Sourdough Strawberry Pop Tarts

Indulge in the nostalgic charm of homemade Sourdough Strawberry Pop Tarts, where flaky, buttery pastry meets luscious, fruity filling in every bite. This homemade version of the popular breakfast indulgence is made with organic ingredients, homemade strawberry filling, and sprinkles without artificial colors. 

If you’re looking for more breakfast recipes, try some of my other favorites like Quick One Rise Cinnamon Rolls From Scratch, Homemade Sesame Bagels, or Cinnamon Honey Butter Spread Recipe, Blackberry Sweet Potato Muffins With Streusel Topping, or Sourdough French Toast Sticks.

A Quick Look At The Recipe

• Recipe Name: Sourdough Strawberry Pop Tarts
• Ready In: 45 minutes
• Makes: 6 pop tarts
• Main Ingredients: salted butter, powdered sugar, strawberries, all purpose flour
• Flavor Profile: sweet strawberry with a little tang
• Dietary Info: no seed oils
• Difficulty: Medium
• Why You’ll Love It: organic pop tarts with ingredients you trust

Why You’ll Love These Organic Pop Tarts

• True Pop Tart: These Strawberry Pop Tarts are a true pop tart! Perfectly soft, buttery, and just the littlest bit of crumbly is the base for this true pop tart pastry.
• Homemade Filling: I make my own strawberry filling for these homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts. But, you can also use store bought strawberry preserves or jam as well. Both will work!
• Uses Sourdough Discard: I love that this recipes uses sourdough discard because it is taking something that would be food waste and turning it into homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts! This is a beautiful thing people. 
• No Artificial Colors: This recipe for Sourdough Strawberry Pop Tarts is made with no artificial colors. The store bought strawberry pop tarts have all kinds of artificial colors! This is truly not needed in order to enjoy this nostalgic treat. 
• Organic Pop Tarts: I use organic ingredients so you can indulge in a nostalgic breakfast treat without harmful ingredients like soy, palm oil, enriched flour, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 1, and more. And, as I was reading the ingredients on the traditional pop tarts, I think its hilarious that strawberries are in the less than 2% portion of the ingredients, wow!

These homemade strawberry pop tarts with sourdough are another collaboration with my friend Hannah at Make It Dough! Each month we come up with a recipe idea together that uses sourdough. Some of my other favorite collaboration recipes include Sourdough Discard Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread, Sourdough Chocolate Shortbread Cookies, Lemon Rosemary Sourdough Bread, Sourdough Crescent Rolls or Rustic Sourdough Peach Galette. 

When Hannah said she wanted to make pop tarts, I specifically asked her, real pop tarts or toaster pastries? Because the internet is full of “pop tarts” that are really just toaster pastries in my opinion because they are made with puff pastry or pie crust. While, those can be good, they are not true pop tarts!

And this delightful recipe is a celebration of the original, but organic pop tarts! This is not a puff pastry dough and it’s not a pie dough, because true pop tarts are neither.

These homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts with sourdough are really more like a sugar cookie dough, to be honest. The sourdough discard really lends a beautiful tangy flavor to this pastry that I love! This recipe is grown up organic pop tarts people, don’t share these with your kids. 

Ingredients

• Strawberries: Use organic fresh or frozen strawberries, totally up to you! Be sure to de-stem if you are using fresh.
• Lemon Juice: You can use fresh lemon juice or even lemon juice from a bottle, up to you!
• Salted Butter: If you are using unsalted butter, be sure to add a pinch of salt to the recipe.
• Sourdough Discard: Use your sourdough discard straight from the fridge!
• Egg Yolk: We use egg yolk here to keep the pastry tender. Don’t throw out the whites, be sure to put in a Tupperware and add to your eggs in the morning. Or you can also cook it up with coconut oil in a pan and use it as a food topper for your dog, John John loves this!
• Cornstarch: I use organic cornstarch which helps solidify this filling and make it thick. This prevents it from running out when you bite into the pop tarts.
• Naturally Colored Decorating Sugars: I used a mix of India Tree's Nature's Colors Decorating Sugars. I picked the colors I used to be the same as strawberry pop tarts! This is a key ingredient as it doesn't just provide decoration, it provides a subtle crunch that is so nostalgic!

*For a full list of ingredients and measurements, visit the recipe card below.

Baker's Tips

• Be sure your butter is soft. Just like if you were baking traditional chocolate chip cookies! 
• You can use fresh or frozen strawberries. If you’re using frozen, you do not have to thaw them as the water will just evaporate as you cook them.
• If your rectangles are not totally even, you can cut them after you place the second one on top. You can easily even them out this way.
• The natural decorating sugars I use are completely necessary for the true strawberry pop tart experience because they give the perfect amount of crunch and added texture that taste just like the originals.
• I use a mix of the red, pink, yellow, and green India Tree Nature's Colors natural decorating sugars. I did this because this is truly what the original strawberry pop tarts look like. But, you can use any color or any mix!
• High Altitude — Bake at 350°F for 17 to 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown on the bottoms.

Easy Substitutions

• Use store bought preserves or jam in place of making the filling if you are feeling lazy. 
• Feel free to use any flavor of fruit filling too to create different flavors. Try my Small Batch Organic Apricot Jam Without Pectin or Homemade Blueberry Preserves (No Pectin) for different seasonal pop tarts!
• You can use plain pink sprinkles if you prefer or you can leave them off completely. But, the ones I am using have that true texture and crunch that real strawberry pop tarts have! So, they are totally necessary in my opinion. 
• If you don’t have sourdough discard, you can still make this recipe by mixing together 28 grams of water and 28 grams of all purpose flour. Use this in ints place! 

How to Make Sourdough Strawberry Pop Tarts

1. You can use store bought strawberry jam or make your own. To make the Strawberry Preserves: Remove stems and finely chop strawberries. Add strawberries, sugar and lemon juice to a medium pot. Cook over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Turn the heat to high and boil for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Turn the heat back down to medium and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the consistency is thick. Transfer to a glass jar and let cool to room temperature. Store extra in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. To make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, cane sugar, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.  

4. Mix on low until combined and there’s no butter chunks.

5. In a small bowl, add the sourdough discard and egg yolk and stir together.

6. Add the flour to the butter mixture and add the egg yolk mixture on top.

7. Mix on low until combined into a crumbly dough. Add in water as needed just until the dough comes together. 

8. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to ⅛-inch to ¼-inch thick, the thinner the better!

9. Cut into 12 rectangles that are about 3×4-inches. 

10. Place 6 of the rectangles onto the prepared baking sheet. 

11. To make the filling: Add the strawberry preserves and cornstarch to a bowl and mix together. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of filling onto the middle of each rectangle. Using your finger, dip it into the water, and go around the boarder of the rectangle.

12. Then top with another rectangle dough, the water will help them stick together. Continue with all the rectangles. 

13. Using a fork, crimp the edges. Then make two slits with a knife in the top of each tart. 

14. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden brown on the bottoms. Allow to cool completely on the baking sheet. (If you’re baking at high altitude, be sure to check the Notes at the bottom of the recipe for high altitude baking instructions).

15. To make the glaze: In a small bowl, add the powdered sugar and milk and whisk together until a smooth glaze forms. If you want a thinner glaze you can add more milk or use less if you want a thicker glaze.

16. Frost each pop tart with glaze and top with the decorating sugars. 

Serving Ideas

• Indulge in a nostalgia breakfast with Fluffy Scrambled Eggs with Sour Cream or Bone Broth Sausage Mushroom Frittata.
• Enjoy with an Iced Blueberry Latte for an afternoon treat.
• Have as dessert with a Creamy Vegan Chocolate Smoothie With Almond Butter.

Sourdough Strawberry Pop Tarts FAQ’s

More Nostalgic Breakfast Recipes

Eggless Sourdough Waffles

Bone Broth Everything Bagels

Maple Cinnamon Olive Oil Granola

Small Batch Honey Butter Cinnamon Rolls