My new camera arrived yesterday, and after taking countless pictures of the dog and a bunch of bananas sitting on my counter top, I decided it was time to bake something so I would have something to take pictures of. I had a bunch of cherries in the refrigerator, so initially I was going to make cherry pie.
As I was contemplating the pie, I started thinking about the Pop Tarts I made the other day for the Pre-Made Our Way challenge. The Pop-Tart dough was basically a pie crust dough, so I figured I would make some more Pop Tarts – or single serving pies.
I love chocolate, cherry, and almond together – so I used all of those flavors in the Pop Tarts. I used the same crust as I did previously… and it turned out beautifully yet again. To be honest, I think these ones are much better than the White Chocolate Raspberry Pop Tarts I made earlier in the week.
Filling Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups cherries, pitted
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 4 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon minute tapioca
- Pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
Toppings:
- Dark chocolate candy coating (1/4 cup), or 1/4 cup chips + 1 teaspoon shortening
- 1/4 cup silvered almonds
Directions:
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the cherries, sugar, water, tapioca, and salt. Stir to evenly combine all of the ingredients. Bring to a boil, and cook for about 5-6 minutes, until the mixture is thick and bubbly. Remove from the heat, and stir in the almond extract.
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet, or line with parchment, and set aside.
Prepare the dough used for my White Chocolate Raspberry Pop Tarts. Roll out to 1/8 inch thickness, and cut into rectangles. Place a heaping tablespoon (or maybe a little more… I didn’t really measure) of the cherry filling in the center of one of the dough rectangles. Sprinkle with a few of the dark chocolate chips. Cover with a second rectangle, and crimp the edges with a fork. Repeat to make 6 Pop Tarts, and arrange on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 8 minutes. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
While the Pop Tarts are cooling, toast the almonds in a small skillet over medium heat for a few minutes. They are done when you start to smell them. Be sure to keep an eye on them and remove them from the heat right away when they start to turn golden. They go from golden to burnt very quickly. Cool slightly and then roughly chop the almonds.
Melt the dark chocolate coating in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time at 50% power. Drizzle the chocolate over the cooled Pop Tarts and sprinkle with the almonds. Enjoy!
Awesome photos! Glad you’re enjoying your new camera. I love cherries and dark chocolate, and in fact, just posted a recipe on local lemons for chocolate cherry pie. Cherries are super cheap in Berkeley right now, so I may have to pick up some more and make pop tarts.
Absolutely gorgeous! Your photos look like delicious and I’m so excited to try my own pop tarts sometime.
Awesome photos! You’ll definitely have fun with it. =) Now I’m craving for some pop tarts. Maybe I’ll make some.
Homemade poptarts? What a genius of an idea! They’ll be perfect to make with my kids this summer.
Gorgeous photos. You’re going a great job with the new camera.
I was all set to try your white chocolate raspberry poptarts. Now you’ve got me all in a quandry because I want to make these too! Stop the madness already…lol
and… I’m still jealous over your new camera.
Wow your photos are gorgeous! I want your camera :) These poptarts looks SO much better than the packaged ones.
Your new camera is great – the pop tart pics are awesome!
Your pictures are outstanding! Cherry, chocolate and almonds sound like a wonderful combination for the pop tarts!
Wow, those look like real show stoppers! Such pretty pictures too!
Jen, I can’t wait to make these. They look amazing.
First I’m so super jealous that you have a new camera. Every time I got into Target I make a point to spend 20 minutes looking at my dream camera. No my second point is that your poptarts look soooo awesome! I have always wanted to try homemade poptarts. I love that you get to control what you want inside and the quality of the ingredients.
Those are the best poptart copycats I have ever seen, hands down, and of course, they blow the actual poptart out of the water! Bookmarked! Gorgeous photos too!
Chocolate and cherry is such a killer combination! I used cherries too, but made a cherry-pineapple variety. Congrats on the new camera–those pictures look fantastic!!!
Oh my goodness. These are beautiful, and definitely about to make it into breakfast rotation. Thanks for posting!
Those are some fancy Pop Tarts! ;-) They look delicious!
This new camera looks like a real good choice! Love how sharp the photos are!
And the pop tarts look really good!
This is the best post I’ve seen as of yet! You have beautiful pictures, and I love your website, but that’s not what I love most about it. My 30 year old husband is the biggest poptart lover I’ve ever met, so seeing this recipe under “Husband’s Picks” really cracked me up. Maybe it’s a guy thing?! :)