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Homemade Pop Tarts in the Air Fryer. Here are 3 delicious variations of the famous pop tarts recreated for the air fryer. It includes homemade strawberry pop tarts, a healthy Slimming World/Weight Watchers variety, along with a quick dump and go version of pop tarts.
Can you believe that more than 30,000 people a month search for pop tarts in Google? I loved strawberry pop tarts when I was a child and assumed that it was a 90’s thing and had gone out of fashion.
Well it seems not!
Pop tarts are still in fashion and I thought it would be wonderful to give them a modern make over in the Air Fryer.
I love making my own homemade pastry. Its so common in the Milner house that the kids will pass me the rolling pin and a mixing bowl as they know its dough time!
They also both want to sit next to me on the kitchen worktop and get so excited about baking.
When we made homemade pop tarts with them in the air fryer it was no different.
We decided to do 3 different versions of air fryer strawberry pop tarts:
- Heat Up = Buy some Pop Tarts and see how long it took to heat them in the air fryer.
- Homemade Pie Crust = Using my own sweet pastry recipe make a homemade version of the classic pop tart.
- Low Calorie = As its January and the world is on a diet, how about using Weight Watchers Wraps as the pastry and making a lower calorie version?
Air Fryer Pop Tarts – Heat Up
Let’s start this air fryer pop tarts party with a simple reheat. I went to our local British supermarket and nearly passed out in shock at having to pay over 4€ for one small box strawberry pop tarts.
Dominic wanted to know where his chocolate pop tarts was, well at those prices, I am not paying for 2 packs!
Kyle got excited as he has not had a pop tart for years and the younger two were ready and waiting too.
To heat up strawberry (or any other flavoured) pop tarts in the air fryer, place them in the air basket and cook for 3 minutes on 200c/400f.
The benefit of cooking pop tarts in the air fryer is that not only are they crispy, but they don’t get as hot in the middle which means you won’t have a burnt tongue!
Air Fryer Pop Tarts – Slimming World Friendly
Next on the agenda is making air fryer pop tarts using Weight Watchers Wraps. These are amazing and a big drop in calories and bad additives compared to using real pop tarts.
If you have followed my cheese and onion pasties, my sausage rolls or my Cornish pasties that are made using Weight Watchers Wraps, you will know that it’s a genius way to have your own fake pastry.
You add some of your favourite pop tart filling and roll them up. Because I am using strawberry jam is sticks the wrap together perfectly, without having to worry about the wrap taking off from the air circulation.
To make Air Fryer Pop Tarts With Weight Watchers Wraps YOU:
- Scissor your wraps to size so that they are the size of a pop tart. I used a box that I scissor around.
- You cover both the inside and outside of the pop tart shape with egg wash.
- Add your filling i.e. strawberry jam.
- Cover the wrap over it until you have a pop tart shape.
- Cook for 3 minutes on one side at 180c/360f and then cook for a further 2 minutes on the other side at 200c/400f.
The ingredient count for making Weight Watchers Pop Tarts is:
- 3 Weight Watchers Wraps that made 4 whole pop tarts
- 1tsp of Strawberry Jam per pop tart = total of 4tsp for 4 pop tarts
- ¼ Small egg is enough egg wash to make 4 pop tarts
Air Fryer Pop Tarts – Homemade Pie Crust
Saving the best until last. We have homemade pop tarts. Made with homemade sweet short crust pastry and so good, you will never want to stop eating them.
I always thought they would be too difficult to make or would be too time consuming, but they are really NOT.
You make your sweet short crust pastry first and then lay out your pastry on your worktop. Using whatever you have available cut them to size so that visually they are the same size as a classic pop tart.
Add to them your strawberry filling, or whatever filling you want to add and layer a second short crust pastry slice over it.
Fork the edges to give it that professional tart look and then cover it with egg wash.
Cook for 7 minutes at 180c/360f.
While it is cooking mix the ingredients together for your yummy icing sugar glaze. We used soft cheese, strawberry jam and icing sugar. And YES the kids loved licking the bowl as much as they loved the homemade pop tarts!
Homemade pop tarts cooked in the air fryer
Ingredients
Recipe Ingredients:
- 225 g Plain Flour
- 30 g White Sugar
- 20 g Brown Sugar
- 100 g Butter
- 8 Tsp Strawberry Jam
- ½ Small Egg, egg wash
Pop Tart Topping:
- 2 Tsp Strawberry Jam
- 150 g Soft Cheese
- 5 Tsp Icing Sugar
Instructions
- Place into a mixing bowl your flour, sugar and butter and rub the fat into the sugar and flour. Do this until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Pour in a little water at a time and mix in between until you have a soft pastry dough.
- Flour the worktop, your hands and your rolling pin so that nothing sticks.
- Roll out your pastry and get it to moderately thin, as remember it is going to be doubling in size and you don’t want them too thick.
- Using a knife cut them up into pop tart shapes and add a thin layer of jam to the centre of half of them.
- Using your fingers spread the jam around the piece of pastry leaving a ½ cm gap around the edge, so that you don’t have a jam explosion.
- Place the second layer over the bottom layer and fork the outside edge. Brush with egg wash.
- Place in the air fryer on the grill pan and cook for 7 minutes at 180c/360f.
- In the meantime, make your delicious topping. In a bowl using a hand mixer, mix the icing sugar into the soft cheese. Add in the strawberry jam and mix a little bit more.
- When the pop tarts have cooled a little pour the mixture over your pop tarts and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
How To Make Air Fryer Pop Tarts
If you want to be successful with making air fryer pop tarts, then I recommend you read the following tips:
Jam gets incredibly HOT. Jam can burn your kids worse than boiling hot water out of the kettle. This is because when it hits skin contact it sticks to your skin like acid.
Make sure the filling is cool enough before giving it to small kids. If our food is too hot for our pre-schoolers, we will place it in the freezer for a couple of minutes for a quick cool down!
Pop Tarts MUST Seal. Use the egg wash and the moisture from the strawberry jam to stick your pop tarts together. If you don’t then they can become unstuck and the filling can pop out.
Kitchen Tongs Are ESSENTIAL. This is because when you’re turning your pop tarts over, they are a) too hot to handle and b) flimsy until fully cooked and need the chance to cook thoroughly. These are the kitchen tongs we recommend you use.
Air fryer Grill Pan Is BETTER. I try and use an air fryer grill pan when I can. Its not essential but if there are spillages it will stop it sticking to the basket and give it a professional look. This is the air fryer grill pan we have.