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Channeling the inner child in us all with these (better than store-bought) Homemade Chocolate Fudge Pop Tarts. Easy homemade chocolate fudge sauce stuffed between two layers of chocolate sugar cookie dough, baked until toasted, and finished with a sweet milk chocolate frosting. These chocolate pop tarts are flaky, fudgy, and heavy on the chocolate. Finish each mini tart with a sprinkle of coarse sugar or pretzel salt for that classic “pop tart” look. Every bite is roll your eyes back delicious!
You guys, today is a special, special day. We have homemade chocolate fudge pop tarts to talk about!
And best of all? They take us back to the carefree days of being a kid, and that’s something we should all embrace right now. Less stress, more baking, and plenty of chocolate. Yess!
But really, what was your favorite pop tart flavor growing up? I only ever ate the chocolate fudge pop tarts and left anything berry-filled in the dust. It was always chocolate for me. What about you guys? Dying to know!
Funny enough these pop tarts are a very, very old HBH recipe that I pulled back into my kitchen and perfected. With everyone home right now baking up a storm, I figured these would be a fun weekend project with a beyond delicious outcome. Soo…these homemade chocolate fudge pop tarts are here to keep us entertained and well sugared-up this weekend.
I am excited!
(chocolate dough before adding the fudge sauce)
Now, onto the process…
Because I have many words to share about these pop tarts.
Start with the chocolate fudge sauce. This is a simple mix of cocoa powder, sugar, milk, and chocolate chips. It’s melted together on the stove until it just begins to bubble up and thicken. Once the sauce starts to thicken, remove it from the heat and add a touch of butter for richness, and a splash of vanilla for the best flavor.
Simple, but so darn good. This sauce is rich, creamy, and perfectly sweet.
The key is to let the sauce firm up before you begin assembling the pop tarts. It’s should be thick and spreadable.
While the sauce chills, make the chocolate sugar cookie dough. If you can make cookies and roll them out, you can make this crust. It’s just flour, cocoa powder, sugar, plenty of salted butter, and ice-cold water. I like using the food processor to easily mix the dough, but you can simply use your hands as well.
Once the chocolate fudge sauce is chilled, roll the cookie dough out and cut into rectangles. Spread a bit of the fudge sauce over half of the rectangles, leaving a small border around the edge of the dough. Now, the next step is important. Brush the borders of the rectangles with the egg, then add the top piece of dough to enclose the filling. Using the tines of a fork, crimp the edges around the tarts to seal all that fudge inside.
Again, using the beaten egg is really important. It ensures that all of the chocolate fudge sauce stays inside of the pop tarts while they bake. For my first test round I skipped the egg and all of the sauce leaked out of the tarts. It was not good.
Bake the pop tarts up and twenty minutes later you’ll have homemade chocolate fudge pop tarts!
But, they need frosting…
Yes, they do need frosting….well they actually don’t NEED the frosting. They would still be good without. But in my opinion, the frosting is key. It’s what takes them to GREAT!
Plus, as I mentioned, I wanted these to be as close to the original version as possible.
The frosting is just a mix of powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and melted milk chocolate. Simple ingredients that when combined together are so very delicious.
Now, if you wanted a shiny, glossy finish to your pop tarts, use a couple of tablespoons of either meringue powder or add one egg white into the frosting. Using meringue powder will give your frosting shine. It helps it to nicely set up and dry so that the frosting doesn’t smudge when touched. This is completely optional and honestly, I don’t often take the extra effort. But I did want to make the note to you all that this is certainly an option. It will give your pop tarts a more authentic pop tart look.
Once you’ve mixed the frosting, and the pop tarts have cooled, simply frost each tart. Let the frosting stiffen a few minutes, then sprinkle with either Swedish pearl sugar or a coarse salt. I like to use pretzel salt. It’s delish and adds a salty crunch with every bite.
Let the pop tarts harden…or enjoy them right away…so delish!
So the real questions you’re all wondering?
Can you toast these? Honestly, no I would not recommend it. Well, if you leave the frosting off of the pop tarts, then yes, you can easily toast these in the toaster. But if you frost the pop tarts, I wouldn’t toast them.
Do these taste just like real, store-bought pop tarts? Actually, they do…but they’re also better. Better because they have real ingredients and real chocolate flavors. And if you’re like me, add that sprinkle of sea salt for a touch of saltiness too.
Trust me here. These are GOOD, so much better than the stuff from the store that comes in a box.
So with that, let’s all agree that this weekend’s quarantine project should be pop tart baking and eating.
What do you say? Personally, I think this is a great idea. Who’s in?
Nothing not to love about these sweet, flaky, and extra fudgy chocolate pop tarts. Please do make and ENJOY. Excited to see all the pop tarts being made this weekend on Instagram. Can’t wait.
PS. I’ve never had a brown sugar pop tart, but I’m thinking they need to be my next “better than store-bought” recipe. Thoughts?
PSS. Looking for a few other homemade pop tart ideas? Try these…
Homemade Strawberry White chocolate Pop Tarts
Brown Sugar Peach Puff Pastry Pop Tarts
Giant Strawberries n’ Cream Pop Tart
Lastly, if you make these homemade chocolate fudge pop tarts, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Homemade Chocolate Fudge Poptarts
Servings: 16 pop tarts
Calories Per Serving: 417 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
Chocolate Fuge Filling
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2/3 cup whole milk or heavy cream
- 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, cubed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Dough
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 sticks (1 cup) cold salted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 egg, beaten, for brushing
Frosting
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 ounces dark or milk chocolate, melted
- coarse salt or sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
- 1. To make the chocolate fudge filling. In a small saucepan, stir together the cocoa powder, milk, and 3/4 cup chocolate chips. Set over medium heat and cook, stirring, for 5-8 minutes, until the chocolate is melted and the sauce has thickened slightly. Remove from heat, stir in the remaining 3/4 cup chocolate chips, the butter, and vanilla until smooth. Transfer to the fridge to cool and thicken, at least 30 minutes.2. Meanwhile, make the dough. In a food processor, combine the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and butter. Pulse until the mix clumps together to forms pea-size balls. Add 1/2 cup cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together and forms a ball. If the dough feels dry, add 1-2 tablespoons additional water. 3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Roll out into a 1/8-inch thickness. Cut the dough into rectangles, about 4 x 3 inches. Place a tablespoon of the chilled chocolate fudge on one half of the rectangles, leaving a 1/4 inch border. Brush the edges with the beaten egg. Lay the other half of the dough over the filling and seal the edges by crimping with the back of a fork. Repeat until you've used all the dough, you will have leftover fudge. 4. Place the pop tarts on parchment-lined baking sheets. Cover the baking sheets and place in the fridge for 1 hour or the freezer for 20 minutes. 5. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake the pop tarts for 15-20 minutes. The pop tarts will still leak a little. Cool completely before frosting. 6. Meanwhile, make the frosting. In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons water until smooth. Stir in the melted chocolate. If your frosting is too thick, thin with 1-2 tablespoons additional water. 7. Spoon a thin layer of the frosting on top of the cooled pop-tarts. Allow frosting to harden 10 minutes. Sprinkle with coarse sugar or salt. Place on a baking sheet and allow the pop tarts to harden, uncovered, about 2 hours. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Notes
Crimping and Sealing the Pop Tarts: It's import to really seal the tarts well or your filling will leak out while baking. Using the beaten egg helps to seal the fudge inside.
For a Shinny, Glossy Frosting: Use 2 tablespoons meringue powder. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, whisk together the powdered sugar, meringue powder, cocoa powder, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons water for 7-10 minutes on medium speed, until smooth soft peaks form. Stir in the melted chocolate. If your frosting seems too thick, thin with 1-2 tablespoons additional water.
If you don't have a Food Processor: You can use use you fingers to mix the butter with the flour until the butter is pea sized. Slowly drizzle in the cold water as directed.
Swedish Pearl Sugar: can be purchased here.
Pretzel Salt: can be purchased here.
This post was originally published on April 17, 2020
I’ve been looking for a good homemade poptart recipe before and these look delicious! Might have to give them a go this weekend! 🙂
Thank You! Hope you love them!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I love it. You can see how mine turned out here Vegetarian Chocolate Pop Tarts! | lentil bear evans
https://lentilbearevans.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/vegetarian-chocolate-pop-tarts/ I’ve put the recipe into grams for any British pop tart lovers out there! Xx
I tried these, and they were so yummy! The recipe worked out really well, but the dough was just a little bit dry. Anyways, I just love the fact that somehow you find a way to reply to just about every comment on here. Thanks!
Hehe! SO happy you loved these!! THANKS!!
Try adding a little more or water to the dough next time to help with the dryness. 🙂
Can’t seem to find maringue power where I live (Thailand). Any substitution?
Thx
HI! You can just leave the it out. The frosting with not be as glossy as in the photos, but it will still be great!
Thank u 🙂
These look amazing!! Could you tell me what kind of sugar you’ve used on top of the pastries? Thanks in advance!!
I use sweadish pearl sugar. Here is the link.
Hi, these look great and I can’t wait to make them but I’m having some trouble with the measurements as I’m from England and we generally work in grams and ounces. Would be great if someone could help me, I’m absolutely dying to make these!
This is in reply to Amee (I can’t seem
to reply to you directly):
I’m in Germany and weighed all the ingredients when I made the poptarts. Pastry and filling came out perfectly. I used a different icing, so I can’t give you any measurements for that, but here are the amounts in grams for pastry and filling:
Pastry: 420 g flour, 14 g cocoa, 12 g sugar, 170g butter, 120 ml water. I used a teaspoonfor the salt, because it’s such a small amount.
Filling: 30 g cocoa, 72 g brown sugar, 160 ml milk or cream, 168 g chocolate (I used Callebaut 35%), 28 g butter. Again, salt and vanilla were measured with a spoon.
Hope that helps!
And Tieghan, thank you so much for this recipe. I love it!
Wow, thanks Julia!! That is very helpful!
🙂
Thank you so much for those conversions that’s jolly good!!
I just finished making these and they were awesome. The filling is great by itself. I sat and licked the bowl clean while they were baking. I didn’t make the icing for the top though because I had a lot of filling left over. I accidentally rolled the dough a bit too thick but I poured the leftover filling over the top and they were fine. I didn’t have any problems with the dough at all. I saw others commented their dough was dry but mine was great. I put all the ingredients in the food processor and the dough mixed up in a few minutes. I added water tsp by tsp instead of just adding 1/2 cup like the recipe. I might have put more than 1/2 cup in it. I recommend for others just add ice water 1 tsp at a time until it is moist enough it doesn’t crack. These poptarts were really tasty and I’ll definitely make these again. Once they cooled I put half of them in some freezer bags in packs of 2 and froze them. I don’t know how they’ll be after being frozen but I’m hoping they’ll be fine. They’ll be a nice chocolate fix for a rainy day.
Hey Alice!!
So happy you are loving these! Thanks for reporting back and your tips! Hope you are having a great weekend! 🙂
Wow! I recently started buying poptarts since my local supermarket stocked up on American goods, and my favourite are the chocolate fudge ones. Thank you for coming up with this recipe, I can actually make poptarts at home 😀
Could you substitute almond or cashew milk for the cow’s milk?
Hmm, I am not sure since I have not personally tried it, but I think it would work. Let me know how it goes. Hope you love them!!
How long do you think these can be stored? Do you think they can be frozen? I am taking dyes out of my sons diet and these would be great as he loves poptarts and I am always buying the organic ones which are not cheap
can i substitute meringue powder with something else??
HI! Try using 1 egg white. Will that work for you!?
This post is total food-porn, those pictures – wow!! I’m imagining how good your kitchen smelled when you made them. yum yum yum yum yum
Haha! THANK YOU!
I was really excited to try making these, but the dough just hated me!! I started out making it and it was just so dry it was pretty much just lumpy powder even with the water, so I added more, but it was then really lumpy and felt like chewing gum. :/ So I tried again and that one was also really dry, so I added more water, not as much as the first try, but this was still too dry and barely stuck together, but I went with it anyways. The fudge was AMAZING and I did not want to bother with the icing because I couldn’t deal with any more mess ups today, so I dipped them in the extra fudge, there was like half of it left!! The pop tart was doughy and had no flavour, just tasted like flour, not like chocolate. 🙁 Maybe I just have bad luck but this recipie was a disaster for me. D: Any ideas on how to make them better? I probably won’t try this one again, but if anyone else runs into these problems I’m sure they would like some help! >.< I ended up just putting the extra fudge in vanilla ice cream and made milk shakes. :3
Hey Marta,
I am so sorry you had such problems with the dough. Dough can be really tricky, especially if you live in a dry climate. I love in CO, so it is very dry. I am surprised your dough was too dry, are you sure you mixed the butter into the dough properly? Also, the dough can be a little dry, but it should roll out into sheet for you. It is really hard to tell what might be the problem without being right there with you. Again, so sorry. Glad you liked the filling though! 🙂
I was totally stoked take these, however it was a huge fuss and not fun 🙁 while making the dough, I added tablespoon by tablespoon of water being cautious but it turned out I needed a whole cup of water which seems like too much but it seemed to need every last drop. I actually tried two doughs repeating the process except sticking to only half a cup of water like said directions. It was the same flop as the first attempt, so I stuck with the first ball of dough. Anyway, the texture of it seemed funky and not right, grainy kind of, and while rolling out it was not at all like rolling out pie crusts. But maybe I’m just being ignorant here. It was not rolling out well at all for me. Anyway by the time they came out of the oven I decided not to frost them because of the hardships they were giving me. So I tried one- not like I wad hoping 🙁 the crust wasn’t very chocolaty and fun, it was like a bland bread. I’m sorry, I totally feel like a failure, and wish so bad mine turned out like yours because yours look amazing and obviously inspirational. With the way yours look I was expecting them to taste like bigger better classier poptarts. But they were more of like a sad unfantastic dried out bread, which is confusing because of how much butter and chocolate it takes. I might have to wait 7 months too before I powerhouse this recipe again :’-(
Seriously, what kind of soucery is this???
This most be the best recipe ever!!!!
I promise I gonna try but I’m not a cuisine godess like you so I’m not going to expect THE heaven just this time, maybe the next time but I’ll definitely try…
Thank you for make my day for let me know this is possible, and for share this amazing recipe.
See you.
Thank you!! Hope you love these!
OMG I am SO SO SO excited by this ! Definitely trying !
Thanks Leslie! Hope you love these!