Homemade Paleo Pop Tarts (Vegan)

The best homemade Paleo pop tarts that taste and look just like the ones you had as a kid! Completely vegan, gluten free, and dairy free, and stuffed with a creamy chocolate filling, these homemade chocolate pop tarts are the perfect breakfast or treat for kids and adults alike!

Pop Tarts were my absolute favorite thing for breakfast in the morning. I know, I know, not exactly the epitome of health haha but I swear, nothing beat that icing on top and the just-warm filling!

For whatever reason, but I’ve been feeling quite nostalgic lately, so I decided why not give one of my favorite childhood treats a go?!

The result: amazing.

I somehow managed to make healthy Pop Tarts that are Paleo…vegan…gluten free…dairy free…and refined sugar free, and yet they taste incredible (not to toot my own horn, I’m sorry haha!).

I was always so mystified by how the heck they got the filling into the pop tarts, but really, it’s all quite simple!

I decided to go for a chocolate filling (with a chocolate icing) because why the heck not?! Let me tell you: you will be hoarding these healthier pop tarts like no tomorrow!

Ingredients for Paleo Pop Tarts:

What I love most about these chocolate pop tarts is that the ingredients are so simple, yet when combined, they yield the most decadent taste! So what you’ll need for these gluten free pop tarts are the following:

• Cassava flour
• Coconut flour
• Vegan butter
• Coconut sugar
• Vanilla
• Chocolate (you can use a Paleo chocolate or a Paleo vegan chocolate here!)
• Chilled water

And that’s it! Healthy pop tarts are actually quite simple in ingredients- nothing too special, except maybe the cassava flour, which can now be found at many grocery stores! It’s honestly my favorite Paleo flour to bake with because it’s the closest to a 1:1 gluten free flour swap there ever will be, and it’s nut free (very hard to come by!).

Now that we’ve gone over the ingredients, let’s get to the fun part: actually making your very own homemade Paleo pop tarts!

How to make healthy Pop Tarts:

Now, don’t be intimidated by the steps it takes for these homemade chocolate Pop Tarts! While it’s certainly a few steps, it’s definitely a doable recipe.

Plus, who wouldn’t want to start the day smelling freshly baked Pop Tarts?!

We’ll start with making the chocolate filling, because that will need to stiffen a little, but the key is to really be organized- be ready to make your dough, roll it, cut it, and place it onto a parchment lined cookie sheet ready to bake.

For all of this, make sure your ingredients are lined up, you have a big bowl for the Pop Tart crust, a ruler, a parchment lined cookie sheet, two pieces of parchment paper and a roller for the rolling part, and a spatula to transfer the dough. Oh, and fridge space for chilling 🙂 Let’s begin!

The Paleo vegan chocolate filling:

If you’ve been around the Banana Diaries block a few times, you’ve probably seen this super easy hack for a Paleo vegan chocolate ganache! Much like in my vegan Boston cream pie, we’ll start with melting the vegan butter in a microwave safe bowl.

Once the butter is melted, stir in the chocolate chips until they’re completely melted into the butter. Sift in cacao powder and add a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and continue mixing the chocolate ganache until it’s completely smooth.

That’s it! Now set this aside to stiffen (if it’s a really hot day, you can also place this ganache into the fridge while you prepare the dough!), and let’s get to making the dough!

Making the gluten free vegan Pop Tart crust:

This requires a few steps, but just follow along and you’ll be as golden as a vegan gluten free pop tarts 😉

Begin by whisking together the cassava flour, coconut flour, and coconut sugar. Then add in the cubed butter and cut the vegan butter into the flour mixture to make a crumbly dough.

Add in the chilled water and vanilla extract, and mix the dough until it becomes a thick and sticky pie dough.

Form the dough into a circular disk and place it between two pieces of parchment paper. Lightly roll out the dough so that it’s over 12 inches by 9 inches, and about 1/4 of an inch thick. Now, the sometimes irritating thing about cassava flour is that it can become sticky fast so the trick to cassava flour pie dough is to peel back the parchment paper after every roll.

In other words, roll the dough once out between two pieces of parchment paper. Peel off the paper, then flip the dough onto the other side, peel the parchment paper, and roll again. Then repeat until it’s to its desired length and width (should be about 2-3 rolls).

If the dough is too sticky to be measured after rolling it out (this can happen in the warmer months!), simply place the crust for the Paleo pop tarts into the fridge to chill for 5 minutes and then take it out to measure.

Now, measure and slice a large rectangle that’s 12 inches by 9 inches. On the 12 inch side, score marks every 3 inches. On the 9 inches side, score one mark in the middle at 4.5 inches up. Slice at each mark to create 8 small rectangles that measure 3 inches by 4.5 inches each. You’ll have enough dough to make one more vegan pop tart at the very least, so you can roll it out and cut two more rectangles, each measuring 3 inches by 4.5 inches.

Place the rectangles onto a baking sheet and back into the fridge to chill for another 5 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375F and melt another tablespoon or two of vegan butter to brush the Paleo pop tarts with. Make sure the chocolate ganache is ready to go as well- it should be moveable, not too thick, but also not dripping!

When the Paleo vegan pop tarts are ready to be filled, remove them from the oven and brush 5 of the 10 with a little butter. This will be the bottom layer that gets the filling on top.

Spoon about 1 tablespoon of chocolate ganache into the middle of each of the buttered layers of pop tart crust. Then use a spatula to place the top layer on top of each bottom layer.

With the edges of a fork, seal the edges of your homemade chocolate pop tarts all around, and then brush with a little more vegan butter. Use a toothpick to poke a few holes into the top layer for aeration and then place your Paleo pop tarts into the oven to bake for 20-24 minutes, or until golden brown.

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When they’re ready, remove your pop tarts from the oven and let them cool before you drizzle or smear on some more chocolate ganache!

There ya have it! Paleo vegan pop tarts that are crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle 🙂 Just how they should be!

I hope you have fun with this recipe! I know sometimes these multi-step recipes get a little intimidating, but it really is fun and easy when you get the hang of it 🙂 Plus, homemade chocolate pop tarts are just so fun to eat, so I hope you get to try these out!

If you do give this recipe a go, let me know in the comments below, and I’d absolutely love to see how they came out for you on Instagram and Pinterest!

Happy chocolate filling and pop tarting!

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