Video
Giant Frosted Strawberry Pop Tart
This Giant Strawberry Pop Tart is so much better than the ones from my childhood. This novelty comes with flaky buttery pastry and a juicy fresh strawberry filling. Don't skip the iconic icing and rainbow sprinkles on top. This is the ultimate party dessert and it's totally sharable!
Ingredients
Pastry:
- 2 cups 284g all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoon 50g granulated sugar
- heaped ½ tsp salt
- ⅔ cup plus 1 tbsp 165g very cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
- ⅓ cup 80ml ice cold water
Strawberry filling:
- 3 cups 400g fresh hulled chopped strawberries, cut into quarters or sixths depending on size
- ¼ cup 50g granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon 8 corn starch
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
For brushing:
- 1 large egg well beaten
Icing:
- 1 ½ cups 180g powdered confectioner’s sugar
- 1 teaspoon 5ml juice from the strawberry compote (if you want a slightly pink icing)
- 1 - 2 tablespoon 15-30ml milk, plus more as needed
- rainbow jimmies sprinkles to decorate
Instructions
- Make the pastry. Combine flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add cold butter and rub it in, pressing and smearing it between your thumbs and fingertips to flatten pieces of butter for an instant laminated effect (you can also use the mixer here, but finish with your hands to squeeze and flatten any large pieces of butter). Continue to rub in the fat until it resembles coarse crumbs with some larger oat flake-sized pieces remaining. There should be no dusty flour in the bowl.
- Gradually sprinkle in cold water, one tablespoon at a time, while gently tossing with a fork until the dough is moistened and it clings together in clumps. The dough will hold together when squeezed or pressed when it is ready and it will hold the impressions of your fingers, but it should not form a ball. You can add another tablespoon of water as needed if it is too dry. Do this part by hand and don’t use the mixer once you add the water since it tends to over-mix in parts.
- Turn the shaggy mixture out onto a clean surface and bring it together with cupped hands, pressing in loose bits until it is cohesive. Divide it in two, flatten each portion into a disk, wrap well and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Make the strawberry compote. Combine strawberries, sugar, corn starch and lemon juice in a small saucepan and toss to coat evenly. Place over medium heat and cook for 5-8 minutes while stirring gently quite frequently until it thickens. Once it starts to bubble, let it bubble for about 15 seconds then transfer to a clean bowl to cool completely. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Make-Ahead Tip: This can be done up to 3 days ahead. Store in a jar in the fridge.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll out the pastry. Dust a work surface lightly with flour and roll one portion of dough out into a rectangle that is 12 inches long and 8 inches wide. Use a ruler to get straight edges and pull away the excess pastry. Rotate the dough and add more flour as necessary to prevent sticking. Do the same with the other half of the dough. Transfer the first rolled dough to one of the parchment-lined trays and refrigerate it while you roll the other half to keep it chilled.
- Transfer the other rolled portion of dough to the other large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spoon the strawberry filling evenly over the surface, leaving about 1-inch border. You’ll use most of it but you may not use it all since too much filling will make it soggy. Brush the edges lightly with beaten egg. Gently lay the top crust over the filling so it fits edge-to-edge with the bottom pastry. Press along the edges to seal it and then crimp it with a fork.
- Brush the entire surface and the edges with beaten egg. Dock the surface with a fork a few times to let some steam escape. Place the tray in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is golden. Allow the pastry to cool on the pan 5 minutes, then slide it onto a wire rack to cool completely. If you’re serving the pop tart on the pan you can let it cool completely on the pan.
- Make the glaze. Combine icing sugar, strawberry juice and milk in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Start with 1 tablespoon of milk and gradually add more as necessary to make a smooth thick, opaque icing. You don’t want it to be too thin and translucent because you want it to set up rather dry like a traditional pop tart. Spread the icing evenly over the pastry and immediately top with sprinkles before it dries.
