Puff Pastry Minis for the Holidays

Puff Pastry is one of those great, versatile products I like to keep in the
freezer. I particularly love it during the holidays because it can transform
simple ingredients (even left overs!) into fancy little appetizers and desserts.
Perfect for entertaining!

For the most part I’ve kept my recipes very simple, using 5 ingredients or
less. It is the holidays after all and even though I love to cook, I love
spending time with my family and friends more.

These were all taste tested by me and my family for maximum tastiness. Puff
pastry is a rich, buttery, flakey pastry that when combined with rich
ingredients really needs something tart or fresh to balance it all out. Keep
that in mind when creating your own versions.

Puff Pastry is surprisingly easy to use and forgiving. You can keep it in the
freezer for 6 months and in the fridge, thawed for about a week. Make sure
to keep it well wrapped. Best of all, once you’ve made your recipes, you can

keep them refrigerated or frozen until ready to bake.
When you take Puff Pastry out of the box and wrapping, it is often a little wet.
I like to immediately sprinkle and rub a bit of flour onto it to keep it from
sticking to things. It will come folded in three. Carefully unfold on a floured
surface, roll and create!

You can just use a sharp knife to cut your pastry, but if you can get your
hands on some of these tools (ravioli and biscuit cutters), the job is easier,
especially for nice fluted edges and perfect squares.
As a general rule, always bake pastry on parchment paper.
Be sure to visit www.puffpastry.com for
comprehensive information, recipes,
videos and more.

Palmiers (elephant ears)

3 ingredients. Sugar, Salt & 1/2 pkg. Puff Pastry. 350 Oven.

Mix 1 cup sugar with 1/2 tsp coarse salt.

Cover the rolling area with about a cup of white sugar. Place pastry on top of
it. cover the top with more white sugar.

Roll out so sugar is embedded into the dough. Roll to approx. 10″ square.

Fold ends towards center. Do it again. You now have a rectangle with 8
layers. Cut into 3/8″ pieces and lay on parchment paper cut side up. Leave
lots of space between each Palmier, as they will spread. After 5 minutes turn
Palmiers over. Cook for another 3 minutes. Watch closely so sugar doesn’t
burn. Cool.

Options: Add a little cinnamon to your sugar. Or dip half the Palmier in
chocolate.

Proscuitto Twists

3 ingredients: Thinly sliced proscuitto, butter, Italian seasoning and puff
pastry. 400 Oven.

Roll out pastry into square. Cut into 1/2″ strips. Brush with egg wash (1 egg
mixed with 1 Tbsp water). Lay strips of Proscuitto on each strip. Transfer
and twist as you lay each piece on baking sheet. Brush exposed pastry with
more egg wash and sprinkle with seasoning.

Bake for 20 minutes of until golden brown. Remove and immediately brush
exposed pastry with melted butter.

Smokie wraps

3 ingredients: Little Smokies, Honey Dijon mustard and Puff Pastry. 400
Oven.

Roll out pastry into square. Cut in to 1/2″ strips. Spread each strip
generously with mustard. Place Smokie at bottom of strip and roll, making
sure to overlap pastry. Brush tops with egg wash and bake for 15 minutes
or until golden brown. Insert toothpick if desired. Serve with dipping sauce
if desired.

Lingonberry Meatball Croissant

3 ingredients: Meatballs, Lingonberry sauce and Puff Pastry. 400 oven.

I used the chicken meatballs from costco, but any will do. I got the
Lingonberry sauce from Ikea. So good!

Roll out pastry into square. Cut into 3″ squares. Place hand a meatball, cut
side down in middle of square. Place a scant tsp of sauce over the top. Let is
drop down the sides a bit. Moisten the opposing corners with egg wash and
wrap over the meatball, pressing to make sure it won’t come undone. Brush
exposed pastry with egg wash and bake for 20 minutes or until golden
brown.

Baked Caramel Apple

Puff pastry is commonly used for whole baked apples. I came up with this
mini version that is so fun to pop into your mouth. Make sure it cools a bit
though!

5 ingredients: Baking Apple, Sugar, cinnamon, Wrapped caramels and Puff
Pastry. 450 oven.

Peel apple. Use a melon scooper to scoop out a ball from apple. It doesn’t
have to be perfect. Mix some sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and roll apple
balls in it.

Roll out pastry dough into a square and cut 3″ squares. Place apple/sugar
balls in center. Cut caramel squares into 3 and place one piece on top of
apple. Pull all four corners on top of caramel to create a parcel. Use egg
wash to secure. Brush exposed pastry with egg wash and bake for 10
minutes or until golden brown.

Tomato Cheese pizza bites

5 Ingredients: Ripe tomatoes (smallish), Monterey Jack Cheese, Goat Cheese
and Fresh basil or parsley. 400 oven.

Roll out pastry into a square and cut with a 3″ circle cutter (I used a fluted
one). Place on parchment paper on baking sheet.
Lay 2 thin pieces of Jack cheese. Lay tomato on top of that. Salt & pepper.
Sprinkle minced herbs and a little bit of goat cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Mushroom Sausage Parcels

5 ingredients: Medium sized mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, breakfast
sausage links and Gruyere cheese. 400 oven.

Roll out pastry sheet into a square. Cut 3″ squares.

Brush mushrooms to clean and remove stem. Place a small piece of sun
dried tomatoes on the inside and then a small piece of sausage into that.
Place mushroom down, smooth side up on pastry. Wrap pastry around it,
using egg wash to secure. Place on baking sheet and brush exposed pastry
with egg wash. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning. (I like Johnny’s Garlic).

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

White chocolate Cheese tartlets

Roll out pastry and cut into 3″ square. Cut in half to create triangles. use
egg wash to connect two points of rectangle and push into a mini muffin
pan. One corner will be high that the rest. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or
until golden brown.

ingredients:

· 6 oz. good-quality white chocolate, chopped.

· 12 oz. cream cheese, room temp.

· 1/2 cup butter, room temp.

· 1/4 cup powdered sugar

· 2 1/2 tsp. vanilla

· 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Whip cheese cake ingredients until fluffy. Pipe on top of cooled pastry and
top with a fresh raspberry or some other kind of fruit. Dust with powdered
sugar.

Shallot and Bacon Tartlets

Roll out pastry and cut into 2 1/2″ square and place into a mini muffin pan.

ingredients:

· 1 egg

· 2 Tbsp half & half cream

· Salt & Pepper

Place 1 tsp of caramelized onions and a few pieces of bacon in bottom of
each pastry cup. Pour 1 tsp. egg mixture over onion/bacon. Sprinkle with a
bit of green onion and top with a few pieces of grape tomatoes, cut into
quarters.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Cobb Salad Mini Sandwiches

I’m a big fan of a Cobb Salad…here it is in mini sandwich form. What a
yummy bite!

Roll out pastry and cut into 3″ fluted circles and place onto a baking sheet
with parchment paper. Bake at 250 for 25 minutes or until gold brown. let
cool and then carefully cut in half with a serrated knife.

ingredients:

· 3 hardboiled eggs, chopped.

· 1/2 cup seafood (I used Lagostinos, but shrimp or crab will also work
well)

· 2 Tbsp. Cooked bacon, minced

· 2 Tbsp. Green Onion, minced

· 2 Tbsp. Crumbled Blue Cheese

· 2 Tbsp. Celery, minced

· 1/4 cup mayonaise

· Salt & Pepper

Mix all ingredients to create salad. Fill puff pastry sandwiches and place as
thin slice of tomato (cut in half) on it.