A plate of homemade Pop-Tarts belongs next to your Christmas morning coffee. You can go with brown sugar cinnamon, choose a strawberry-filled Christmas tree, or spend a holiday afternoon adding tiny icing smiles to gingerbread people. The decorating is part of the appeal. So is picking which filling gets the first spot on the plate.
These seven holiday Pop-Tart recipes include pastry made from scratch, store-bought crust options, and puff pastry cut into trees. You'll find a few longer baking projects alongside recipes that start with ready-made dough. Choose the one that fits the time you want to spend in the kitchen.
Each pick links to its creator's full recipe. Start there for the ingredients, method, and storage notes. Here, you can compare the fillings and choose your holiday bake.
Choose your holiday Pop-Tart recipe
For a classic pastry, start with brown sugar cinnamon. For a decorating afternoon, choose the gingerbread people or strawberry Christmas trees. Cranberry orange gives you a fruit filling with ginger icing, while chocolate fudge brings cocoa to all three parts of the pastry. Apple butter and pumpkin keep the fall flavors on the holiday table.
Your dough choice helps narrow the list, too. Sally McKenney's cinnamon and chocolate versions are baking projects with dough that needs time to chill. The gingerbread and pumpkin recipes start with premade pie crust. The Christmas trees use puff pastry, so they have a different shape and a puffier finish.
Check the full timing before you plan breakfast around a batch. Chilling, cooling, and letting the icing set can take longer than the oven time. If you want to bake with a friend, you can each pick a job from the original recipe, then save the decorating for when you're both ready.
You don't need to make all seven for one morning. A cinnamon batch and a tray of strawberry trees already give you two different fillings and a plate with plenty to look at.
Brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts from Sally's Baking
Sally McKenney's brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts pair an all-butter crust with a cinnamon filling and cinnamon glaze. This is the pick for the familiar frosted rectangle, complete with fork-crimped edges and a filling you can see when you break one open.
The recipe makes nine pastries and lists about three and a half hours in total. That includes time beyond baking, so give this one a proper spot in your plans. Sally also explains how to make the dough ahead, which helps if you want to spread the project over two days.
The glaze repeats the cinnamon in the filling. You can keep the serving plate plain and let that pale coating and golden pastry be the whole look. A cream plate with a folded napkin beside it feels fitting for breakfast at home.
If your favorite part of a store-bought Pop-Tart is the brown sugar center, this is a good place to start browsing.
Get the full brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tart recipe from Sally McKenney.
Gingerbread man Pop-Tarts from Cutefetti
Dawn Lopez's gingerbread man Pop-Tarts use premade pie crust with a filling made from brown sugar, molasses, and warm spices. Ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice give this pick its gingerbread theme. The little people shape carries it through to the plate.
The decorating is especially cute: white icing for the faces and red and green mini M&M's for buttons. You can put the finished pastries on a tray together so each face has its own small expression. A slightly crooked smile has a place here.
Dawn uses a large gingerbread person cutter, which leaves room for both filling and sealed edges. Check her cutter notes before choosing one from your drawer. A tiny cookie shape won't give you the same working space.
This recipe fits a baking afternoon that you can turn into one of your Christmas traditions to start with friends. You get the baking and decorating in the same plan.
Get the full gingerbread man Pop-Tart recipe from Dawn Lopez at Cutefetti.
Cranberry-orange Pop-Tarts from Dolly and Oatmeal
Lindsey S. Love's cranberry-orange Pop-Tarts combine a fruit filling with ginger glaze. Cranberries give the center its deep red color, while orange zest and juice bring citrus to the filling. The white glaze leaves a clear contrast with the fruit inside.
This pastry uses almond flour, oat flour, and arrowroot, with coconut oil in the dough. It's a different option from the butter-based pastries elsewhere on this list. Read the full ingredient list when you're choosing a recipe for someone's food needs.
The recipe makes eight Pop-Tarts. You can choose this one when you want a fruit-filled pastry beside the cinnamon and chocolate options, or let the cranberry color carry the whole plate. It has plenty of holiday detail without a shaped cutter or candy buttons.
Lindsey credits the cranberry filling as an adaptation of Cynthia Wong's cranberry hand pies for Bon Appétit. The flour blend, pastry, and ginger-glazed Pop-Tart feature are Lindsey's version.
Get the full cranberry-orange Pop-Tart recipe from Lindsey S. Love at Dolly and Oatmeal.
Chocolate fudge Pop-Tarts from Sally's Baking
Sally McKenney's chocolate Pop-Tarts have cocoa pastry, fudge filling, and cocoa icing. Chocolate gets all three spots in this one. If that's the filling you were hoping to find, you can stop comparing for a minute and open the recipe.
The recipe makes nine pastry tarts and lists a total time of about four hours and ten minutes. Like Sally's cinnamon version, it suits an afternoon when baking is part of the plan. You'll want to read through the chilling and cooling stages before you start.
Sprinkles are an optional topping in Sally's recipe. You can use them for a little color or keep the dark icing plain. Either way, the chocolate center is the detail to notice when you serve a pastry broken open.
These fit a holiday dessert plate as well as a special breakfast. Set out smaller serving plates if you're pairing them with another bake, so friends can choose a piece of each.
Get the full chocolate fudge Pop-Tart recipe from Sally McKenney.
Strawberry Christmas tree Pop-Tarts from Sweet Tea and Sprinkles
Rachel Ballard at Sweet Tea and Sprinkles makes Christmas tree Pop-Tarts with puff pastry and strawberry preserves. The icing also includes strawberry preserves, which gives the tops their pink color. Add sprinkles, and the trees have their decorations.
This is the choice for a shaped pastry with a fruit center. The puff pastry gives it a different look from the flatter, pie-crust rectangles. You can arrange the trees pointing in the same direction on a tray or let them sit at different angles on a serving plate.
The recipe uses a five-inch tree cutter. Read the yield notes alongside that measurement, since cutter size affects how many pieces you can cut. If you already have a tree cutter, check its height before you plan the batch.
Pink icing is a fun part of this version. It lets the strawberry filling show up on the outside, too, with the tree shape doing the Christmas work.
Get the full Christmas tree Pop-Tart recipe from Rachel Ballard at Sweet Tea and Sprinkles.
Apple butter Pop-Tarts from Baran Bakery
Bernice Baran's apple butter Pop-Tarts put apple butter in both the filling and the glaze. Brown sugar and cinnamon join it in the center. You get an apple-focused option that fits a November breakfast or a Christmas brunch plate.
Bernice includes a homemade pastry recipe and discusses using store-bought pastry, too. She also explains that homemade or store-bought apple butter can work. Those notes help you choose how much of the project you want to make from scratch.
The filling uses smooth apple butter, so this isn't a pastry packed with chunky apple pieces. The glaze repeats that apple detail across the top. It's a useful difference to know when you're choosing between these and another apple bake.
Pair them with the cranberry pastries if you want two fruit options. Or serve a batch on its own with coffee and a bowl of fresh fruit. Apple butter can have the breakfast plate to itself.
Get the full apple butter Pop-Tart recipe from Bernice Baran at Baran Bakery.
Pumpkin Pop-Tarts from The Country Cook
Brandie Skibinski's pumpkin Pop-Tarts use refrigerated pie crust, pumpkin filling, and maple glaze. This pick keeps pumpkin on the menu after the Thanksgiving pie is gone. The rectangular shape also gives you room for a coating of glaze across the top.
Brandie's recipe calls for pumpkin purée, with brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice added to the filling. Her ingredient notes explain the difference between the purée and prepared pumpkin pie filling, so check the can when you shop.
The maple glaze is the detail that sets this version apart from the cinnamon and apple options. Brandie also shows seasonal sprinkles on top. You can follow that look or read her topping notes when deciding how to finish the batch.
This is a fitting pick for a November baking day with a friend or a holiday breakfast that leans toward pumpkin and maple. Keep the original recipe's storage notes handy if you plan to save some for another day.
Get the full pumpkin Pop-Tart recipe from Brandie Skibinski at The Country Cook.
For another pumpkin option, Sarah Averett's maple-glazed pumpkin Pop-Tarts at High Heels and Grills start with refrigerated pie crust. Maple flavoring goes into both the pumpkin filling and the glaze. This recipe makes four pastries, a small batch for a baking afternoon with a friend.
Set out a holiday breakfast plate
Choose your pastry first, then add the drinks and a place to sit. Coffee works for a morning plate. For a baking afternoon, you can set out mugs and choose a few toppings for your hot chocolate while the pastries cool.
Use the recipe creator's guidance for cooling, storing, and warming your chosen batch. Homemade pastries can need different care from the packaged ones. Sally, for example, recommends oven reheating for her cinnamon pastries rather than putting them in a toaster.
A tray of gingerbread people, two mugs, and the icing left on the counter make a pretty good afternoon plan. Someone gets to choose the faces. Someone gets to choose the buttons.
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