These Vegan Ghost 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 Halloween movie night, these treats are perfect! They are super easy to make, with a homemade buttery pastry, strawberry jam filling decorated with a vanilla glaze and black icing details. Everyone will love these pop tarts!
Vegan Ghost Pop tarts
It is almost Halloween which means it is time for this year’s selection of the most delicious Halloween treats! I have a lot coming up in the next few weeks, stay tuned! To keep up to date, make sure to subscribe to my newsletter (its free!).
Don’t be afraid of these pop tarts, they aren’t real ghosts and even if there were, they’d be nice ones- haha! They are absolutely delicious, they take no time at all, use a 5 ingredient homemade pie crust, store-bought strawberry jam, and glazed with a vanilla icing of powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk. Ps.. they can be made in under 30 minutes, how spookily exciting is that?!!
Ghost shaped pastry
There are a few ways you can create adorable ghostly shaped pastry. You can use a stencil with a knife and cut out the shape by hand, or use a ghost shaped cookie cutter. They make it super quick and easy, and create even sized pastries to sandwich with the jam inside. You can find these sorts of cookie cutters everywhere prior to Halloween if you don’t already have some in your cookie cutter collection. I have linked the exact one I use here.
Ingredients you’ll need to make these halloween 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.
- Strawberry jam – You can use store bought like me to make things easier, or make your own homemade jam / compote. I have the most amazing jam 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 icing without changing the consistency. I use this exact vegan food gel.
How to make vegan pop tarts
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Pastry : First step is to prep the homemade pastry. Thankfully, it’s super easy to make! Mix the flour, sugar, 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 ghost shapes and place onto a lined baking tray. -
Jam filling : Add a teaspoon or two into the middle of half of the ghost shapes, then brush some milk around the edges of the ghost.
Place another ghost shape on top and press down, and crimp the edges with a fork. This seals in the filling.
Brush the top of the pastries with some dairy-free milk then bake for around 20-25minutes or until golden in colour.
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.
Dip of pipe the white frosting over the ghost pastries and allow to dry at room temperature for around 10 minutes.
Pope 2 dots and a line for the eyes and the mouth. Allow the icing to dry.
Looking for more SPOOKY bakes? Check these out
The BEST Vegan Ghost White Chocolate Rice Krispy Treats
Vegan Ghost Pop Tarts
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 10+ 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Easy buttery homemade pastry filled with strawberry jam, 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 pop tarts
- 240g of plain flour
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 220g of dairy-free block butter (cold and cut into small cubes)
- Ice-water (see method)
- 1 jar of vegan friendly strawberry jam
Ingredients for the glaze
- 220g of icing sugar
- 3 tablespoons of dairy-free milk
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 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 mix until it resembles sand. You can mix by hand or in a food processor.
- 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. 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.
- 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 ghost cookie cutter to cut out ghost 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 strawberry jam on to half of the ghost 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 ghost shape over the jam filled ghost. Using your finger, press down the edges of the ghosts 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, or until the pop tarts are golden brown.
- Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool before glazing.
Method (Glaze)
- In a small bowl, sift in the icing sugar and add in the vanilla and dairy-free milk. 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 and mouth).
- Dip or pipe the glaze over the ghosts and allow any excess to drip back into the bowl. Allow the glaze to dry for about 10 minutes, then pipe 2 small dots for the eyes and a line for the mouth. Allow to set then serve. The icing will dry at room temperature.
Notes
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: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
- Category: Tarts and pies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
These are SOO cute!!!!! Perfect for Halloween. I am going to make these for an upcoming party!
Author
Thank you Natalie! I cant wait to hear what you thought to them, hope you all enjoyed! xxx
These are absolutely delicious and look amazing. Spooky.
Author
Aw thank you so much! So happy you like them xx
What kind of dairy free milk did you use?
Author
Hello, you can use any dairy-free milk including almond, oat, soya etc. When it comes to making cakes and cupcakes.. i like to use soya milk as it creates the best buttermilk! In things like this or cookies, it doesn’t really matter xx Hope that helps
I made these on one of my twitch livestreams with friends and we had so much fun making these! The dough is so flaky and delicious and we ended up making our own fillings (I used apricot jam, my friend made a blueberry compote and another friend used another kind of jam).
The recipe is easy to follow! Thanks so much for sharing!