These spooky Halloween Skeleton Pop Tarts are scarily cute! Whether you’re in need of yummy treats to bake for a Halloween party or something easy and extra delicious for a cosy night in watching ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’, these treats are perfect! They are easy to make, with a homemade buttery and delicious black pastry, vegan ‘Nutella’ filling decorated with a vanilla glaze and black icing details. Everyone will love these SPOOKALICIOUS ‘Jack Skellington’ inspired pop tarts! If you love these, check out my viral Vegan Ghost Pop Tarts.
Halloween Skeleton Pop Tarts
These Nightmare Before Christmas inspired Jack Skellington pop tarts are easy peasy to make and will be a favourite treat at Halloween parties! The Nightmare Before Christmas is possibly one of my favourite movies of ALL TIME. I adore Tim Burton and everything he creates! I love this film in particular as I LOVE the intertwining of Halloween and Christmas. It’s such a fun concept, and I also adore the characters, specifically Jack – haha!
Skeleton shaped pastry
There are a few ways you can create the skeleton shaped pastry. You can use a stencil with a knife and cut out the shape by hand, or a fun way is to use a gingerbread man shaped cookie cutter. It might sound a little strange to use a Christmas gingerbread man cookie cutter for a Halloween bake, but bare with me! The shape of the gingerbread man is perfect when it comes to having a ‘body shape’ for the base of the cookie. All that is left required is the icing details. You can find all different types and sizes of gingerbread man cookie cutters everywhere prior to Halloween and Christmas if you don’t already have one in your cookie cutter collection. I have linked the exact one I use here.
Ingredients you’ll need for the pop tarts
- Plain flour – As we don’t need the pastry to rise, plain flour is perfect!
- Sugar – Granulated sugar, golden caster or plain white sugar will be great!
- Dairy-free butter – Cold butter directly from the fridge helps to create the perfect, buttery pastry.
- Ice water – Water in a bowl with some ice-cubes.
- Vegan Nutella – You can make your own or buy one from the shops. I love ‘Natures Store Hazelnut and Cocoa Spread’. I also have the most amazing Nutella recipe in my book.
- Icing sugar – Powdered sugar helps to make a sweet icing.
- Dairy-free milk – Almond, Oat, Soya, Cashew etc… any dairy-free milk will work great.
- Vanilla extract – A splash of Vanilla adds a delicious flavour to the icing. You can even use vanilla seeds from a vanilla pod.
- Black food gel – Make sure to use a food gel as opposed to a food colouring. Food gel is thick and more pigmented, meaning you’ll only need a small dot. This will pigment the pastry and icing without changing the consistency. I use this exact vegan food gel.
How to make Jack Skellington Pop tarts
- Pastry : First step is to prep the homemade pastry. Thankfully, it’s super easy to make! Mix the flour, sugar, black food gel, ice water and butter together until a dough forms, wrap in grease proof paper and chill for 30 minutes.
Roll out the pastry in-between 2 sheets of grease proof paper, and cut out gingerbread man shapes and place onto a lined baking tray. - Nutella filling : Add a teaspoon or two into the middle of half of the shapes, then brush some milk around the edges of the gingerbread man.
Place another gingerbread man shape on top and press down, and crimp the edges with a fork or with your fingertips. This seals in the filling.
Brush the top of the pastries with some dairy-free milk then bake for around 20-25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully before glazing. - Icing : Mix icing sugar, vanilla and milk together to glaze, similar consistency to tooth paste.
Remove some of the icing and place into a separate bowl, colour this with black food gel and add into a piping bag.
Pipe on the bone details and face with the icing, allow to dry at room temperature for around 10 minutes.
Looking for more Halloween desserts? Check out these vegan bakes:
The BEST Halloween Cookie Cake
Easy Vegan Peanut Butter Spider Cookies
Harry Potter Sorting Hat Cupcakes
Vegan Marshmallow Ghost Cookies
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Halloween Skeleton Pop Tarts
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 10–12 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Easy buttery homemade black pastry filled with vegan ‘Nutella’, decorated with a glaze of vanilla icing. Perfect spooky Halloween treat for adult and kids alike to enjoy making (and eating)!
Ingredients
Ingredients for the pastry
- 240g of plain flour
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 220g of dairy-free block butter (cold and cut into small cubes)
- Black food gel
- Ice-water (see method)
- 1 jar of vegan ‘Nutella’
Ingredients for the icing
- 150g of icing sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- Dairy-free milk
- Black food gel
Instructions
Method (pastry)
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together the flour and sugar. Add in the cold / cubed butter and black food gel, mix until it resembles sand. You can mix by hand or in a food processor. If you mix by hand, you might want to wear some food grade gloves as the black colouring could stain your hands.
- Add in the ice water 1/2 tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together. It may require 1-2 tablespoons of ice-water. You want the dough to be smooth and slightly sticky, but not too dry or wet.
- Wrap the dough in some grease proof paper and place into the fridge for 30 minutes – 1 hour. This will help to prevent sticking when you roll it out.
- Preheat oven to 170°C fan and line 2 baking trays with grease proof paper.
- Lay a sheet of grease proof paper on your worktop and dust with some flour. Don’t add too much flour as it could effect the black colour of the pastry when baked. If there is excess flour in the pop tarts, simply brush it off before baking.
- Roll out the dough in-between 2 sheets of floured grease proof paper until its a large rectangle. You’ll want the dough relatively thin. Use a gingerbread man cookie cutter to cut out the shapes then place on the lined trays. You can keep re-rolling the excess dough to use it all up.
- Spoon a teaspoon or two of vegan friendly ‘Nutella’ or chocolate spread on to half of the gingerbread cutouts and gently spread it out. Make sure there’s about 1/3 inch open space around the edge of your pastries, then brush the edges with some dairy-free milk.
- Place another gingerbread man shape over the filled shape. Using your finger, press down the edges to stick them together to create a parcel, then press together with a fork to seal.
- Brush the tops of the pop tarts with some dairy-free milk. Bake in the middle of the oven for 20-25 minutes. As the pastry is black, it wont turn golden brown, you will need to check its baked by seeing if the pastry has puffed up.
- Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool before glazing.
Method (glaze and decoration)
- In a small bowl, sift in the icing sugar and add in the vanilla. Add in a teaspoon of dairy-free milk in at a time and mix until smooth and its a thick, toothpaste like consistency. If its too runny, simply add in more icing sugar until it’s the correct consistency.
- Remove a few teaspoons of icing into a separate bowl and colour this with black food gel (this will be for the eyes, nose and mouth).
- Transfer the white icing into a piping bag and snip off the tip. Fill the head with white icing, and decorate with bone shapes (as seen in the photos) and video here. Use the black icing to add on the face details – eyes, nose and mouth.
- Allow the glaze to dry for about 10 minutes. Allow to set then serve. The icing will dry at room temperature.
Notes
To store: To store: Keep the pastries stored in the fridge, allow to come to room temperature before enjoying. Best eaten on day of making or within 2 days of making.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
- Category: Pastry
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
