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Overhead closeup view of a red velvet pop tart with red, pink, and white heart sprinkles.

Red Velvet Pop Tarts

If you love all things red velvet, you're going to want to make these Red Velvet Pop Tarts immediately! They're made with a delicious and vibrantly colored pastry dough, stuffed with a sweet cream cheese filling, and topped with vanilla icing and plenty of sprinkles. They're a lovely Valentine's Day treat, but can be made whenever the red velvet craving hits!
5 from 1 vote
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Course: Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Homemade Pop Tarts, Red Velvet Recipes, Valentine's Day Desserts
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Makes: 24 small heart tarts
Author: Sues

Ingredients

  • 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
  • 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • ¼ cup buttermilk, plus more for brushing tarts
  • 1 tsp white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
  • ½ tsp red food coloring
  • Cream Cheese Filling (recipe below)
  • Vanilla Icing (recipe below

Cream Cheese Filling

  • 1 block (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
  • ½ cup confectioners' sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • tsp salt

Vanilla Icing

  • 1 cup confectioners' sugar
  • 1 ½-2 Tbsp buttermilk (or regular milk)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt.
  • Add cubed butter to flour mixture and, using a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut the butter in until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.
  • In a separate medium bowl, stir together egg, buttermilk, vinegar, and red food coloring.
  • Add wet ingredients to bowl with dry ingredients and use a wooden spoon, a spatula, or your hands to combine. I like to use my hands, but they do turn a little red from the dye. Knead it gently in the bowl until the dough comes together (If you really don't want to touch it due to the red dye, you can put it in a stand mixer and use the dough hook to knead it together).
  • Divide dough into two equal-sized balls Wrap each with plastic wrap, press gently into discs, and refrigerate for about an hour.
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • On a lightly floured surface, roll one of your pastry discs out until it's about ⅛" thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut out hearts (or desired shapes) and set cut-outs on prepared baking sheet. Re-roll dough and continue to cut. Repeat with second portion of dough.
  • Brush edges of dough with a little bit of buttermilk and add a small scoop of cream cheese filling onto half of the hearts, being sure to leave a little bit of space around the edges.
  • Place a second dough heart on top of the cream cheese topped ones and, using your fingers, press down around the seams to seal them tight. Press the tines of a fork around the edges of each of the hearts and prick the tops multiple times to allow steam to escape. Brush the tops of the Pop Tarts with more buttermilk.
  • Bake for about 20-24 minutes, until tarts are cooked through and getting crispy. Remove and cool on metal racks.
  • Top each of the cooled Pop Tart with icing. You can either just drizzle it on or try to keep it in a heart-shape. Add sprinkles.

Cream Cheese Filling

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat together cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth, 3-4 minutes.

Vanilla Icing

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar, 1 ½ Tbsp buttermilk, and vanilla, until smooth. If icing is too thick, add remaining ½ Tbsp buttermilk.

Notes

  • You can make dough in advance and store in fridge for 2-3 days. When ready to roll out and bake, allow the dough to sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes before rolling and cutting.
  • If cream cheese filling oozes out of Pop Tarts a bit upon baking, you can simple take a knife and trim it away.
  • To Store: Because of the cream cheese filling in these Pop Tarts, it is recommended that you store these in an airtight container in the fridge if keeping them more than a day.
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