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M I N I B L U E B E R R Y P O P -TA R T C E R E A L [ V E G A N , G F ]
March 16, 2017 / by Anna Yang / Leave a Comment

I ( not so) fondly recall the sound of the morning alarm from my high school days.

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 My sleepy-eyed self hits the snooze button just to doze back to sleep and revisit the Sandman. By the time
the alarm sounds again, I’m only minutes away from catching the school bus. I get dressed, brush my
teeth, and bolt out the door. Missing from the routine? Breakfast. But, not to worry. On the morning bus ride to
school, I would reach into my schoolbag to find my handy-dandy package of Pop-Tarts (thanks for packing it
the night before, mom). This portable, thin pastry surrounds a sweetened jelly, wrapped in space age foil to
preserve freshness. No need to refrigerate. Ready to eat or quickly heated in a toaster. A marvel of food
ingenuity.

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 Okay, I promise I’m not completely nutritional-
challenged. I know that the popular toaster
pastry isn’t exactly packed with vitamins and
nutrients. But remember, I was a high school
kid. I was poor, young, and naive. And I most
definitely preferred to grab a few more minutes
of sleep than to get up and prepare a bowl of
healthy rolled oats before heading off to catch
the bus. On top of that, I just assumed when
something said “Made with real fruit!”, it was
actually nutritious for you. The Pop-Tart boxes
even had nice pictures of fresh strawberries or
blueberries, and it just looked so darn
wholesome. And come on. Sometimes, eating a
less than ideal breakfast is better than no
breakfast, right?

But little did I know that a person is

actually better off skipping breakfast
altogether than downing a sugar-loaded Pop-
Tart as you dash out the door. Apparently, the
only thing worse than skipping breakfast is
eating the wrong breakfast.

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 Now, I can summarize my advice to anyone who eats Pop-Tarts, whether as a snack or to replace a meal:
Read the label. Pop-Tarts: Sugar. Fats. Preservatives. Artificial fillings. Loaded with them too. One pastry
contains 210 calories, 5g fat, (hydrogenated cottonseed oil ), 2g protein, less than 1g fiber, 20g sugar, along
with high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors and they are void of antioxidants. In addition, they
have very little nutritional value, and will raise hunger mid-morning. All sounds like bad news to me.

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 But, what if we can healthify this childhood treat? Homemade toaster pastries aren’t exactly fast or
convenient or even cheap, but they are absolutely delicious (and nutritious when you use the right
ingredients). So put down the boxed stuff and preheat your oven, because here’s a homemade Pop-Tart
recipe that’ll start your morning off right. An organic pie crust? An all-natural jam filling? Bite-sized? Let me
explain.

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 I came across a mini Pop-Tart cereal recipe at The Spoon University. It was pretty ingenious to see them
transform this into a bite-sized snack, let alone a breakfast cereal. Yet, this was still far from nutritious and in
my opinion, not so much different than buying the original kind at the grocery store in regards to nutritional
value. So I decided to healthify this recipe with an organic pie crust and an all-natural jam filling!

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 To make this process as simple as possible for you guys (let’s be real – making a pastry from scratch is too
much for our busy mornings), I used a premade rolled pie crust from Wholly Wholesome , which is made with
certified organic wheat flour, org. palm oil, org. cane syrup, org. cane sugar, and org. rice flour ( perfect for our
vegan friends). They also offer a gluten-free pie shell, which can easily be scraped and pressed into rolled
dough for using. I haven’t tried that yet, but let me know if you try and how it turns out! The filling is a
homemade blueberry and chia jam, which uses blueberries, chia seeds, and all-natural maple syrup as the
sweetener. If you’re not a fan of blueberries (aw shame on you), then you are free to use any kind of berry!
The chia seeds thicken the jam so perfectly and the blueberries add a tasty burst of nutrition in every bite. I
love how the sweetness from the maple syrup doesn’t overpower the jam (the white sugar from most brand-
name jams are way overwhelming to the taste buds). The best part is, you can enjoy this magical spread on
top of toast, pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, yogurt, you-name-it. Today, Pop-Tarts sound good.

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 Now if the bane of your breakfast routine is choosing whether to eat cereal or Pop-Tarts in the morning, I’ve
got a sweet solution for you. Let’s just say it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between humanity
and breakfast pastries: mini Pop-Tart CEREAL. I used almond milk to drown the mini pastries, but any kind of
milk will do. Just be sure to watch the colors from the sprinkles bleed into your healthy mess.

So, cerealously. Tell me again what you’re having for breakfast tomorrow?

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 Mini Blueberry Pop-Tart Cereal [Gluten-Free &
Vegan]
Servings 6 -7 dozen mini Pop-Tarts

Ingredients
For the Blueberry and Chia Jam Filling:
2 cups fresh blueberries or your favorite kind of berry
Print
3 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp chia seeds
For the Mini Pop-Tarts and Glaze:
W holly W holesome's Traditional Rolled Pie Crust or any rolled pie crust*
2 tsp almond milk for dabbing
1 cup powdered sugar
nonpareils
4-5 tsp almond milk for the glaze
For Assembly:
almond milk or your favorite kind of milk

Instructions

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 Blueberry and Chia Jam Filling:
1. In a medium-sized pan, bring the blueberries and maple syrup to a low boil ( just until simmering). Reduce
heat to low and let it simmer for 4-5 minutes.

2. Stir in the chia seeds and cook down the mixture until it thickens to your desired consistency. Stir frequently!

3. Once cooled, spoon the jam into a small ziploc bar or pastry bag.
Mini Pop-Tarts:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. T haw the package according to directions. Unroll the pie crust.

3. Cut the dough into little rectangles (I used a ruler to measure out 1.5" x 2").

4. Create a spine across the middle of each rectangle.

5. Dab milk across the edges and middle of each rectangle.

6. Squeeze a little jam onto one side of each rectangle.

7. Fold each piece of dough over and seal the edges lightly.

8. Crimp each edge with a fork and place each pastry onto a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

9. Bake for 13-15 minutes.

Glaze:
1. Sift the powdered sugar. Slowly add 1/2 tsp of milk at a time to the sugar. You want it to be thick, but
spreadable.

2. Once the pop-tarts have completely cooled, spread the icing onto each and sprinkle with nonpareils. Let it
dry for 15-20 minutes or until hard.

3. Enjoy the Pop-Tarts in milk!

Recipe Notes
* This is the vegan kind. If you are looking for the gluten-free version, try W holly W holesome's Gluten-Free Pie
Crust, which can be turned into a rolled dough.

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Filed Under: Breakfast, Dairy-free, Gluten-free, Grain-free, Pastries, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian
Tagged W ith: blueberry, breakfast, cereal, dessert, jam, poptarts, recipes, vegan

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Hi! I'm Anna. Welcome to The Baking Spoon - a

place where I share a spoonful of my sweet joys
in life. I believe in taking a minimalist approach
to food and celebrating simplicity in desserts. To
learn more about me, click here!

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 ABOUT ANNA MOST POPULAR

This is the food SOFT MINI M ATC H A

& B LU E B E RWA
RY FFLE
diary of a
C H E W Y P O P- ICE
simple spoon. F U N F ET TTA
I RT CREAM
You'll find easy, CA K E CEREAL SANDWICHES
B AT T E R [ V E G A N ,
shareable recipes that focus C O O K I E SG F ]
mainly on gluten-free and FROM
S C R ATC H [ VEGAN,
vegan baking. I believe in GF]
simplifying your food,
simplifying your life and feeling
more alive.

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