Our Persian Pop-Tarts put a Middle Eastern twist on the classic breakfast staple from our childhood! We fill sheets of puff pastry with Persian sour cherry preserves brushed with with a luxurious saffron butter and topped with coarse turbinado sugar. Plus, they are vegan friendly!
These had pies may be elegant, but they are ridiculously easy to make. You just need five simple ingredients and 20 minutes.
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🍒 WHAT ARE POP-TARTS?
Pop-Tarts are a brand of toaster pastry found in nearly every grocery store in the United States. They consist of a sweet filling sealed inside two layers of pastry crust. Many come frosted. They are shelf-stable and sold pre-cooked—though you are encouraged to toast them. You can’t have the pop in Pop-Tart with having them pop out of the toaster. Classic flavors include strawberry, blueberry and cinnamon brown sugar.
Pop-Tarts were a staple of our youth—though neither of us were really that crazy about them. They tend to run on the sweet side and the crust is usually pretty bland. When we set out to create our own pop-tart, we knew we could improve on the original recipe.
We upgraded the flavorless pastry by brushing it with saffron butter. We nixed the overly sweet filling, swapping it out with Persian sour cherry preserves. Then, we cut out designs on the top layer of puff-pastry to reveal a glimpse of the gooey filling. We topped the saffron-butter coated pastry with coarse turbinado sugar and threw them in the oven to bake. A few minutes later, we had a delicious snack without all the highly processed additives.
📝 INGREDIENTS
- Puff pastry: The pastry for our pop-tarts. It’s easy to use, flaky, delicious, and naturally vegan.
- Sour cherry preserves: A very traditional Persian preserve used as the filling.
- Saffron: An expensive spice common to Persian cuisine. It is derived from the stigmas of a flower called crocus sativus. Saffron infuses the butter topping with its distinctive earthy, floral flavor and colors the pop-tart with a beautiful reddish-yellow color.
- Vegan butter: The base of our topping, which helps the pop-tarts get a nice golden-brown color and makes the turbinado sugar adhere to the pop-tarts.
- Turbinado sugar: When sprinkled over the saffron butter, the large granules add a nice texture to the pop-tart.
🔪 STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS
- Prep the puff pastry: Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut puff pastry into six equal pieces with a pizza cutter.
2. Prep pop-tart tops: Cut small shapes into 1 piece of puff pastry with cookie cutters.
3. Prep pop-tart bottoms: Top 1 piece of puff pastry with sour cherry jam.
4. Assemble pop-tart: Top with puff pastry sheet with cookie cutter holes. Press a fork around the perimeter of the pop-tart to seal the two sheets together.
5. Make saffron butter: In a small bowl mix together the melted butter with liquid saffron.
6. Finish the pop-tarts: Brush the top of the pop-tart with the butter mixture. Then sprinkle sugar over the top. Place pop-tart on a lined baking sheet. Repeat steps 2-5 with remaining puff pastry pieces. Bake 10 minutes or until golden brown.
❤️ WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE
- Sweet and sour
- Crispy
- Easy to make
- Elegant
💡RECIPE TIPS
- Don’t forget to thaw the puff pastry by moving it from the freezer to the fridge the night before making the pop tarts. Believe us, we’ve made this mistake several times.
- If you can’t find sour cherry preserves, you can just use regular cherry preserves.
💕 MORE VEGAN SWEET TREATS YOU’LL LOVE
DID YOU MAKE OUR PERSIAN POP-TARTS?
Did you make this recipe? We’d love to hear about it! Please comment and leave a 5-star🌟 rating below. Share your dish with us on Instagram and tag us @plantbased.passport. We would love to seeing your delicious creations! Still hungry? Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Pinterest for more global vegan recipes and travel tips!🍴✈️
👩🏽🍳 RECIPE
PERSIAN POP-TARTS
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 1 sheet of puff pastry
- ½ cup sour cherry jam
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter melted
- 1 teaspoon liquid saffron or substitute ⅛ teaspoon ground saffron bloomed in 1 teaspoon hot water
- 2 teaspoon organic turbinado sugar
Instructions
- Prep the puff pastry: Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut puff pastry into six equal pieces with a pizza cutter or sharp knife.
- Prep pop-tarts tops: Cut smalls shapes into 1 piece of puff pastry with cookie cutters.
- Prep pop-tart bottoms: Top 1 piece of puff pastry with sour cherry jam.
- Assemble pop-tarts: Top with puff pastry sheet with cookie cutter holes. Press a fork around the perimeter of the Pop Tart to seal the two sheets together.
- Make saffron butter: In a small bowl mix together the melted butter with liquid saffron.
- Finish pop-tarts: Brush the top of the pop-tart with the butter mixture. Then sprinkle sugar over the top. Place pop-tart on a lined baking sheet. Repeat steps 2-5 with remaining puff pastry pieces. Bake 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Notes
- Don’t forget to thaw the puff pastry by moving it from the freezer to the fridge the night before making the pop-tarts. Believe us, we’ve forgotten this step many times!
- If you can’t find sour cherry preserves, you can just use regular cherry preserves.
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