulse several times until butter is about pea and bean size, variation in size is okay, but no smaller than a pea.
• Turn the food processor to the “on” position and drizzle cold water over the dough mixture through the water hole, as soon as the dough starts to pull together turn the food processor off. You may need to stop the food processor in between and use a spatula to scrape the flour at the bottom of the bowl.
• Place a large piece of plastic wrap on the counter and dump the dough on top. Shape into a rectangle, wrap in plastic and rest in the refrigerator for an hour.
• Take the pie dough out of the fridge and roll out to between ⅛” – ¼” thick. Use extra flour to keep the dough from sticking to the counter and roller.
• Cut into 18 small rectangles about 2.5”x3.5”. You can reroll the scraps and keep cutting until the dough is gone. If the dough gets too soft, refrigerate it for 15-30 minutes before working with it again. Place all the dough rectangles on a parchment lined baking sheet as you cut them out and keep them refrigerated.

Assemble and bake the pop tarts

• Once ready to assemble, beat an egg with a tablespoon of milk to make egg wash.
• Brush egg wash on the border of the dough rectangles that will be on the bottom of the pop tarts. Drop 2 teaspoons of peanut butter in the middle and 1 teaspoon of jam or jelly on top of the peanut butter. Take another piece of dough, stretch it out with your hands just a little and cover the filling with it, press the edges down and seal with a fork.
• Work with just a few pop tarts at a time to keep the dough cold. Once you are finished with all 9 pop tarts, place everything in the freezer for 15 minutes. If you don’t have room in the freezer, refrigerate them for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Remove the pop tarts from the freezer or refrigerator and use a paring knife to pierce the top of each pop tart with 3 steam vents. Brush egg wash all over them and sprinkle turbinado sugar generously.
• Bake for 15-17 minutes until golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before adding the glaze.

Prepare the glazes

• Add powdered sugar, peanut butter, salt and milk in a small bowl and stir until smooth to make the peanut butter glaze.
• Add powdered sugar, jam or jelly, salt and milk in another small bowl and stir until smooth to make the jelly glaze.
• Transfer each glaze to a pastry bag or a ziploc bag, snip the corner of the bag and drizzle the glazes over the pop tarts making a criss cross pattern with the two glazes.
• Add sprinkles on top if desired.

Notes

• Store bought refrigerated pie dough can be used to save time.
• You can also make homemade pie dough ahead of time and keep it refrigerated for up to a week or frozen for up to 6 months.
• Make sure to freeze or refrigerate the pop tarts before baking, this will help the crust to be flakier when baked.
• Try different fillings to customize the flavor of your pop tarts to your liking.

Nutrition

Serving: 80g | Calories: 344kcal

Course: Dessert, Pastries, Pie

Cuisine: American

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