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, because of course 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 chocolate pop tarts for everyone!
Jump to:
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!
Ingredient Notes
- Gluten Free Flour – 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.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – I used Hershey’s Cocoa Powder for this recipe. Please call and make sure any brand you use is safe for your dietary needs.
- Vegan Buttery Spread – I used Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread. You can probably use a different brand if you prefer. I don’t recommend using oil in this recipe.
- Coconut Cream – Full fat coconut cream adds richness to the delicious fudge filling. Two brands to check out are Native Forest and Thai Kitchen.
Step by Step Instructions
- Mix up the pastry dough and pat into a disc, then wrap with waxed paper or plastic wrap and chill for one hour.
- While the dough chills, make the fudge filling.
- Roll out the dough and cut into rectangles. Be sure to flour your rolling pin so that the dough doesn’t stick or rip. Place the rectangles on a parchment lined baking sheet. Spoon some of the chocolate filling in the middle of each rectangle.
- Top each pastry with another rectangle of dough. Crimp the edges with a fork.
- Bake at 400 degrees F for 16-20 minutes.
- Make the chocolate glaze with powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and water. Spoon it over the pastries once they are cooled. Top with coarse sugar or salt if desired.
Baking Tips
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.
FAQs
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.
Sometimes different gluten free flour blends absorb liquid differently. If your dough seems like a pile of crumbs, add a little more liquid until it comes together. You want the dough to have the texture of playdoh.
Storage
Store pop tarts in an airtight container. They should stay fresh for about 4 days. You can also freeze these. They should stay fresh in the freezer for about 3 months.
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Reheating
If you need to reheat these, I recommend using a toaster oven, and keeping a close eye on them so that they don’t burn. I don’t recommend a standard toaster as I think they may get stuck in there.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Recipe
Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Pop Tarts.
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- Refrigerate the dough for one hour. Meanwhile, make the fudge filling.
- 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:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- 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.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into rectangles that are about 2.5 inches by 4 inches.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
- Place the powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl, and add the vanilla extract and water. Mix on medium speed until smooth.
- 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!
Abby
This recipe looks awesome :) is there any way I can use regular all purpose flour and vegan block butter instead? Would love to make it but the only spread I have has olive oil in it lol
Kelly Roenicke
Yes, those substitutions will work just fine!
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.