one big apple cider pop tart

homemade apple butter + cinnamon streusel

I was strolling around the grocery store the other week, as I do. And one wrong turn led me down the pop tart aisle. But this wasn’t the pop tart aisle I remember walking with my mom when I was younger, always trying to sneak a box of the s’more into our cart. Obviously it never worked.

But at the time, it wasn’t even “the pop tart aisle” rather than a little section of the cereal aisle, humbly sandwiched between granola bars.

side bar: throwback to us being gaslit into thinking nutella on toast was a nutritious breakfast because it has nuts in it lmao???

So as I walked down this aisle the other week, I felt like the entire stock was overrun with pop tarts. I looked up at the aisle sign and it was literally ON the sign as it’s own category. While flour is getting thrown into the general category of “baking needs”, pop tart is letting everyone know who mf owns this aisle. They’ve gone off the rails with flavors. They’re getting real freaky with it making cereals and mini bites too!!!!

But somehow amongst ALLL the flavors - not an apple strudel or apple adjacent flavor alike. And i’m not talking applejacks flavor because what the actual f was apple jacks anyway (low key kinda good ngl but literally not apple so why are we playing)

So I set out to make my own pop tart flavor with a cinnamon streusel topping, vanilla glaze, and homemade apple butter. I’ve never been too fond of the chalky flavorless base of the actual pop tart - I mean most times I would just break off the sides and eat the center anyway. So it also got an upgrade to a flakier, buttery crust.

apple butter:

yields around 1.75 cups

• 2.5 lbs apples (soft varieties welcome

  : cortland, fuji, liberty, mcIntosh. would avoid granny smith its too tart imo)

• 1 cup apple cider

• 2 cloves

• 1 cinnamon stick 

• 3/4 cup brown sugar, divided

• 1/4 cup granulated

• 1 tsp cinnamon 

• a dash of nutmeg

• pinch of salt

1. for the apples: core and peel them, then roughly dice and place in a medium saucepan. add the cider, cloves, cinnamon stick, 1/4 cup of brown sugar and all the granulated sugar. bring to a simmer, then cover and cook on low to medium heat until the apples are very soft. this time will depend based on how small you cut the apples to start with, but about 40-50 minutes.

2. remove the clove and cinnamon stick. either mash the mixture until pureed or to get a very smooth mix, use an immersion blender.

3. add the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, ground cinnamon, salt and dash of nutmeg. mix, and place back on low heat for about an hour, stirring occasionally to ensure no burning, until the apple butter is a nice deep color and thickened. transfer to a container, allow to come to room temperature and store in the fridge. before using in the in recipe, ensure its either chilled or room temp otherwise it will melt your crust on the bottom side.

cinnamon glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 5 tsp milk, more as needed

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. add everything in a small bowl and whisk until very smooth. add a tsp more milk if needed to loosen your glaze but be careful not to make it too runny.

streusel topping:

tbh if you wanna just crumble an apple cider donut on top and call it a day i wont even be mad at you

• 1/2 cup flour 

• 3 tbsp butter, melted and slightly cooled

• 1/4 cup brown sayer 

• 1 tbsp cinnamon 

• pinch of salt 

1. combine dry ingredients together in a small bowl, then pour in the butter and mix until little clusters form. you can encourage them by squeezing the mix together so they hold together.

2. spread onto a parchment, trying to keep them close together lined baking sheet and bake in a 325 F oven for about 12-15 minutes, shaking the pan to cook all sides evenly once halfway. keep an eye out as the smaller pieces tend to burn first. remove from the oven just when it begins to take on a bit of color and set aside to cool.

pie crust:

you could use puff pastry but it will give off more toaster strudel energy, I certainly do not mind that but for the sake of doing the most, I made my own pie crust.

recipe from nyt here but copied below for your convenience. I doubled the original recipe since you need 2 crusts, below are the already doubled measurements:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (300 grams)

• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

• 20 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes (use a high-fat, European-style unsalted butter for best results - I use kerrygold)

• 4 to 8 tablespoons ice water, as needed

1. In a food processor, pulse together the flour and salt. Add butter and pulse until the mixture forms lima bean-size pieces. Slowly add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until the dough just comes together. It should be moist, but not wet. **I don’t have the room for a full ass food processor so I did this by hand and just used my fingers to break the butter pieces up.

2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gather into a ball. Flatten into a rectangular disk with the heel of your hand. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.

pop tart assembly:

1. remove the pie crust from the fridge and cut the disk in half. one half will be your top and the other will be your bottom. work with one half at a time, keeping the other refrigerate and covered in the meantime.

2. lightly flour your surface and roll the dough half into a 9 x 13 rectangle. its okay if the edges aren’t perfect. using a ruler, or by eye, trim the edges to get a perfect rectangle.

3. transfer the rectangle onto a parchment lined baking sheet, cover with the plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill while you roll the next disk out into another 9 x 13 rectangle.

4. remove the baking tray from the fridge. spread about 1- 1 1/4 cup of your apple butter onto the pie crust, leaving about a 1 inch border around all sides. it should be a nice thick layer!

5. gently place your second rectangle on top of the bottom rectangle, lining up the edges of both crusts together. using a fork, press the sides down so they crimp together. take your time here to really work your fork to the bottom of the second layer to prevent leakage.

6. place the entire pop tart in the fridge covered for about 20-30 minutes to firm everything up. in the meantime, preheat the oven to 375 F. remove pop tart from the fridge, brush with a beaten egg and prick 5-7 holes in the top with a fork to allow ventilation. bake until nice and very golden brown, about 20-30 minutes. keep an eye on it to make sure nothing is leaking out and burning.

7. once browned, remove from the oven and let fully cool. pour the glaze on top, spreading across the surface. sprinkle with some of the streusel and a touch of flaky salt because everything needs some flaky salt.

8. cut into 10 rectangles and enjooooooy with your cup of coffee! tbh this totally passes as a breakfast item - it’s fresh apples after all!!!!!

i hope you try it + tag me if you try anything!!!!

xoxo, katie

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