Homemade Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts

Pie Crust

1. Add 1 1/2 cup flour and the salt to the food processor; pulse a few times until well combined.

2. Add butter and process for ~15 seconds. There should be no large butter chunks remaining and it should look like tiny balls of butter/flour.

3. Scrape the bowl of the processor and add the remaining 1 cup of flour. Pulse a handful of times; again, it should be a crumbly mixture at this point and won’t be coming together into a dough yet.

4. Add 4 tablespoons of ice cold water, to start, and pulse 10 times. If the dough is starting to come together, give it a few more pulses until big chunks start coming together. If it’s not coming together yet, add another tablespoon of water and pulse 10 times. That should do the trick, but you may need to add another tablespoon.

5. Plop the crumbly and chunky dough onto the counter and mold it into a round ball.

6. Split the ball in half and form two discs of dough, circular and about an inch thick. Wrap the discs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least a couple hours, up to a few days. Plan to remove them from the fridge 15-20 minutes before you start working on them.

Filling

1. Working on a flour-dusted counter or baking mat, with one disc of pliable dough (that is, it’s been out of the fridge for at least 15 minutes) at a time, use a rolling pin to gently roll out the dough into what is roughly a 9″x12″ rectangle. Be sure that the dough doesn’t crack; when/if it does, use your fingers to mold it back together and/or re-roll it.

2. Trim the sides with a pizza cutter to make neat, straight edges. Then use the pizza cutter again to cut 9 3″x4″ rectangles into the dough. Place these rectangles on a baking sheet (they can be close together) and into the fridge.
   Repeat steps 1 and 2 with the other disc of dough (again placing it in the fridge when you’re done).
   Save the trimmings to bake separately for an extra treat.

3. Make the filling by combining brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour in a bowl.

4. Make an egg wash by mixing together 1 large egg and two teaspoons milk in a small dish.

5. Remove the first baking sheet of pop tart crusts from the fridge. Using a pastry brush, generously apply the egg wash over the entire surface of each rectangle. Place a tablespoon of filling onto each crust and spread it around, as evenly as you can, leaving a small space around the edges.

6. Get the second baking sheet out of the fridge — your pop tart tops — and brush those with egg wash as well. Place them on top of the filled bottoms — egg wash side down — and use your fingers to seal the dough all around the pastry. Then use a fork to crimp the edges and fully seal the top and bottom together.

7. Place the raw pop tarts into the fridge for at least 20 minutes, up to an hour. You want the pastry cold and firm when it bakes.

8. Preheat the oven to 350 F. After they’ve been in the fridge at least 20 minutes, pull the pop tarts out and apply one final layer of egg wash to the top, fully coating each pastry. Then, using a toothpick, poke 6 holes into the tops of each tart — this helps steam escape while baking.

9. Bake for 24 minutes, rotating the baking sheet at 12 minutes. If they aren’t nicely golden-brown yet, give it a few more minutes. After pulling them out of the oven, let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Let them fully cool before topping with the glaze — about an hour.

Glazing

1. Whisk all the ingredients together in a small mixing bowl until no dry ingredients remain. If you need more milk, add it in very small amounts — a teaspoon at a time — until it reaches a smooth consistency that’s easy to spread, but not so thin that it runs off the pastry.

2. Using a spoon or butter knife, apply the glaze to each pop tart. It’ll harden in about an hour.