Apple Pie Pop Tarts

A fun and nostalgic treat with a delicious Autumn twist. You will not be able to resist the flaky crust, apple pie filling and sweet icing!

Who didn’t love pop tarts growing up? I had my fair share of pop tarts as a kid as they made the easiest grab and go breakfast. My favorite flavors were cinnamon brown sugar and hot fudge sundae. I used to put the hot fudge sundae pop tarts in the freezer and ate them for dessert. Highly recommend trying it out!

Now that I’m older and prefer homemade baked goods over store bought, I’ve had homemade pop tarts on my to-make list for some time now. I figured Fall was the perfect time to play around with some festive flavors. I made pumpkin pie pop tarts and apple pie pop tarts, and both came out fantastic! Last month I shared the pumpkin pie pop tarts and today I am sharing the apple pie pop tarts.

These apple pie pop tarts are surprisingly easy to make and taste way better than the store bought kind. They are fresher, not too sweet and don’t have that ‘fake’ taste that the store bought ones have. These apple pie pop tarts can be made either vegan or non-vegan. I chose the vegan route to avoid the dairy, but you can follow this exact same recipe using real butter and milk!

I debated on making this recipe with a gluten free flour or a whole wheat pastry flour to make them a tad healthier. But let’s be honest, how many people have gluten free and whole wheat pastry flour lying around in their house? Probably not many. And when I went to the store to buy the whole wheat pastry flour, it was a massive bag that I didn’t want sitting in my pantry for ages after making this recipe. I wanted to make this recipe as accessible as possible, so we are using good old fashion all purpose flour. If you are looking for a gluten free option, I’d recommend checking out this raspberry pop tart recipe by the amazing Banana Diaries!

What is in apple pie pop tarts?

• Flour
• Butter, vegan or regular
• Salt
• Milk, regular or dairy free
• Coconut sugar or regular sugar
• Apple
• Apple Butter
• Cinnamon
• Powdered sugar
• Maple syrup
• Vanilla

What you need to make apple pie pop tarts

• One large mixing bowl
• Two small mixing bowls
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Rolling pin
• Pastry brush
• Sheet pan

How to make apple pie pop tarts

The first step to making apple pie pop tarts is to make the dough. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, coconut sugar and cinnamon and stir with a fork. Next, add cubed butter to the flour mixture and using a fork or pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour until you have pea sized pieces of butter throughout the flour mixture. Pour in the cold milk and mix just until combined. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface. Gather the dough together and knead just until the dough becomes one cohesive ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to overnight.

While your dough is chilling, make the filling and icing. In a small frying pan, heat 1 tsp coconut oil. Add diced apple and cook 4-5 minutes. In a small mixing bowl, mix together the sautéed apples, apple butter and cinnamon. In a second small mixing bowl, combine the powdered sugar, maple syrup, almond milk and vanilla. Set both aside.

Once your dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously flour your work surface and rolling pin. Cut the dough in half and work with one half at a time. Roll out the dough into a large rectangle. Cut out 4 inch by 5 1/2 inch rectangles. Place rectangles on a parchment lined baking sheet. Refrigerate rectangles while rolling out the remainder of the dough. You should get 16 rectangles to make 8 pop tarts.

Remove rectangles from the fridge. Add 2 tbsp of apple pie filling to the center of 8 of the rectangles. Cover each apple pie filled rectangle with remaining rectangles. Pinch down all four sides of the pop tarts with a fork to seal. Poke 3 holes on each pop tart with a fork and brush pop tarts with milk.

Bake pop tarts at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until lightly golden. Allow pop tarts to cool 15-20 minutes before topping with the icing. Place in the refrigerator to allow icing to harden.

Store apple pie pop tarts in an air tight container in the fridge for 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Tips

• Before making the dough, make sure your butter and almond milk are ice cold. I like to cube my butter and place it in the freezer for 10 minutes to make sure its extra cold. This ensures a flaky crust!
• When you take the dough out of the fridge to roll out, allow it to sit for 5 minutes before rolling. It will soften just enough to make it easier to roll but not too warm where the butter is melting.
• Anytime you are not working with a piece of dough, I recommend keeping it in the refrigerator or freezer to keep it cold. It’s all about keeping the butter in the dough cold so you get a flaky crust.
• When rolling out the dough, I recommend aiming for 4 rectangles at a time. This makes things a lot more manageable. Roll out the dough into a rectangle larger than 8 inches by 11 inches. Use a ruler or measuring tape to measure and cut out an 8 inch by 11 inch rectangle. Then use the ruler to find the middle of the 8 inch side (4 inches) and the 11 inch side (5 1/2 inches) and cut to get your four rectangles. Repeat process until you have 16 rectangles.
• Your rectangles do not need to be perfect! As you can see mine are not all the same size. To me, that is how you know they are homemade! As long as you have at least two rectangles that are about the same size that you can combine to make one pop tart, you are good!

Substitutions

• Butter: Either regular butter or vegan butter work in this recipe.
• Milk: Any type of milk will work in this recipe.
• Egg wash: For the non-vegan version of this recipe, you can use an egg wash to brush the tops of the pop tarts. This will yield a more golden exterior.

If you liked this apple pie pop tarts recipe, check out some of my other fall recipes:

• • Apple Oat Crumble Bars
  • Apple Pie Baked Oats
  • Pumpkin Protein Balls
  • Autumn Chicken Salad
  • Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts
  • Vegan Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

If you make these apple pie pop tarts, be sure to leave a comment below and rate this recipe! If you snap a pic, be sure to tag me on Instagram @thechowdown! I love seeing your creations!