Description
This Halloween Jack Skellington Ricotta Olive Tart recipe features a gluten-free tart crust filled with a creamy ricotta and Greek yogurt mixture, topped with black olives and sun-dried tomatoes arranged to create a spooky Jack Skellington face. Perfect as a festive appetizer or snack for Halloween gatherings, these mini tarts combine savory flavors with a creative, seasonal presentation.
Ingredients
Scale
Gluten-Free Tart Crust
- ½ cup sweet rice flour
- ¼ cup millet flour
- ⅓ cup gluten-free oat flour
- 3 tablespoons tapioca flour or corn starch
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
- 7 tablespoons ice water
Filling
- 1 can black olives
- 4 tablespoons julienned sun-dried tomatoes, from a jar packed in oil
- 3 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
- 3 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1½ cups ricotta cheese
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 3 egg whites
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Prepare the crust: Whisk together the sweet rice flour, millet flour, oat flour, tapioca flour, and kosher salt in a large bowl. Add the cold butter pieces and mix with your hands until the largest pieces are about the size of a pea.
- Add ice water: Gradually drizzle in the ice water one tablespoon at a time, mixing after each addition until the dough holds together when pinched. You may need up to 7 tablespoons.
- Divide and chill dough: Divide the dough into 6 to 8 pieces depending on tart size, roll each into a ball, flatten into a disc, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven: Set your oven to 400ºF (200ºC).
- Roll out dough: Roll each chilled dough disc between two pieces of parchment or wax paper lightly dusted with millet flour into circles about 1 inch larger than your tart pans.
- Place dough in tart pans: Remove one piece of parchment, flip the dough into the pan with parchment side up, then peel off the second sheet and press the dough gently into the tart pan. Repeat for all tart pans.
- Prepare topping slices: Thinly slice 6 black olives lengthwise into paper-thin strips for the mouths and cut 12 to 14 small ovals for the noses. Set aside.
- Assemble base filling: Chop 3 to 4 tablespoons of black olives roughly and distribute evenly among the tart shells. Add 3 to 5 strips of sun-dried tomatoes on top of each tart, sprinkle about ¼ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, and evenly divide the parmesan cheese over all tarts.
- Pre-bake tart shells: Bake the tarts for 12 minutes until the crust is lightly cooked.
- Mix ricotta filling: While tarts bake, whisk together ricotta, Greek yogurt, egg whites, minced garlic, and kosher salt until smooth.
- Fill tarts with ricotta: Remove pre-baked tart shells from the oven and divide the ricotta mixture among them, filling each to the top.
- Decorate faces: Place two whole black olives for the eyes and two small olive ovals for the nose on each tart. Using the thin olive strips, carefully create a criss-cross mouth pattern. Use chopsticks for precision if needed.
- Bake final tarts: Bake the filled and decorated tarts for 25 minutes or until the ricotta filling is set. Begin checking for doneness around 15 minutes for smaller tart pans.
- Serve and reheat: Serve warm. To reheat leftovers, bake at 400ºF for 7 minutes.
Notes
- Make sure the butter is well chilled for flakier crusts.
- Use gluten-free oat flour made by grinding whole oats for best texture.
- The ricotta filling can be adjusted for creaminess with more or less Greek yogurt.
- Using chopsticks or tweezers helps with delicate olive decorations.
- Check tart baking time early if your tart pans are smaller than 3-4 inches to prevent overbaking.
- The crust dough can be made ahead and frozen before baking.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 tart
- Calories: 210 kcal
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 350 mg
- Fat: 14 g
- Saturated Fat: 7 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 6 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 15 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 7 g
- Cholesterol: 40 mg
