Gluten Free + Vegan High Protein Pop-tarts!
I’m sure you have seen those protein pop-tart style pastries showing up on endocarps at target and other stores! Convenient protein is all the rage right now and for good reason. It really does help control blood sugar and appetite. It has been a big part of my own weight loss the past year so I’m all in on creating a bunch more high protein recipes to share in the months to come.
But anyways- those mock pop-tarts are often $8 for a box of just 4… while convenient in my opinion don’t actually taste good! I am able to eat gluten at this point- so I always like to taste test before I venture down the path of creating my own version. On top of being mediocre tasting at best - I have never come across any gluten free or allergen friendly versions. They all use wheat flour and whey protein. SO… naturally I really wanted to figure out a super allergen free option for all the people that cant just snag these convenience items. (I do promise though.. you aren’t missing anything!) This recipe is GLUTEN FREE. DAIRY FREE & EGG FREE! :)
I tested my pastry dough out with regular greek yogurt and dairy free yogurt and found the results were nearly identical!
My version has just about the same amount of protein per serving (18.5 grams of protein per pop-tart!)! They are SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper to make & not challenging whatsoever to put together. Best of all the recipe makes 8- and they freeze beautifully so you can make a batch and enjoy them for awhile!! My husband LOVED this recipe and he packed them in his lunch for work.
I wanted to make sure that the dough was really adaptable to different yogurt options. I have started to see some higher protein dairy free yogurt options start to show up in health food stores. Feel free to use whatever you can get your hands on!
My protein calculations do come from using greek yogurt so keep this in mind. The protein powder brings the highest amount of protein to the recipe- but the greek yogurt being used both in the dough and the frosting does add more.
Can you swap the protein powder? Maybe. I do think it would work out for you to do this- but I cant give a guarantee as it was not something I experimented with. My main focus was to come up with a recipe that didn’t require Gluten, Dairy and Eggs!
IF you want to swap in Whey it may be less absorbent than the vegan/plant based powder. If this happens and your dough feels super sicky or a little too wet to roll out. You could add some extra whey (a little at a time) to get the dough to a nice workable texture. The Honey & Xanthan Gum do the heavy lifting in holding the dough together so its workable so Im hoping this will make the recipe really adaptable to various protein powder options.
Feel free to adapt the size and use circle, square or rectangle cookie cutters! You could make mini pop-tarts or large classic sized ones as I have.
You are also free to experiment with the filling! Any Jam or Preserve will work great or of course Nutella would be delicious!
The dough taste/texture is not quite pie dough. Its like a crossover of a delicious fig newton and pie crust. They are a bit heartier and more filling than a light pastry style pie crust.
For the Yogurt glaze: This is a great time to use a flavored yogurt! It'll add some natural color and great flavor. I went with a blueberry oikos protein plus for my glaze. I also added a small hint of pink food coloring (I cant help it!) I really wanted my pop-tarts to turn out gorgeous with a fun color!!
Feel free to get creative or use what you have! Just about any flavor will taste good as a glaze :)
Gluten Free + Vegan Protein Poptarts
These fun & easy to make pop tarts are an 1/8 of the price to make compared to the store bought protein versions that are not gluten-free or vegan! I highly recommend making and freezing them & pulling them out as you need a good healthy treat to go! If you make 8 pop tarts each one will have about 18.5 grams of protein! This may vary depending on the type of yogurt that you choose to use.
Ingredients
- 200 grams blanched almond flour
- 135 grams tapioca starch
- 124 grams Orgain Plant based Vanilla Protein Powder
- 5.3 ounces plain/unsweetened greek yogurt (or regular yogurt) Dairy Free will work great here too- just aim for unsweetened plain or vanilla should work too though your pop tarts will be sweeter.
- 1/4 Cup of Honey, Agave or Maple Syrup. (If you are watching your sugar- a sugar free syrup may be used here instead!)
- 1/4 Tsp Xanthan Gum
- 1/4 Tsp Baking Powder (Double acting is my preference but not required)
- 1/2 Tsp Salt
- Extra starch for rolling out the dough
- About 3/4 cup of Jam or Jelly of choice (Each poptart will need 4 Tsp of jam!) Nutella is also an option if you want to go in a different direction.
- 1/2 Cup Greek Yogurt (or other nondairy yogurt of choice) Flavored or Unsweetened! Berry flavors are great with the jam filling. I used Oikos's pro since it contains 20 grams of protein for just one serving!
- 1/2 Cup of Powdered Sugar (If you want to make them low in sugar- you may use a sugar free powdered sugar instead.)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees while preparing the pop tarts. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment and set aside.
- Add all of the poptart dough ingredients to a food processor or stand mixer. Mix just until a smooth dough comes together.
- Place a sheet of parchment on your counter and sprinkle it with some tapioca starch. Roll the dough about 1/4 inch thick and cut into 4 x5 inch rectangles (Or the shape/size of your choice!)
- Carefully place half of the cut rectangles onto the pan (About 8!) Add 4 tsp of jelly, preserves or Nutella into the center and using the back of a spoon spread it around leaving the outside edges clean.
- Roll out the dough again as needed to cut out 8 more pieces using more tapioca as needed to prevent sticking. Carefully place them over the bottom piece with its filling. Use a fork to seal all edges on all 4 sides of each poptart.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes. They will be lightly golden brown!
- Allow the pop tarts to cool completely. As they cool make the glaze. Whisk together in a small bowl the powdered sugar and yogurt. Drizzle over the top of the pop tarts! Add sprinkles if you wish.
- Once cool- and the glaze has hardened they can be stored in the fridge in a sealed bag or container for about a week or in the freezer for 1-2 months. When freezing I like to place the entire cookie sheet that they baked on into the oven to allow them to freeze without touching each other. Then I remove them from the pan and place them in a sealed container or bag. This will prevent them from sticking to each other!
Notes
I tested out regular greek yogurt, Whole Foods almond milk dairy free yogurt and a classic plain unsweetened yogurt. All 3 versions turned out nearly identical. As a result I feel pretty confident that you can swap in whatever variation of yogurt works for you.
The greek yogurt is the best option for high protein as it adds a good 15 grams to the poptart dough. More dairy free protein yogurts are popping up - feel free to use whatever fits within your diet or that you can find.
For the Yogurt glaze: This is a great time to use a flavored yogurt! It'll add some natural color and great flavor. I went with a blueberry oikos protein plus for my glaze! Feel free to get creative or use what you have!
