Chocolate Pop Tarts

A homemade chocolate pop tart dough is brimming with salted fudge filling and perfectly baked, then topped with the most delicious chocolate glaze. This is the best recipe for chocolate pop tarts!

Chocolate Fudge Pop Tarts

Homemade Pop Tarts are far superior to anything you are going to find inside of a silver package on the grocery store shelf. These handheld chocolate pastries are rich and decadent in all the best ways.

The chocolate pastry is tender and sweet, and hidden inside is a salted fudge filling that really makes this pop tart stand out. This is a fun (and delicious!) baking project to do over the weekend. Scroll down and I'll share all the best tips for making chocolate pop tarts!

Steps to Make Chocolate Fudge Pop Tarts

Put this in the “project” category of recipes, but not in the difficult category! To make the pop tarts you will need to:

• make and chill the dough (at least 2 hours of chill time)
• make the salted fudge filling (at least 2 hours of chill time)
• roll the dough/fill/bake the pop tarts
• frost the pop tarts

Tools needed for this recipe:

Here is a list of some of the primary tools I use in this recipe. You won't necessarily choose to use them all, but they are exactly what I used. Any links may contain affiliate links.

• food processor
• rolling pin
• ruler
• pastry wheel cutter
• pastry brush
• pastry bench scraper
• pastry bag or plastic bag with a corner cut out
• Bowls, spatula, whisk, etc

Let's Talk about the Chocolate Pastry

This dough is sweet, tender, and full of chocolate flavor. It has the consistency of shortbread and is very simple to work with.

The dough is made in a food processor. Instead of leaving large chunks of butter in the dough (like you would for pie dough), the instructions call for running the processor until the dough clumps together around the blade. This ensures the butter is worked into the dough appropriately, which will prevent the dough from rising too much in the oven.

If you don't have a food processor, the dough can be made in an electric stand mixer. To make it in a stand mixer:

1. Add the dry ingredients and mix with a paddle attachment
2. Add in the butter, and mix until the butter is broken down into small pie sized pieces
3. Add the eggs and mix until the dough forms together into one cohesive ball. Mix for 30 more seconds while the butter is worked into the dough completely.

Making the Salted Fudge Filling

This salted fudge filling is so good, and it is really what sets this pop tart apart from anything in the grocery store. It's sweet, rich, and soft when biting into the pop tart. The filling itself is quite simple to make; just heat the ingredients in a bowl over a pot of simmering water or a double boiler, if you have one on hand.

Once the chocolate is melted, whisk in some butter and transfer the fudge filling to a shallow container and let it cool briefly at room temperature, before chilling fully in the refrigerator.

The reason the fudge filling needs to be chilled is that I wanted it to be a soft consistency when you bite into the pop tart. In order to make sure the filling stays inside of the pop tart while it bakes, it needs to be chilled to start.

I also recommend piping it into the pastry dough so it's an even layer. You don't need to have a piping bag, but it's useful. If you don't have a piping bag, simply use a plastic bag with the corner snipped off, and pipe it in that way.

Rolling out the Pastry

The dough needs to be thoroughly chilled before rolling out. I always recommend making the dough the day before and letting it rest overnight, but two hours is sufficient with this dough if you don't want to wait that long. Once it’s chilled, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it soften up for 5-10 minutes.

Lightly flour your work surface and your rolling pin. You want to make sure there is enough flour that the dough doesn't stick, but not so much flour that it turns the brown dough white. If there is any excess white flour left on the dough at the end of the rolling, you can simply brush it off with a pastry brush.

Divide the dough in half, and set the other half aside. Roll out the dough to a rough rectangle with a thickness of ⅛″ thick. I recommend having a ruler on hand. Then, using either a knife or a pastry cutter, cut the dough into 4 x 3-inch rectangles. Rolling out each dough piece to a rough 10 x 13-inch rectangle should yield about 8 rectangles. Then, re-roll the scraps and roll them out one time. In total, you should be able to get about 20 rectangles.

How to Seal the Pop Tarts Well

It’s important to seal the pop tart dough well so that the filling does not leak out. There are quite a few tricks used in this recipe to make sure all that delicious filling stays inside. I recommend you follow them all for the best result!

1. Brush the bottom pastry with egg wash. This helps seal the dough together.
2. After you place the second piece of dough on top of the filling, make sure to push down on all sides of the pastry one at a time, without trapping any air inside of pop tart dough.
3. And finally, the most important step: use a pastry bench scraper to slice of the very tip of the edges. This not only cleans up the edges so the pop tarts look neat, but it also acts to truly seal the two pieces of pastry together. Using a knife doesn’t work the same, because knives are sharp and instead of mashing the two pieces of pastry together it just cuts right through them. If you don’t have a pastry bench scraper, I recommend using another tool that is dull, but not so dull that it can’t cut through the soft pastry. Even a ruler might work well!

Baking the Pop Tarts

The most important step in the baking of these pop tarts is the chilling time beforehand. Chilling the filled pastries ensures that they keep their shape well. Chill the filled pop tarts in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or ideally 1 hour, before baking. If you are truly in a rush, you can freeze them for 15 minutes.

Once they are chilled, take a sharp knife and poke holes through the top of the pastry. This lets steam escape during the bake and helps prevent the dough from rising too much and leaving a gap in between the filling and the top of the pastry.

These pop tarts taste best when they are just lightly baked. The goal is to not dry out the dough too much in the oven.

Bake until the pop tarts are fragrant (yes, when you smell the chocolate, it means they are likely done) and the tops have just started to puff up. Some might even have a few cracks in the middle. Pull them out and as soon as they're safe enough to handle, transfer the pop tarts to a cooling rack so they don't continue to bake.

Easy Chocolate Glaze

The frosting on top is not to be forgotten! It’s simple to make and consists of powdered sugar, cocoa, a bit of milk, and a pinch of espresso powder. The espresso powder can be omitted, but it helps boost the chocolate flavor.

The glaze should be thick so it stays on top of the pop tart. You’ll know you have the right consistency if when you drizzle the glaze, it keeps its shape for a few seconds when hitting the bowl.

If your glaze is too thin, simply add in a tablespoon more powdered sugar at a time. If it’s too thick, add in more milk.

Once the pop tarts are cool, spoon on about 1 tablespoon of glaze and gently smooth it down along the top of the pop tart. Let the glaze set for a minute, and then add any sprinkles if desired.

Storing Chocolate Pop Tarts

Chocolate pop tarts will keep well up to 3 days at room temperature in a closed container. Just make sure that the glaze is completely set before you place them on top of one another.

Un-frosted pop tarts can even be frozen, baked or unbaked, for up to 1 month in the freezer. Defrost at room temperature.

More Pop Tart Recipes:

• Homemade Brown Sugar Pop Tarts
• Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts

More Chocolate Recipes:

• Chocolate Cream Pie
• Malted Milk Chocolate Pie
• Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pie
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

I am so honored when you make a recipe from my site! If you make these Chocolate Fudge Pop Tarts, please leave a comment and a star rating with your experience! If you have any questions about this recipe, feel free to comment here, too!

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