Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts

As promised in my Strawberry Pop Tart post, I am bringing you Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts today!  These homemade beauties are my favorite flavor of Pop Tarts and are equally if not more delicious than the real thing!

Let’s explore cinnamon.  You can buy it ground up or even as a cinnamon stick.  So where is it from?  Cinnamon is the inner layer of bark from a variety of trees grown in Indonesia and Sir Lanka.  There are two types of cinnamon: Ceylon and Cassia.  In the United States, Cassia cinnamon is the type we’re familiar with.  It’s spicy and strong.  Cassia cinnamon is from the Cassia tree.  Ceylon, the other variety, is more popular in England.  It has a milder and sweeter flavor.

Cinnamon has been used in ancient medicine and baking since around 2000 BC!  It’s harvested by removing the outer bark from the tree, then the inner bark is shaved off.  The inner bark is dried for over a week and it will curl up into a cinnamon stick!

*You can check out my strawberry pop tarts here

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts

The Pastry

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 11 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 2-4 tablespoons water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl (or food processor) combined flour, sugar and salt.
3. Add in cubed butter and mix until butter is pea sized.
4. Add the egg and 2 tablespoons water, add more water if dough is too dry.
5. Divide dough in half, shape into discs and place in fridge while you make the filling.

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Filling

• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Cinnamon Icing

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk (or water)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. In a small bowl combine all ingredients. 
2. Take one disc of dough out of the fridge.  Flour counter top and roll crust out until 1/8 inch thick.  Trim edges to form a large square (or rectangle) shape.
3. Cut diagonally every 3 inches and horizontally every 5 inches.  
4. Place rectangles on sheet trays, re-roll used dough.
5. On half of the rectangles, egg wash the entire strip of dough.
6. Place a heaping tablespoonful of brown sugar cinnamon filling in the center of each egg washed rectangle and spread out, leaving a 1/4 inch margin along all edges of the dough.                                               
7. Gently place a piece of dough without egg wash on top.  Press lightly along the edge, press down with a fork to seal it.  
8. Egg wash the entire assembled pop tart, poke some holes with a fork to allow steam to escape while baking.
9. Bake pop tarts for 15 minutes, rotate and continue to bake 10-15 more minutes.  They’re done when they start to brown.
10. While pop tarts are baking, make the cinnamon icing!
11. In a small bowl combine powdered sugar, vanilla, milk and cinnamon.  Whisk until fully combined, it should be a thicker icing.
12. Once pop tarts are cool, spoon some cinnamon icing on top and spread out along top of pop tart.

There you have it, the classic brown sugar cinnamon pop tart!