A creamy cream cheese filling packed with herbs, spices and more jalapeno, in a buttery, crisp puff pastry base, and topped with a sweet chili sauce!
Why I love this easy Halloween appetizer recipe
All the flavors of jalapeno poppers, but better! And with a Halloween twist. Buttery and crisp puff pastry base, creamy and cheesy cream cheese filling, with herbs, spices and more jalapeno! All topped with a jalapeno and sweet chili sauce “eyeball”. What’s not to love? They are perfect savory Halloween snacks. So easy to make and big on flavor! I show two ways to make these Halloween savory treats. One very easy method, and a little bit more involved second method, but one with minimal food waste. Using the pastel de nata method for the tarts, you end up with super flaky puff pastry tart shells! Bite-sized, cheesy, a little spicy, sweet, buttery, flaky, and delicious! Perfect as Halloween party food! Yes, they are perfect as a Halloween appetizer, because the tarts look like little creepy eyeballs, BUT they can pass off as fancy appetizers for any party – themed or not. I share different ingredient substitutions and additions, so you can make variations of this same appetizer – from the most simple to more flavor combinations.
These delicious Halloween savory appetizers are a great twist on the classic jalapeno popper! I love how they look like creepy eyeballs with the red “iris”, and are so cheesy with tons of flavor. Such a fun Halloween themed food idea that you can serve at any party, along with these gnarly Halloween witch finger cookies and any one of more of these spooky Halloween recipes.
Ingredients to make jalapeno eyeball tarts
For the tart base
Puff pastry sheets – Store-bought is the easiest, but you can make your own homemade puff pastry too. Unsalted softened butter
For the jalapeno popper filling
Cream cheese Cheddar cheese Chopped jalapenos or pickled jalapenos Chives or spring onions Bacon (optional – leave out for vegetarian option) Fresh jalapenos (for topping) Sweet chili sauce (homemade or store-bought) or red pepper jelly
Ingredient notes
Puff pastry sheets – For 1 batch, you need 450 g of puff pastry or 2 sheets. Store-bought is of course much easier, but you can also use homemade puff pastry. As long as it’s rolled out to the right size, it’ll work. Cream cheese – Please use the block for this recipe. The spreadable tub is too soft and the cheese may melt away completely as they are baking. To add more flavor to the filling, substitute some of the cream cheese (up to 50%) with goat cheese. Sweet chili sauce – I make my own sweet chili sauce for this recipe, which allows me to make a slightly thicker consistency to be used as the “eyeball”. But you can absolutely use store-bought sweet chili or red pepper jelly instead. Since the sauce will be placed inside the jalapeno ring, it’ll be contained, and does not need to be thickened if you don’t want to.
Special equipment
These eyeball tarts will need to be made in a mini muffin pan. The mini cavities will help retain the tart pastry shape while it bakes, and minimize the filling spilling out. Each batch will make about 48 tarts. You can absolutely use 2 muffin pans twice, but make sure the pan has completely cooled down before adding the next batch of pastry into the cavities.
How to make jalapeno eyeball tarts
Make the puff pastry tart base
Place two puff pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface (image 1). The two square puff pastry sheets will be connected to make one long pastry sheet that’s about 18 – 20 inches long and 9 – 10 inches wide. Easy way Cut out large circles of pastry (about 4 – 5 inches), and use a tart tamper to shape the circle into the muffin pan cavity. The problem with this method is that there will be lots of excess pastry dough. This will need to be carefully mixed together again and re-rolled to get more tart shells, and the re-rolled dough may not work as well either. With 2 sheets of puff pastry, you will get a maximum of 8 – 12 circles only with this method. More efficient way This method ensures minimal waste, and maximum amount of tart bases. With 2 sheets, you can get about 46 – 48 shells! The two puff pastry sheets are rolled up into a log, and cut into portions. These spiral tart shells are made and shaped in the same way as pastel de nata, and I’ve used it to make these goat cheese appetizers before. Overlap one end of a pastry sheet over the other – about 1/4 – 1/2 cm. Stick them together using just a little bit of water. Press down along the edge to seal (image 2). Use a rolling pin to gently roll out the dough to make the sheet about 12 inches wide (image 3). The length can stay the same or become a little longer too. Spread the softened butter in a thin layer over the surface of the pastry sheet, only leaving a 2.5 – 4 cm (1 – 1.5 inch) border at one of the shorter edges of the sheet with no butter (the end that is away from you) (image 4). Tightly roll the puff pastry, starting from the edge that is close to you (image 5), towards the end that is not buttered (image 6). The spiral should be nice and tight with no gaps. Once the pastry is rolled up, seal the edge (with no butter) to form an even pastry log (images 7 – 8). Wrap it in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill (image 9). Roll the pastry log gently on a floured surface to make the diameter about 2 inches throughout. Cut off the ends of the chilled pastry log, so that the ends are even and not tapered. Cut this log into slices that are about 1 cm (3/8 inch) thick (images 10 – 11). Each slice will be used to make a tart base.
Forming the tart shell
Take each disc into well floured hands. Use more flour if the butter softens at any stage to avoid the pastry from sticking to your hands. Press down in the middle of the disc with your thumb (images 12 – 13), and rotate the disc while still pressing on the center. This will help form a cup shape with the disc (image 14). As you rotate the disc, move the pressure from the middle to the sides of the disc to flatten the sides of the tart shell, while creating a bowl or cup shape (images 15 – 16). The bottom and sides should be fairly thin, with thick edges. Place this in the mini muffin pan, and use your thumb or finger to flatten the tart to the sides of the cavity (image 17). The top will rise above the cavity, and be thicker than the rest of the shell (image 18). This process is really easy! I learned how to do this when I was taught how to make Portuguese custard tarts. Once you get the hang of it, it’s really fast and easy to do.
How to form mini tarts (video)
Make the filling
Make the filling while the tart dough log is chilling in the fridge. You can use store-bought bacon bits or fry up 2 – 3 slices of regular bacon and crumble / chop them as well. Finely slice the chives, or finely chop the spring onions. To add a little pickled flavor and additional jalapeno flavor, I like to add chopped pickled jalapenos to the filling too! Fresh jalapeno will work as well, but I really like the pickled flavor in the filling. Place all the ingredients in a large bowl (images 19 – 20). Use a spatula or hand-held mixer to mix all the ingredients together (image 21).
Fill and bake the tarts
Use a spoon or a piping bag (filled with the cheese filling – image 22) to fill each tart with the cheese filling. Only add about a tablespoon to each tart, so that it’s just over half full. Don’t fill it to the top (images 23 – 24). Bake the tarts in a preheated oven for about 15 – 20 minutes until the tops are golden brown in color. While the tarts are baking, slice the jalapenos into 1/2 inch thick slices and remove the seed and pith in the middle (images 25 – 26). You need 1 slice for each tart. During the last 5 minutes of baking (when the tarts have just turned golden brown), take out the baking tray and place a jalapeno slice, flat, in the center of each tart (image 27). You can do this AFTER the tarts have baked as well, but I wanted the jalapenos to soften slightly. Bake for the remaining 5 minutes and let the tarts cool down out of the oven (image 28).
Final decoration for eyeball tarts
Once the cheese filling has cooled down slightly, dollop the sweet chili sauce in the middle of each jalapeno slice, so that it resembles a red eyeball (images 29 – 30). Serve these Halloween savory jalapeno tarts while still slightly warm, with extra sweet chili sauce on the side.
Variations of this eyeball recipe
Substitute some of the cream cheese with goat cheese for a more elevated, tangy taste! Add other chopped herbs such as rosemary or thyme for a more herby flavor. Instead of the puff pastry, you can also use prosciutto. You don’t have to cook these either! Just wrap the prosciutto around little balls of cream cheese. Instead of the jalapeno slices on top, you can also use olive slices! Place 1 or 2 pieces of black olive slices to resemble eyes on the tart.
Make ahead tips
When I make these Halloween appetizers, my workflow is as follows.
Day 1 – Make the puff pastry log. Cut and line the mini muffin tray. Make the filling. Fill the tarts. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Day 2 – Bake. Top with jalapeno and red chili sauce and serve.
This can be made in one day as well, but the different components can be made ahead of time, as follows.
To make puff pastry tart base ahead
The log can be made and sliced into portions and frozen for up to 1 month. The muffin pans can be lined with the puff pastry discs for up to 2 days, but should be covered well with plastic wrap to prevent the pastry from drying out.
To make cream cheese filling ahead
The cream cheese filling can be made up to 4 days in advance and kept in the fridge in an airtight container. Let it soften before you fill the tarts. Filled, but unbaked tarts can be stored in the fridge overnight as well. Just cover them well to prevent the pastry from drying out.
Storage tips
Baked tarts can be stored in an airtight container, and in the fridge for about 5 days. Chilled eyeball appetizer tarts can be reheated in a 200 F oven for about 15 minutes, or until heated through, and the pastry becomes crisp again.
More Halloween recipes you’ll love
Spooky chorizo pies Witch finger cookies Bleeding black Halloween cupcakes Halloween monster cookies Halloween rocky road slices Monster cakes Witch’s heart cocktail Witches brew drink Hocus pocus cocktail Unicorn blood cocktail
