Get creative with your appetizer tarts and turn them into these Halloween Jack Skellington Ricotta Olive Tarts! These tarts are so scary cute – make them come to life with black olives that form a Skellington’s face. Boo!
Since everyone has different tastes and preferences, I think it is important to offer vegetarian and gluten-free options, too, to my guests. So this recipe perfectly fits the bill. These tarts are gluten-free and vegetarian too. Start the recipe by making easy gluten-free dough. Roll the dough out between two pieces of parchment paper and line the tart pans. Fill the tarts with sun-dried tomatoes, black olives, thyme leaves, and Parmesan and bake for 12 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the ricotta filling and fill the tarts once they come out of the oven. Give them some extra decoration by topping with black olives and bake again until the filling is set. Serve warm and enjoy!
To make the Halloween Jack Skellington Ricotta Olive Tarts, you will need the following ingredients:
In a large bowl, whisk together ½ cup sweet rice flour, ¼ cup millet flour, ⅓ cup oat flour, 3 tablespoons tapioca starch, and ½ teaspoon salt.
Add 8 tablespoons cold butter and rub using your fingers until the largest pieces are about the size of a pea.
Add in 5 to 7 tablespoons of ice water one tablespoon at a time, combining each time until the dough holds together.
Depending on the size of your tart pans, divide the dough into 6 to 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and then flatten into a disc. Wrap each disc with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 °F.
Roll out each piece of chilled dough between two pieces of parchment paper, sprinkled with millet flour, until it's a circle 1 inch larger than a tart pan all the way around. Remove one piece of the parchment paper and place the crust into the tart pan, parchment side up. Remove the second piece of parchment paper and use your fingers to press the dough into the tart pan. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Set aside 12-18 whole black olives for the skellington's eyes. Thinly slice 6 black olives lengthwise into paper-thin strips for the mouth. Using a paring knife, cut 12-14 small ovals for the nose. Set aside. Chop the remaining black olives and divide them among each tart, about 3-4 tablespoons.
Divide 3-4 tablespoons of julienned sun-dried tomatoes between the tarts.
Sprinkle about ¼ teaspoon of thyme leaves onto each tart, and divide 3 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese among the tarts.
Bake the tarts for 12 minutes until the crust is just lightly cooked.
Meanwhile, whisk together 1½ cups ricotta, ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt, 3 egg whites, 3 minced cloves garlic, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt.
Once the tarts come out of the oven, divide the prepared filling among each tart.
Onto each tart, place two whole black olives for the eyes and two small olive ovals for the nose. Using the paper-thin olive strips, create a stitched mouth. Use chopsticks or kitchen tweezers to make it easier to place the olives.
Bake the tarts for 20-25 minutes, or until the filling is set. Depending on the size of your tart pans, start checking for doneness from 15 minutes onwards.
Serve warm and enjoy! To reheat, place in the oven for 7 minutes at 400 °F.
These Halloween Jack Skellington Ricotta Olive Tarts are so scary cute and will make a boo-tiful addition to your party table. If you make these, please come back and leave a review telling us what you think!
