When I was a kid, I lived off of pop-tarts. Cherry or chocolate being my faves, blueberry being the only one I never liked but would eat anyways.

It was the 80s-90s and pop-tarts were THE breakfast food, until Toaster Strudel came along and tried to steal pop-tart’s thunder.

We will just say my dad was a couponing, economical man, and there was no way he was going to buy us a box of 4 toaster strudels for the price of two boxes of pop-tarts, no matter how hard we begged! So we remained a loyal pop-tart eating and loving family forever more.

Then I grew up and had kids of my own and became semi health conscience. Even before we were vegan, I rarely bought my kids pop-tarts because “they are bad for you.” I mean its not a lie, but lets just say I have loosened the reigns over the years where letting my kids eat “junk” food is concerned.

That said I still prefer to make them homemade version of that junk food because I still want them eating the best possible version of the junk food they can. For starters it has to be free of animal products, high fructose corn syrup, and as many preservatives I can avoid. I won’t withhold sugar from my kids. You get one life and you have to live it! I feel like moderate sugar is ok and pop-tarts need to be consumed because they are delicious and sprinkles make everyone fricking happy! They already can’t eat so many things that they wish they could because we are vegan. Everything in moderation and all of that.

It is actually really easy to make a healthier, vegan version of pop-tarts at home and fill them with whatever you like, even if you like blueberries ( but seriously, there are way better choices than blueberry!) The dough is easy to make and work with, and they bake up really fast! If you have ever made easy pie dough, it’s basically that!

So if you have been without pop-tarts for far too long, the wait is over. And if you grew up eating them every day like I did, these will surely bring a smile to your face. I mean come on, who doesn’t want an excuse to eat chocolate for breakfast every now and again!

INGREDIENTS:

The Dough

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cups vegan butter
a pinch of salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
3 - 4 tablespoons ice water
sprinkles for topping (optional)

The Filling

3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/3 cup of plant based milk
3 oz vegan chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
pinch of salt

The Glaze

1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
a few drops of plant based milk

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350.
Prepare your filling adding half of the chopped chocolate, and the remaining ingredients to a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 5 minutes to allow sauce to thicken. Remove from heat, and stir in the remaining chopped chocolate. Set aside to cool.
To make the dough, add flour, cocoa, butter, and salt to a food processor. Pulse until well combined.
Add in the water one tablespoon at a time until a soft dough has formed. Pop dough in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
Roll the dough out on a flour dusted, smooth surface to a 1/8 of an inch thick rectangle. You can trim up the edges with a sharp knife, and save the scrap dough.
Once the dough is trimmed and even, cut 3 inch by 5 inch rectangles from the dough, give or take. Be sure when you are calculating how many you can cut, to have a even number. Each pop-tart needs 2 rectangles. Roll out any scrap dough and repeat the process.
Scoop a teaspoon of chocolate filling onto a rectangle, and smear it around a bit in the middle, careful to not get too close to the edges.
Top the chocolate filled piece of dough with another rectangle of dough. I use a spatula to lift the rectangle and place on top. Use a fork to press, and seal the edges.
Place pop-tarts on a parchment lined baking sheet, or lightly spray one with cooking oil and bake for 20 - 25 minutes.
While pop-tarts are baking, mix together the glaze. If it is too thin you can add a little more powdered sugar to thicken it back up. You want a spreadable consistency.
Once pop-tarts have cooled a bit, spread the icing and serve. You can also top with sprinkles.

Yields 8-10 pop-tarts