Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts Hearts (Air Fryer Or Oven)
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These homemade strawberry pop tarts are so good, and are easily made fast in the air fryer or the oven. Make these delicious pop tarts using refrigerated pie crust, strawberry jam, a quick homemade glaze, and sprinkles to decorate!
So over the holidays, I got a brand new air fryer so I’ve been experimenting with different fun ideas.
With Valentine’s Day coming up, we made fun heart-shaped strawberry pop tarts. While you can make this recipe in the air fryer or the oven, I was definitely thrilled with the result of a warm crispy pop tart fresh from the air fryer filled with warm strawberry jam.
Table of Contents
Ingredients For Strawberry Pop Tarts
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements and directions below in the recipe card.
- Refrigerated Pie Crusts– If using homemade pie crust start by rolling the dough out on a floured surface to 1/8 inch thick.
- Strawberry preserves or jam
- Powdered sugar– for the frosting
- Egg– Use the egg to make an egg wash. Brushing egg on top helps to gives your pop tarts a golden brown color, and also acts as a glue to hold the bottom and top piece of pastry together.
- Sprinkles – optional, but make your dessert more fun.
How To Make Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts Hearts
- Cut the crust and fill with jam– On a lightly floured surface or silicone mat, cut the crust into 16 hearts. Put a spoonful of jam in the center eight of the hearts, leaving a 1/4 to 1/2 inch border around the edge.
- Cover and Close The Pastry– Place the remaining heart-shaped crust pieces over the pieces that are filled with jam. Crack and beat the egg in a bowl, then dip a silicone brush (or a clean finger) into the egg. You’re using the egg similar to a glue and brushing it aroound the edge of the bottom pastry crush. Use a fork to press and seal the top piece of pastry to the bottom to close the pastry. Poke a few holes in the top with a fork, then brush more of the egg over top of the whole heart to help it brown.
- Bake The Pop Tart– You can make these pastries in either the air fryer or the oven. In the air fryer, the pastries will come out a little more crispy than in the oven. Depending on the size of the air fryer, you may need to work in batches. When you are adding the pastries to the air fryer, you don’t want the pastry to fold but it is ok if the pastry touches the next pastry just a little like in the picture. Also, I placed a piece of parchment paper in the air fryer so you can see a little easier how close together the pastry is, but you don’t need to use parchment paper when you are baking the pop tarts. See the recipe card for more information about baking the pop tarts with an air fryer or with the oven.
- Glaze and Enjoy– Mix the glaze using the instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of the page. When adding the glaze I like to place the pop tarts on a cooling rack that is sitting on top of a pan. Line the pan with parchment paper for easy cleanup and then add the glaze on top.
I also allow my pop tarts too cool a little bit before adding the glaze, or it may run more. Add sprinkles or any other decorations you like and enjoy.
Love strawberry desserts? Try these delicious recipes!
Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes– A tasty vanilla cupcake topped with a swirl of cream cheese frosting and fresh strawberries. Perfect for a party!
Strawberry Poke Cake – A boxed cake gets a major upgrade with swirls of red strawberry Jell-O throughout the cake, strawberry sauce and topped with whipped topping and fresh strawberries. This is a great cake to please a crowd, and is easy to make too!
Strawberry Bread With Sweet Cream Glaze– YUM! Perfect for dessert, but you can still serve it for breakfast too!
What’s The Difference Between Strawberry Jam, Preserves And Jelly?
In the recipe below I’ve suggested using either strawberry jam or strawberry preserves. Both of these options are full of lots of strawberry flavor, and include the whole fruit. Preserves tend to be a little thicker then jam is, but both jam and preserves work nicely.
I don’t recommend using strawberry jelly. Jelly is made only from the juice of the fruit and doesn’t have the same strawberry flavor when you put it in these homemade pop tarts. While it is possible to use jelly, jelly is also a bit thinner and just doesn’t pack the same flavor punch that jelly or preserves give.
Do I Need The Frosting?
The frosting on these pop tarts make them taste more like the store-bought pop tarts, but that doesn’t mean you have to use it. They do sell unfrosted pop tarts too!
Feel free to use as little of the frosting as you want, or to leave it off entirely. The frosting does add a lot of extra sweetness, but the strawberry jam in the pop tart will also give it plenty of sweetness if left unfrosted and will taste delicious warm out of the oven without frosting.
More Fruit-Filled Treats and Desserts
Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts
Equipment
- Air fryer
- Cookie cutter or sharp knife (I used a heart that was about 3 inches)
- Fork
- Small bowl
- Silicone brush
- Spoon
- Rolling pin (optional)
Ingredients
- 1 (15 oz) pkg refrigerated pie crusts You should have two flat (9 inch) pie dough disks.
- 3/4 cup Strawberry preserves or jam Keep 1/4 cup to the side for the frosting
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 Egg
- 4 tablespoons sprinkles optional
Instructions
- Lay the pie crust out flat on a lightly floured surface. With the cookie cutter, cut out 16 heart shaped pieces. Cut carefully to fit as many hearts as you can on the pie crust.
- On a heart-shaped crust, add 1 tablespoon of the preserves in the middle of the heart. Spread it out evenly on the heart shape but leave a border around the edges to seal the pop tarts. You'll need between 1/4 and a 1/2 inch border. Continue adding the preserves to half of the hearts.
- Crack the egg into a small bowl and beat it with a fork or whisk until the yolk is mixed well into the white to make an egg wash. Dip the silicone brush in the egg wash and evenly spread the egg wash around the edges of the pastry surrounding the strawberry filling. Repeat for all of the crust with strawberry in the center.
- Place an unfilled heart-shaped pie crust on top of the crust with the preserves in the center. Use a fork to press down the edges and create a seal around the entire edge. Repeat for each strawberry filled heart until you have filled all of the pastries.
- Dip the silicone brush in the egg wash and cover the tops of each of the pastries with egg wash. Using a fork to poke about 6 to 8 holes in the top of your top layer pastry.
For Baking In The Air Fryer
- Depending on the size of your air fryer, place as many pastry hearts in your air fryer that will fit. You want your the pastry to all sit comfortably in the air fryer without overlapping. It's ok if the pastries touch just a little.
- Cook your pop tart at 370° for 7 minutes. Once the timer is done, open your air fryer, and flip the pop tarts. Continue to cook at 370° for an additional 3 to 4 minutes, or until they are light brown on both sides. Transfer to a cooling rack or clean kitchen towel to cool.
For Baking In The Oven
- Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake on parchment paper or a lightly oiled pan for 10-14 minutes, flipping them halfway through the baking time so they bake more evenly. The outside will be light brown and the inside should be a little gooey but the pastry itself should be cooked all the way through. Transfer to a cooling rack or clean kitchen towel to cool.
Adding The Frosting
- While your pastries are cooling, mix together the powdered sugar and remaining 1/4 cup of preserve or jam with a whisk. This frosting does thicken as it sets, so make sure you do this step right before you are ready to frost the poptarts.
- Place the cooled pop tarts on parchment paper for easy cleanup. Drizzle the frosting over the pop tarts. Add sprinkles right after you drizzle the frosting before the frosting has set. Enjoy!
Notes
- Let the pie dough warm to room temperature before you begin unrolling whether you are using a refrigerator version or a frozen version. This will keep the dough from cracking and splitting.
- If you don’t have quite enough dough to make all 16 heart cutouts, you can use the scraps. Gather up any scraps and form a ball. On a lightly floured surface, reroll the ball into a flat pie crust that is about the same thickness as your other hearts. This should be about a 1/8 inch thick.
- If you don’t have a heart shaped cookie cutter, you can use a cookie cutter of your choice or use a sharp knife to cut the dough into rectangles.
Nutrition
Did You Make This?
I would love to see it! Share your thoughts with me in the comments below!
