Are you hosting guests for the Thanksgiving holiday? If you’re not completely “cooked-out” from preparing Thanksgiving Dinner, you can make this delicious Cranberry Apple Pop Tart Recipe for breakfast the next day. It’s a cranberry apple filled pop tart topped with a ginger glaze and crushed pistachios for crunch. It’s great for using any leftover cranberry sauce or extra apples you may have leftover after making apple pie!
Cranberry Apple Filled Pop Tart
I loved Pop Tarts for breakfast when I was growing up. I always ate the strawberry-filled ones with NO frosting. I didn’t understand why the hard frosting on the frosted versions was so hard and why it did not melt in the toaster and I was never brave enough to try them.
But while I was making these cranberry apple pop tarts, I decided they needed a frosting in the form of a sweet ginger glaze!
And even if you don’t like cranberries, you may still like this Cranberry Apple Toaster Pastry since it is sweetened by the apples and the ginger glaze.
The full, printable recipe is below, but first, here are the ingredients along with some tips and tricks and instructions on how to make these delicious homemade pop tarts!
Ingredients:
- Cranberries
- Apple
- Brown Sugar
- Water
- Salt
- Lemon juice
- Cinnamon
- Cardamom
- Pie dough – I used store-bought!
- Egg
- Ginger
- Powdered Sugar
- Pistachios
To make these pop tarts, start by boiling your cranberries, apples, brown sugar, salt, and water to make the jelly fruit filling. Add it all to a large pot or deep saute pan and bring the mixture to a rolling boil over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
If you’re looking to purchase any new pots or pans, I highly recommend the GreenPan Paris brand. A few months ago, I upgraded some of my cookware to these ceramic pots and pans and they still look good!
After boiling the mixture for 5 minutes, lower heat to medium-low and partially cover the pot or pan and allow the mixture to simmer for about an hour, stirring every 10-15 minutes until the fruit has softened and the consistency and thickness is like jelly or jam.
Remove from heat and add lemon juice, cinnamon, and cardamom and stir. Set fruit jelly aside.
While the jelly mixture is simmering, roll out your pie dough (store-bought or homemade, your choice!) and cut out 3″ x 4″ rectangles using a pizza slicer or pastry knife. Top half your pie dough rectangles with 2 Tb of filling, leaving about a 1/4 inch border around the rectangle. Then top with another pie dough rectangle and be sure to firmly press around all 4 sides with your finger or a spoon before using a fork to crimp the edges to fully seal them. Using a toothpick, poke about 8-10 holes in the tops of each pop tart to allow steam to release while baking.
Make an egg wash by whisking together 1 egg with 1 Tb water. Using a silicone pastry brush, apply an egg wash to the tops of the pop tarts.
Place pop tarts onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Bake the pop tarts according to the pie dough manufacturer’s instructions (or your own pie dough recipe instructions) which is probably about 22-24 minutes at 350 degrees F. Rotate the pan halfway through baking.
Once the pop tarts are a golden brown color, remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
While the pop tarts are baking, grate a 3 inch piece of ginger. Place the freshly grated ginger in between 1-2 paper towels (or cheese cloth) and squeeze over a bowl to capture the ginger juice.
Mix the ginger juice and the powdered sugar to form a glaze. If too thick, add a little bit of water until desired consistency – pourable, but thick.
After the pop tarts have cooled, drizzle the ginger glaze on top of the pop tarts and then sprinkle with the crushed pistachios.
Here’s the printable recipe:
Cranberry Apple Pop Tart Recipe
Ingredients
Cranberry Apple Filling
- 12 oz bag of fresh cranberries
- 1 large apple, peeled and diced
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1.5 cups water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 Tb lemon juice
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
Pop Tarts
- 2 packages of store-bought pie dough
- 1 egg
- 1 Tb water
Ginger Glaze and Pistachio Topping
- 6 Tb ginger juice
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup crushed pistachios
Instructions
Cranberry Apple Fruit Filling
Start by boiling your cranberries, apples, brown sugar, salt, and water to make the jelly fruit filling. Add it all to a large pot or deep saute pan and bring the mixture to a rolling boil over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
After boiling the mixture for 5 minutes, lower heat to medium-low and partially cover the pot or pan and allow the mixture to simmer for about an hour, stirring every 10-15 minutes until the fruit has softened and the consistency and thickness is like jelly or jam.
Remove from heat and add lemon juice, cinnamon, and cardamom and stir. Set fruit jelly aside.
Pop Tart Assembly
While the jelly mixture is simmering, roll out your pie dough (store-bought or homemade, your choice!) and cut out 3" x 4" rectangles using a pizza slicer or pastry knife.
Once filling is ready, top half your pie dough rectangles with 2 Tb of filling, leaving about a 1/4 inch border around the rectangle. Then top with another pie dough rectangle and be sure to firmly press around all 4 sides with your finger or a spoon before using a fork to crimp the edges to fully seal them.
Make an egg wash by whisking together 1 egg with 1 Tb water. Using a silicone pastry brush, apply an egg wash to the tops of the pop tarts.
Using a toothpick, poke about 8-10 holes in the tops of each pop tart to allow steam to release while baking.
Place pop tarts onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Bake the pop tarts according to the pie dough manufacturer's instructions (or your own pie dough recipe instructions) which is probably about 22-24 minutes at 350 degrees F. Rotate the pan halfway through baking.
Once the pop tarts are a golden brown color, remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
Ginger Glaze
While the pop tarts are baking, grate a 6 inch piece of fresh ginger. Place the freshly grated ginger in between 1-2 paper towels (or cheese cloth) and squeeze over a bowl to capture the ginger juice.
Mix the ginger juice and the powdered sugar to form a glaze. If too thick, add a little bit of water until desired consistency - pourable, but thick.
After the pop tarts have cooled, drizzle the ginger glaze on top of the pop tarts and then sprinkle with the crushed pistachios.
