Spooky Eyeball Olive Puffs (Halloween Appetizer)
Made with less than 5 ingredients, these cheese olive puffs are a spooky yet easy Halloween appetizer for adults (or kids!) to enjoy at Halloween parties! These puffs are simple to make and absolutely delicious.
Halloween brings no shortage of candy and sweet treats, but I wanted to share a savory Halloween appetizer that’s super easy to make and perfect for your Halloween spread.
Eyeball Olive Puffs with Cheddar Cheese
Delicious puff pastry is loaded with shredded sharp cheddar cheese and rolled around a pimento-stuffed green olive then baked to crispy perfection. They look just like spooky eyeballs making them delightfully creepy additions to any Halloween party!
Just a few ingredients
How to Make Olive Puffs
Making these spooky little eyeball puffs is super easy. I’ve photographed the step-by-step for you so you can see exactly how to make them.
- Lay Out Puff Pastry Strips
Start with a sheet of thawed puff pastry. Cut it into 6″ by 1/2″ strips using a sharp knife or kitchen shears.
- Top each strip with Olive & Cheese
I highly recommend you grate your own cheddar cheese, it’s not coated like bagged cheese is to prevent clumping. So the cheese helps stick to the puff pastry better when you grate it yourself. Use sharp cheddar cheese or your favorite variety!
Place a pimento-stuffed green olive at the bottom of your puff pastry strip.
NOTE on Olives: You can absolutely use any variety of olives you like! Garlic stuffed olives are great. Kalamata or other black olives are delicious too.
- Roll the puff pastry up tightly like a pinwheel
This part is the fun part. Just roll away until you have a tightly wrapped little olive puff pastry wheel. Some of the cheddar cheese will be sticking out, leave it! It melts and gives the eyeball that bloodshot spooky look.
- Pinch the open end together and brush with egg wash.
Carefully pinch the end of the puff pastry onto itself to seal the edge. In a small bowl, whisk up your egg wash (1 egg + 1 tbsp of water) and brush it around the puff pastry to give it that golden color once baked.
- Place the eyeball olive puffs down in a mini-muffin pan.
Containing the olive puffs down in the little wells of a miniature muffin pan helps the puff pastry from unrolling while baking. We don’t want any unraveling eyeballs. You can use any size mini muffin pan.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
The cheese melts and the puff pastry puffs up to a tasty little olive puff that looks just like a spooky eyeball, don’t you think?
Get extra spooky by placing those little black spiders you see at all the craft stores around Halloween on your platter or tray. They add the perfect Halloween touch to any dish!
There you have it! An easy Halloween appetizer that’s savory, simple and SO delicious.
Recipe Variations
- Spicy Eyeball Olive Puffs – Use shredded pepper jack cheese in place of cheddar and sprinkle with cayenne pepper.
- Pepperoni Olive Puffs – Wrap your olive in a small pepperoni slice and then wrap in puff pastry. The red pepperoni will look extra spooky!
- Different Colored Eyeballs – Change up your olives and in addition to Spanish manzanilla olives, try black olives, Kalamata olives, garlic stuffed olives, you name it!
- Seasoned Olive Puffs – Sprinkle on some everything bagel seasoning or your favorite seasoning blend!
More Olive Appetizers:
Spooky Eyeball Olive Puffs
Ingredients
- 1 17.25-ounce package of frozen puff pastry (thawed)
- 24 pimento-stuffed green olives
- 1/4 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Carefully cut your thawed puff pastry sheets into 24 strips. Each strip should be about 6" by 1/2".
- Whisk together egg with 1 tablespoon of water to make an egg wash. Set aside.
- Sprinkle cheddar cheese on each strip of puff pastry.
- At one end of the puff pastry strip, place an olive and carefully roll the puff pastry around the olive into a pinwheel shape.
- Pinch the open seam of each olive puff and brush the puff with the egg wash.
- Place each olive puff (olive side up) into a lightly greased mini muffin pan.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and puff pastry is golden.
how far in advance could I do the rolls and keep in fridge?
You could make them a day in advance, but I’d reheat them in the oven for a short time so they taste the best. My recommendation would be serving them right away after being baked, if at all possible.