Enjoy a taste from your childhood with this recipe for gluten free vegan chocolate pop tarts! What better way to start the day than with a chocolate pastry. This pop tarts have a fudgy filling, delicate crust, and a sweet icing that you will love.
If you have children with food allergies, you probably try to make sure they aren’t missing out on anything. The life of a food allergy parent means making lots of things from scratch – birthday cake, macaroni and cheese, and even Girl Scout Cookies.
The other day I was talking about pop tarts, and my son said, “What are pop tarts?”
I was stunned! Pop tarts were a big part of my childhood. But it makes sense, store bought pop tarts are not an allergy friendly item. We’ve always dealt with gluten sensitivity, and we added nut allergies to the mix with my second son, so pop tarts were never on the table.
However, I can’t stand by and have my kids miss out on a chocolate pastry pocket for breakfast, so here we are! Gluten free, vegan, allergy friendly pop tarts for everyone!
This recipes has a few more steps than the usual sweet recipes I share. You will need to make a chocolate crust, the fudgy filling, and a simple chocolate icing. But this really isn’t a complicated recipe, it just takes a little bit more time.
These chocolate pop tarts are worth it! Once I came up with this version after lots of testing, my family couldn’t stop eating them!
What kind of gluten free flour should I use for a chocolate pastry crust?
I tested this recipe with various gluten free flours, and what worked best was my own homemade gluten free flour mix. If you can’t make that, then you will want to look for something similar (contains rice flours, potato starch) that does not contain xanthan gum or guar gum.
I used this blend for my gluten free vegan apple pie as well, because it results in a flaky, light pie crust. When you try to make pie crust with flour that contains gums, the results is a little bit tough.
Can I make this recipe without coconut?
The fudge filling does contain coconut cream, and I didn’t try to make it without that ingredient. However, if you need to, just try substituting an equal amount of a non-dairy milk that works for your dietary needs. If the filling doesn’t thicken, add a little bit of tapioca starch or corn starch to a little more non-dairy milk and whisk together. Then slowly add it to the fudge sauce, stirring constantly, until it thickens.
When I try to roll out gluten free dough, it rips. What do I do?
This dough is a little bit delicate, but there are steps that you can take to make it easier to work with.
- Chill the dough in the refrigerator for about an hour.
- Liberally coat your rolling surface as well as your rolling pin with gluten free flour.
- Add more flour as needed if you see the dough sticking to the rolling pin.
- Don’t roll it too thin. It needs to be about ⅛ of an inch thick.
How to make gluten free vegan chocolate pop tarts:
- Make the chocolate fudge filling in a small pan and set aside to cool.
- Roll out the chilled dough, and cut into rectangles. Spoon some chocolate filling on top.
- Place rectangles of dough on top of the chocolate fudge, and use a fork to crimp the edges. Bake at 400 degrees for 16-20 minutes.
- Allow Pop Tarts to cool, then frost with chocolate icing and top with coarse salt or pearl sugar. (I like salt so it’s a little bit salty and sweet).
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Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Pop Tarts.
These gluten free vegan chocolate pop tarts are so delicious. A flaky crust, fudgy filling, and sweet icing combine to make the perfect breakfast treat.
Ingredients
Chocolate crust:
- 1 ¼ cups gluten free flour
- 2 ½ Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 Tablespoon organic cane sugar
- ½ cup vegan buttery spread
- 2 Tablespoons water
Chocolate fudge filling:
- 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ⅓ cup full fat coconut cream You can use coconut cream, or scoop the cream off a can of full fat coconut milk.
- ¾ cup dairy free mini chocolate chips
Chocolate frosting:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons water
Topping:
- coarse salt optional
- pearl sugar optional
Instructions
Make the crust:
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Place the gluten free flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar, and vegan buttery spread in a bowl. Use your fingers or a pastry cutter to incorporate the buttery spread into the flour. The mixture should resemble coarse crumbs.
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Drizzle the water into the mixture and gently stir until it comes together. Add a little more water if needed. Pat the dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap.
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Refrigerate the dough for one hour. Meanwhile, make the fudge filling.
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Place the coconut cream, unsweetened cocoa powder, and chocolate chips in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat until smooth and melted. Take the pan off the heat and set it aside to cool.
Assemble the Pop Tarts:
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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
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Dust a rolling surface and a rolling pin with gluten free flour. Place the chilled dough on the floured surface, and roll it out to a thickness of about ⅛ inch.
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Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into rectangles that are about 2.5 inches by 4 inches.
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Place 5 rectangles on the cookie sheet. Put a spoonful of filling on each rectangle, and use a spoon to spread the filling out a little bit. You will have some leftover filling.
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Roll out the rest of the dough and cut out 5 more rectangles. Place on top of the filled pop tarts, and use a fork to crimp the edges.
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Bake at 400 degrees for 16-20 minutes. Let the pop tarts cool for at least 15 minutes on the pan.
Make the chocolate frosting:
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Place the powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl, and add the vanilla extract and water. Mix on medium speed until smooth.
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Once the pop tarts are cool, spoon the frosting over them. Sprinkle coarse salt or sugar on top if you like. Let the pop tarts sit for about 10 minutes so that the frosting hardens. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
This recipe makes 5 pop tarts. Nutrition facts are for one pop tart.
If you need to toast these the next day, I recommend heating them in a toaster oven. Watch them closely so they don't burn. A standard toaster would not be the best choice, I think they might fall apart in there.
Leftover fudge filling can be heated up and served over ice cream.
Beekite
So good and so easy! My son commented twice on how good they were. Will make again! Thank you!!
Darryl
These are so good! My family loved them.