Merry Christmas Eve!

You know those childhood cartoons where the characters have a goody-goody angel voice and the naughty, not-so-angelic, one fighting on their shoulders?

What, didn’t you ever watch Tom and Jerry growing up? Well, I’d love to tell you that my metaphorical inner angel voice won out this time guys, but………then there were these pop-tarts and um……………yeah.

In brainstorming over this idea I’d considered just making my pop-tarts inspired by milk’s favorite cookies, but I kind of didn’t want to just stop there. I also felt like there should be some actual sandwich cookies going into these at the same time. So basically, these are an oreo version of a pop-tart since you’ve got the dark chocolate cookie, or in this case, pastry, and the white vanilla cream going on in a perfect ratio. Then, THEN, you add an unapologetic amount of actual cookie crumbs to the filling AND a sprinkle on the top just for good measure.

I was trying to rationalize how to explain why you’d want to make a pop-tart that is already pretty much an oreo on its own and then still add store-bought ones to it. All I can come up with though is, why wouldn’t you want this insane amount of cookie-ness??? My logic is undeniable right?

So yeah, this is a recipe that you HAVE to make. Really, they were such a hit.

Come on, it’s Christmas people! And for reals, what more could you ask for of a perfect weekend than some of these insanely addictive yummies!!!

Cookies and Cream Chocolate Pop-Tarts

A pastry treat to make all the cookies and cream lovers childishly happy.

Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Chilling Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 22 -24 pop-tarts

Ingredients

Pastry Dough:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold coconut oil or organic vegetable shortening
1/2 cup cold vegan "butter" (can replace with more shortening or coconut oil)
2/3 cup ice cold water
Filling:
1/2 cup coconut oil or organic vegetable shortening softened
1 1/2 tablespoons almond milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/3 cups broken/chopped sandwich cookies i.e. jojos or oreos
Icing:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/2 cup more cookie pieces for topping

Instructions

Pastry Dough:
Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, and salt in the bowl of food processor and pulse. Add "butter" and coconut oil and pulse a few times more until crumbly. Add water and process until the dough comes together, adding a tiny bit more water if necessary until it pulls away from the sides of bowl..

Filling:
Stir melted coconut oil and almond milk together in the bowl of stand mixer or a medium mixing bowl until smooth. Add salt, vanilla, and cornstarch and stir to combine. Mix in powdered sugar a cup at a time until combined then beat until fluffy. Add cookie pieced and beat just long enough to mix them into filling.

Assemble:
Roll pastry dough out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle roughly 1/8 inch thick. Cut into smaller rectangles, about 2 1/2 x 5 inch pieces.
Spoon about 1 heaping tablespoon of filling onto the centers of half of the rectangles you've cut and spread to within 1/2 inch from edges, then rub edges with water. Place the other half of the pieces on top of fillings and use a fork or your fingers to crimp the ends together to seal well. Place on a parchment lined baking tray about 1/4 inch apart and place tray in refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 C). When oven is ready, remove trays from fridge and bake for 10 - 12 minutes until the edges are starting to darken and crisp. Remove tray from oven and cool tarts completely before adding icing.

Icing:
Whisk the ingredients for the icing in a small bowl until smooth and use a spoon or knife to spread on cooled tarts. Sprinkle with cookie pieces and allow to dry (for at least 30 minutes) before serving.

ALL CONTENT IS MINE AND ORIGINAL! All of these food photos were taken with my Nikon D750 and my favorite Lens, the Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G. You can find out more in my INTRO POST.

Also, a huge shoutout to Hive account@rigaronib for designing my logo!

If you're looking for more recipes check out some of my other recent posts!

Also, I've been starting to vlog in case you missed it.

Chocolate Cookies + Cream Pop-Tarts - FOOD PHOTO SHOOT