Homemade Wild Berry Pop Tarts

There's nothing better than a Wild Berry Pop Tart with that nostalgic blue and purple swirled frosting! Make them at home with fresh fruit, homemade shortbread cookies, and a dye-free glaze for a special treat without all the additives.

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Why You'll Love These Wild Berry Pop Tarts
Ingredients
Instructions
Substitutions and Alterations
How to Store Homemade Pop Tarts
Top tip!
Recipe FAQs
Related Recipes
Homemade Wild Berry Pop Tarts
Reviews

Why You'll Love These Wild Berry Pop Tarts

So nostalgic! Bring yourself back to childhood with these wild berry pop tarts! With the perfectly sweet blue and purple swirled glaze, they look just like the original you grew up eating. You can also try other nostalgic recipes, like these homemade gogurts, dinosaur chicken nuggets, and spaghettios.
Made with fresh fruit! The filling for these homemade pop tarts is made with fresh fruit, just like these homemade push up popsicles. The filling uses a mix of strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries to give it the traditional wild berry flavor.
Unlike other homemade pop tart recipes! Most homemade pop tarts use puff pastry or a pie-like crust as the base. However, when I recently tasted the store-bought pop tarts, I was quickly reminded of a shortbread cookie instead. This recipe includes shortbread cookies on top and bottom of the fruit filling, giving it the best crumbly cookie texture.
Uses a dye-free frosting! I recommend using this dye-free food coloring for a perfectly colored glaze that's free from artificial colors.

Ingredients

A few notes about the ingredients:

Powdered Sugar: Powdered sugar (or confectioner's sugar) in the crust is a traditional addition to shortbread cookie dough. I recommend using it instead of granulated sugar for these cookies.
Strawberries, Blueberries, and Raspberries: This combination of berries gives these pop tarts the best wild berry flavor. However, you can use just one or a combination of the three if you need to.
Dye-Free Food Coloring: Feel free to use any food coloring you enjoy. If you're looking for a dye-free option, Amazon or Whole Foods have a few to choose from.

⭐️ See recipe card below for descriptions and quantities of each ingredient. Then, watch this brief tutorial on Instagram!

Instructions

Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Butter beaten in a bowl with powdered sugar and vanilla extract.

Step 2: Add powdered sugar. Beat again until smooth. Then, add vanilla and beat until combined.

Step 3: Add flour, cornstarch, and salt. Beat until just combined. Don’t overmix.

Dough shaped like a disc wrapped in plastic wrap.

Step 4: Form the dough into a disc and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Step 5: While the dough is chilling, make the filling by adding strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and maple syrup to a blender. Blend until smooth.

Wild berry filling cooked until thick in a saucepan.

Step 6: Pour the berry mixture into a saucepan and set on the stove over medium heat. Cook for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened.

Step 7: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Step 8: Remove dough from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a large rectangle, about ⅛-inch thick.

Rectangles cut out of shortbread dough on a baking sheet.

Step 9: Cut 3 x 4½ inch rectangles out of the dough. Gather the scraps and repeat until all dough has been rolled and cut into rectangles.

Rectangles of shortbread dough with wild berry filling in the center of each one.

Step 10: Place half of the rectangles on the prepared baking sheets, leaving an inch or two between each one. Top with about 1 tablespoon of the filling, leaving a small border around the edges.

Pop tarts on a baking sheet before baking, with crimped edges and holes poked on top.

Step 11: Place the rectangles without the filling on top of the ones on the baking sheets. Use a fork to crimp the top and bottom edges together, all around the border of each rectangle. Use a toothpick to poke holes on top of each pop tart.

Baked pop tarts on a baking sheet without glaze.

Step 12: Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are just beginning to turn lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Step 13: To make the glaze: In a bowl, combine 3 cups powdered sugar and ¼ cup milk. Add 10 drops each of red and blue food dye, then whisk to turn it purple. Spread the purple glaze on top of each pop tart, from edge to edge.

Pop tarts with purple glaze and blue glaze drizzle over top on a cooling rack.

Step 14: In another bowl, combine ¾ cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon milk. Add 15 drops of blue food dye, then whisk to turn it blue. Add the blue glaze to a zip top bag and cut off a small piece of the corner. Use the bag to drizzle the blue glaze on top of the purple. Allow glaze to harden before eating.

⭐️ Tip: Don't forget to chill the dough! Chilling the dough helps to solidify the butter in the cookies, ensuring that it's not too sticky when rolled into rectangles. It also helps in building the perfectly flaky texture, representative of store-bought pop tarts.

Substitutions and Alterations

Strawberries, Blueberries, and Raspberries - If you're low on berries, you can use any combination of these berries. You can also use blackberries.
Pure Maple Syrup - I like using pure maple syrup to flavor the fruit filling. However, you can also use honey, light brown sugar, or granulated sugar instead.

A homemade wild berry pop tart broken in half to show the berry filling.

How to Store Homemade Pop Tarts

To store: Store these Homemade Wild Berry Pop Tarts in an airtight container on the counter up to 5 days.

To freeze: Freeze in a freezer-safe container up to 6 months.

To defrost: Defrost pop tarts on the counter for a few hours until softened, or up to overnight.

Top tip!

Make sure to properly reduce the berry filling! If the jam isn't thickened enough, it'll turn the pop tarts watery and make them fall apart as they bake. Typically, 30 to 40 minutes is enough time to thicken the mixture.

A broken wild berry pop tart surrounded by other pop tarts and fresh berries.

Recipe FAQs

Do homemade pop tarts need to be refrigerated?

These homemade pop tarts do not need refrigeration. Store in an airtight container on your counter instead.

What makes this homemade pop tart recipe different than others?

This recipe is made of homemade shortbread cookie dough instead of puff pastry or flaky pie crust! The consistency is more similar to the store-bought kind and the homemade fresh fruit filling takes things up a notch even more!

Looking for more nostalgic recipes? Try these: