This is my favorite recipe I discovered in 2022. It's not only a great recipe on as is, but it's a fantastic sugar cookie base that ends in a super thick and chewy cookie, perfect for adding in whatever you want to experiment with. But - I keep coming back to pop tarts, because they're just so delicious and nostalgic.
The original recipe used strawberry, but my favorite has always been blueberry (frosted - always). I tried raspberry too in some of the photos here and those were delicious. S'mores pop tarts were a second favorite and I subbed the rainbow sprinkles with chocolate sprinkles and added mini chocolate chips. But blueberry is just hands down the best.
Happy Baking!
Adapted from Beyond Frosting
MAKES 19-23 Cookies
INGREDIENTS/SUPPLIES
5 frosted pop tarts (flavor of your choosing)
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1.5 cups white sugar (300g)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3.5 cups flour (420g)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles (chocolate sprinkles if you're using a chocolate-y pop tart)
stand mixer
2-3 large cookie sheets & parchment
food scale or cookie scoop (optional)
DIRECTIONS
Cut off the unfrosted/unfilled edges of 5 pop tarts, then chop the pop tarts into ~1/2" square pieces. Don't cut them too small or they'll dissolve in your batter.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together 420g flour (3.5c), 1/2tsp baking soda, 1/2tsp cream of tartar, and 1/4 tsp salt - set aside.
In your stand mixer, cream (beat on medium-high) 2 sticks butter and 300g sugar (1.5c) for about 1-2 minutes until fully incorporated.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add 2 eggs and 1tsp vanilla, and mix on high 7-8 minutes until light and fluffy, stopping to scrape down the sides and up from the bottom at least once or as many times as necessary.
Mix in the dry ingredients on low until just barely no traces of flour are left - scrape down the sides, add 1/4 cup sprinkles, and mix on low for 10 more seconds.
Add in your chopped pop tarts and either fold them in by hand, or pulse the mixer on low for 1-2 seconds only as many times as needed to mix them into the batter (maybe 7-8 times). If you let the mixer run unwatched it will pulverize the pop tart pieces and they'll dissolve into your batter.
In order to make the cookies look uniform, you need to scoop the batter either with a cookie scoop or by weight. I use a 2” cookie scoop to make 19-20 cookie dough balls (sometimes more if I haven't been eating the batter and scrape out the bowl really thoroughly). Scoop the dough balls onto a wax paper or parchment lined cookie sheet - it’s okay if they’re close together; you’re not going to bake them yet.
If you want to bake them soon, wrap the sheet in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze at least one hour, preferably two, up to overnight. If you want to save the dough to bake another day, put the cookie sheet in the freezer (you don’t need to cover it) and 1 hour later transfer the dough balls to a freezer ziplock bag. The dough will keep for up to 6 months, possibly longer. DO NOT BAKE THE COOKIES AT ROOM TEMPERATURE. Chilling is a must. When you’re ready to bake, heat your oven to 350F.
Take out one tray’s worth of cookies and arrange them a minimum of 3” apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet (on a regular sized cookie sheet you'll usually bake 6 cookies max; I have oversized sheets and bake 8). If you want your cookies a little flatter than in these pictures you can press them down just slightly, but I never do.
Bake for 10-12 minutes if the dough has been refrigerated or brought to room temperature, or 12-14 minutes if you’re baking them from frozen. Don’t overbake! You want the cookies to be nicely crispy on the outside/edges, but still chewy in the middle. Or…at least, I do.
Repeat steps 9 & 10 for one sheet of cookies at a time (i.e. don’t take cookie dough balls out of the fridge/freezer until you’re ready to put them on the tray and into the oven.)
Cool the cookies completely on their baking sheets, and enjoy!