Perfectly sweet, slightly tart mixed berries compote enclosed in a flaky whole wheat buttermilk crust with a vibrant icing made from freeze-dried berries makes for a scrumptious remake of a childhood treat that both adults and kids would love.
As we enter the early days of September and the once long, hot days of summer are replaced by the cooler, crisp days of early fall, I find myself yearning to savor these last weeks of summer. For me, one of the highlights of summer besides the warm weather is the produce, especially summer berries. Rich in flavor and vibrant in color, there is something so magical about seasonal summer berries. My top favorites are strawberries and blueberries, and truth be told, I would use any opportunity to eat as much as I can when in season. Naturally, when I spotted both berries on sale at the market, I was instantly inspired to bake a homemade version of a childhood treat I had been craving–pop-tarts.
Growing up, I remember going through phases where I would crave pop-tarts all the time and then go cold turkey for months. It has actually been years since I had my last pop-tart, so I was rather surprised when I had a sudden craving for one. My go-to pop-tart flavor was strawberry. For some reason, I never strayed from that flavor which was odd considering all the options that were available. Out of curiosity, I perused the breakfast/pastry section of my local market to see what was new in the pop-tarts’ world and was amazed by all the new additions. There are even more unique flavors now like sugar cookie and apple crisp! Although tempting, my adult taste buds have me craving a more natural version of this childhood treat.
How to Make Mixed Berry Pop-Tarts
Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pastry Crust
The idea of adding buttermilk to the pastry crust instead of the traditional cold water and vinegar combo came to me in a last-minute effort to use up some left-over buttermilk. What a fantastic idea that was because the buttermilk made for an incredibly flavorful and melt in the mouth crust. The process of making the whole wheat buttermilk crust follows the standard method of incorporating cold cubed butter either by hand (my preferred method) or with a pastry cutter into a mixture of white whole wheat and unbleached all-purpose flour, salt, and sugar. During this process, you want to take care not to overmix the butter into the flour. Instead, you want to have visible pea-sized pieces of butter in the flour. Next, cold buttermilk is mixed into butter-flour mixture 1 tbsp at a time just until the dough come together. If you were to lightly squeeze some of the dough in your hands, it should retain its shape. At this point, the pastry dough should be transferred onto a clean surface and gently patted into a rectangle. Once shaped, wrap pastry dough in plastic wrap and refrigerated for at least (1) hour.
Mixed Berries Compote
Depending on your preference, pop-tarts maybe filled with a homemade or store-brought jam or compote. I went with a homemade mixed berries compote made from 4 simple ingredients- fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice. Just simply add all of the ingredients into a non-reactive saucepan and cook under medium-high heat for about 20-30 minutes. Compote is ready when the berries have broken down and the juices released takes on a thick jam-like consistency. If using store-brought jam, try to go for an all-natural variety. It surely will make a difference in taste.
Mixed Berries Icing
To achieve a vibrant icing infused with natural berry flavor, I used freeze-dried berries. Equal amounts of powdered freeze-dried blueberries and strawberries were combined with powdered sugar and thinned out to a spreadable consistency with heavy cream. I found that using a coffee grinder to powder the freeze-dried berries worked best given the small quantity that had to be powdered. To ensure that the icing was smooth, I sifted the powdered freeze-dried berries and sugar together into a bowl before adding the heavy cream. This is an essential step since the freeze-dried berries, once powdered, has the tendency to clump up.
Helpful Tips
- If short on time, place pastry dough in the freezer for 30 minutes instead of refrigerating for an hour. This will firm up the butter faster so that pastry dough can be rolled out and shaped without readily sticking to work surface.
- An essential step not to skip is freezing the pop-tarts for at least 30 minutes before baking. This will prevent the butter from melting too fast before the pastries are properly baked. An added bonus is a flakier pastry crust!
- I used a coffee grinder to powder the freeze-dried berries given the small quantity the recipe calls for. Another great kitchen tool would be a mini or small food processor. However, if in a pinch, a great substitute for the powdered freeze-dried berries would be mixing some of the left over mixed berries compote into the icing.
- If your oven runs hot, check on the pop-tarts after the 20 minute mark to ensure that the pastries are not getting overly brown.
- Pop-tarts are best eaten the day it is prepared.
Mixed Berries Pop-Tarts
Perfectly sweet, slightly tart mixed berries compote enclosed in a flaky whole wheat buttermilk crust with a vibrant icing made from freeze-dried berries makes for a scrumptious remake of a childhood treat that both adults and kids would love.
- Prep Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
- Cook Time: 22 Minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 52 minutes
- Yield: 8 Pop-Tarts
Ingredients
Whole Wheat Pastry Dough
• 1 1/2 Cups White Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 Cup Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 2 Tablespoon Raw Cane/Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt
• 6 ounces (12 Tablespoons) Unsalted Butter, cold and cubed
• 10-12 Tablespoons Cold Buttermilk
• 4 Tablespoons Heavy Cream
Mixed Berry Compote
• 1 Pound Fresh/Frozen Strawberries, tops removed and quartered
• 1 Pint (1 3/4 Cup) Fresh/Frozen Blueberries
• 1/3-1/2 Cup Raw Cane/Granulated Sugar
• Juice 1/2 Large Lemon
Mixed Berry Glaze
• 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
• 2 Tablespoon Powdered Freeze-Dried Blueberries
• 2 Tablespoon Powdered Freeze-Dried Strawberries
• 6-8 Tablespoons Heavy Cream
• Crushed Freeze-Dried Berries, Garnish, Optional
Instructions
Mixed Berry Compote
- Into a medium non-reactive saucepan, add the berries, sugar and lemon juice. Cook under medium high heat stirring occasionally until the berries have broken down and reached a thick jam-like consistency (20-30 minutes).
- Allow compote to cool in pan before transferring to a sanitized glass container. If short on time, use your favorite store-bought jam.
Whole Wheat Pastry Dough
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, add and whisk to combine the flours, sugar, and salt. Using the tip of your fingers or a pastry cutter, incorporate butter into flour mixture until you have pea-sized pieces of butter.
- Add and mix in the cold buttermilk one tablespoon at a time just until the dough comes together.
- Transfer dough onto a clean surface and shape into a rectangle. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate pastry dough for at least one hour.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and place the heavy cream in a small bowl. Set both aside.
- Cut prepared dough in half. Place one of the halves back in the fridge and transfer the other half of dough onto a clean surface lightly dusted with flour.
- With a rolling pin, roll out pastry dough into a long rectangular shape (about 20” x 10”) and cut into eight equal rectangles.
- Spoon and lightly spread (1) tablespoon of the compote into the center of (4) of the cut pastries leaving a border around the edges.
- With a pastry brush, brush heavy cream around the edge of the pastries and cover with the remaining four pieces of cut pastries.
- Use a fork to crimp the edges and to poke holes along the top surface of the pop tarts, transfer to prepared baking sheet. Repeat process with the second half of dough. You should end up with (8) pop tarts.
- Preheat oven to 400F. Place pop tarts in the freezer for 30 minutes to allow the butter to firm back up. This will result in a flakier crust as the pop tarts bake.
- Brush the tops of pastries with the remaining heavy cream and bake for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking time.
- Transfer pop tarts to cooling rack to cool before icing.
Mixed Berry Icing
- In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the powdered freeze-dried berries and sugar. Discard any residual clumps.
- Whisk in heavy cream, one tablespoon at a time until a pourable consistency is achieved. You may not need to use all of the heavy cream; however, if you need to add more than what the recipe calls for, start by adding 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved.
Assembly
- Lightly pour glaze over cooled pop tarts and sprinkle with crushed freeze-dried berries, if desired.
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Mary Penn
These look delicious😋!!
nourished.endeavors
Thanks so much, Mary! Thanks for stopping by!