I didn’t know Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts existed before I thought them up and went running to my kitchen.
Turns out they do exist… and they existed all over my kitchen counter before they stopped existing because I ate them all.
Ok. Not true. I didn’t eat them aalllll. I shared… but I really didn’t want to.
Kinda cool, right!? Are you gonna make these or what?
Just so we’re clear, what we’re dealing with here is two squares (ok.. yea.. rectangles) of buttery dough, stuffed with spiced pumpkin pie filling.
Pumpkin pie used to be on the list of things that I hated… along with the first day of school, boys, eggplant and spiders.
It would seem that pumpkin pie has grown on me.
… I’ve also developed a fondness for boys.
But the first day of school, eggplant and spiders call all just suck an egg.
Is that an expression?
I found this little gentleman on my front porch while I was baking up these pop tarts.
Want.
I busted out the ruler for this recipe, but I still ended up with slightly wonky tarts. Precision isn’t my deal.
Luckily butter and flour still taste good, even when they’re crooked.
My Great Aunt Mary stopped by for a visit while I was baking. She’s approximately 74 times more awesome than you and me. She’s traveled all over the world. Literally. Everywhere. She likes bus tours. She loves margaritas and cookies. She can sew like a stone cold maniac…. and she wears teal trousers.
Man… she’s so cool.
Of course I gave her one of these tarts to take home. It was the right thing to do.
Are you totally obsessed with pumpkin? Yea… me too:
Pumpkin and Butternut Squash Soup
Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts with Maple Glaze
makes 9 tarts
crust recipe from King Arthur Flour
For the Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 large egg (for brushing the dough)
For the Filling:
3/4 cup pureed pumpkin
1 large egg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
Maple Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons milk
To prepare the Crust:
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Add the cold butter and break it up in the flour mixture using your fingers, a pastry cutter or a food processor. There may seem like there’s a ton of butter in your flour. There is. Work it in until only pea sized lumps remain in your mixture. The mixture should also hold together when squeezed into a ball.
In a small bowl, beat the egg with the milk. Add the mixture all at once to the dry ingredients and stir to make sure that moisture is introduced to all of the flour mixture. Lightly dust a clean counter with flour and knead the dough on the floured counter for a few turns until it really starts to come together. Divide the dough in two, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. I find that the dough is just a bit easier to work with when it’s chilled.
While the dough is chilling, prepare the filling:
In a small sauce pan, heat pumpkin puree and spices over medium heat. Just heat through until the spices become fragrant. This helps to bring loads of flavor into the filling. Remove from heat and place spiced pumpkin in a medium sized bowl. Whisk in egg, salt and sugar and place in the fridge to rest while you roll out the dough.
On a well floured work surface, press dough into a 3×5-inch rectangle, roll the dough out to about 1/8-inch thickness. The dough should be slightly larger than 9×12-inches. Trim dough with a pizza cutter, creating a rectangle that is 9-inches tall and 12-inches long. Using the pizza cutter, cut each side into thirds, creating 9 squares. Place dough squares in the fridge while you roll out the second piece of dough in the same way.
Brush one set of 9 squares with beaten egg. This will act as the glue for the top layer of dough. Spoon about one tablespoon of pie filling into the center of each brushed dough square. Top with a piece of dough and use a floured fork to crimp the sides closed. Use the tines of the fork to create vent holes in each tart.
Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Let tarts rest in the fridge for 30 minutes while the oven preheats.
Remove tarts from the fridge and place in the oven to bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
While the tarts bake, whisk together ingredients for the glaze and set aside.
Let baked tarts rest on a cooling rack to cool completely before glazing. Best served within 2 days.
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I’m so excited to try these! I have been obsessed with hand pies lately….these are a nice little variation! Thanks!
Wow! We will be preparing these little treats over the upcoming Thanksgiving break. My daughter LOVES pop tarts and has been wanting to make something with pumpkin. Do you have a hidden camera in our house? Or maybe you’re psychic – in which case posting Lotto numbers would be fantastic!
You rock! My son will be so happy!! This year we changed our eating habits- against the rest of the family’s will- to ban all hydrogenated oils, and crappy processed foods! BUT my son misses pop-tarts and hot pockets!!! I can make all kinds of different fillings and maybe even alter the dough to make the ham and cheese hot pockets he craves so much! THANK YOU!
Wow, the hot pockets is a GREAT idea! Let me know how that comes out.
I’ve made these three times already. Store-boughts, you suck!!!
Go, Joy!
just made apple pop tarts! delicious! i used the KAF regular pie crust recipe, next time i’ll have to try this one with the sugar. my crust was terrible but i just used the scraps to make little apple rolls, which were a perfect size to eat lots and not feel bad:) thanks for the inspiration
Hey Joy- I ended up making these for my pre-Turkey Day festivities at the beach because I had leftover pumpkin after making a pumpkin cheesecake. I’ve never been one to ace pie crust, but man-oh-man, these were a hit! Even better than the cheesecake that I slaved over. I was in a rush so didn’t ‘rest’ anything like the recipe recommends, didn’t really properly cut up the butter cubes, didn’t measure or use a ruler when I cut. And yet, still amazing! Keep the good ones coming! Thanks so much!
I made these over Thanksgiving weekend, as if I needed any more food treats. They were delicious and a huge hit! I just wish the recipe made more than 9. It got me thinking…I could make apple pie or cheesecake poptarts too. Dangerous!
Ok, so this crust is amazing!!! I made the pop tarts with a fruit filling while my husband and I were baby-sitting for 8 kids a few weeks ago. They were a big hit. One of the little girls was helping me break up the cut pieces of butter and she thought it looked like cheese. She was very disappointed when it melted in her mouth!! Poor baby!
I also used this at Thanksgiving when I was asked to make double crusted apple pie. It turned out very lovely, if I may say so myself! The tart apples with that beautiful buttery crust was amazing. I got major compliments. :-)
The day after Thanksgiving I used the leftovers to make fruit tarts. I cut out circles of dough and gentle fit them into cupcake pans, letting the edges fold however they wanted to, then filled them with a strawberry and blueberry homemade filling. They were so cute and delicious. I think I ate most of them. Shhh….don’t tell.
This crust, as you can see, is going to be a favorite of mine that I will use many times!! Thank you for such a fantastic recipe!!! No matter what I make, it is always addicting!
I love pumpkin–and I love the piece of white hardanger in the pictures! Very classy :)
Is it weird I felt a bit like a super hero making these? The crust was actually good! You know that weirdo that eats the pie filling but leaves the crust? Yep, guilty. But this was really good! Only thing I changed was leaving out the maple syrup from the glaze and adding in a lot a lot a lot of cinnamon. We like, scratch, LOVE cinnamon. I recommend eating this with your apron on backwards. You know, for the cape effect.
sooo, these are in my oven riiiight now! Thanks so much! They were totally fun to assemble and this crust is AWESOME.
In five minutes they are done and I cannot wait!
Hands down one of the best pastries I ahve ever made. I managed to get 13 out of mine and they didn’t last long, lol! The pastry was to die for and I will never not use butter again, sigh, no matter how costly. This is coming all the way from Nova Scotia, Canada.
Absolutely divine. I had a hard time keeping enough of the pumpkin filling in the pastry without leaking out, so I made a few Nutella poptarts and poured the rest of the pumpkin filling in a ramekin & baked, both turned out fantastically!
JOY! long time, no bake. I made these today! I really should have waited for Nov because it was around 86 degrees INSIDE and that made the dough near impossible to handle. I put in the fridge for longer than you called for, but it still was a fiasco. So my tarts, while tasty, were nowhere near as pretty. Sadly I became really frustrated with the dough, which negatively impacted my cooking experience. I didn’t have maple syrup for the glaze which didn’t stay neatly on mine like yours and instead melted over the tart. And I used pumpkin pie spice in lieu of the spices- I’m glad cause the filling was yummy! I’ll eat another from the fridge tomorrow and tell you what I think then.
Overall, I think these were a hit- the family loved them and I guess I should have been a little more patient, and then maybe I would have gotten prettier tarts. Still glad I made them and on to the next recipe!( Did I tell you that over the course of the next three weeks, I’m going to be making only recipes of yours?:) So I thought I should make a list of recipes of yours that I’ve made previously right before I enter my Joy baking time:
1. Red Velvet Black and White Cookies
2. Hot Fudge Sundae Cupcakes
3. Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies
4. No-bake Orange and Cream Pie
5. Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread
6. Pan Dulce
7. Pumpkin Pop Tarts
Ooh, 7 recipes! I liked all of them, except for the pretzel brownies, which were a little too rich and salty for me. I am going to aim for 15! wish me luck:)
Oh man, I suck! I forgot one:
8. Honey Whole Wheat Pound Cake
Ah, how could I forget? Sorry about the excessive commenting! So now 7 more recipes should be a piece of cake( and there will be cake, don’t worry.)
This design is steller! You certainly know how to keep a reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Excellent job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!
Thanks for posting this recipe! :) Looks yummy! (Drooling face :)) Can’t wait to try this recipe and share it with my buddies..
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