I had been wanting to make stuffed savory stuffed puff pastry for awhile.
Probably for the past, oh, seven years, give or take.
My sister is the queen of puffed pastry appetizers but this is one of those cooking projects that just never happened for me.
Until now.
A shipment of locally-grown avocados that all decided to ripen on the same day and I wanted to put them to a creative use.
So I got busy puffin’
The assembly line
After baking: Warm, cheesy, melted avocado and salsa-filled bites.
Crispy edges
Scott likes brown corners.
I don’t.
I am all about the melty middles.
This is what I used to create the puffy packages.
They were a huge hit with the family and if you’ve never worked with puff pastry before, I assure you, it’s very easy. You don’t even technically need to roll it out if you’re pressed for time. You could just slice it with a knife and insert the filling of your choice.
Scott kept saying they reminded him of something he ate all the time at various Bar Mitzvahs he attended growing up. He said he ate something like this every weekend for about two years as a kid.
I doubt think the mothers of his childhood friends in suburban Chicago in the 70s were puffing up locally-grown fuerte avocados with salsa verde and mango chutney, but I could be wrong.
I told him, “There’s an egg wash on these. I think that may be what you’re tasting that makes them seem familiar.” The man adores eggs in any form, and any time I can use an egg in something, he’s happy.
And he said, “Oh, I like how the egg made them get brown on the top and gave it such a good flavor,” which is as descriptive he ever gets.
Normally when I ask, “Well, what do you think,” I’ll get a It’s Great, Babe. And that’s that.
But then he asked for a third puff. Going back for thirds is always a good sign.
What’s not to love about squishy warm avocado, with melted cream cheese, flavored with two kinds of salsa to give the bites just a touch of sweet from the mango salsa and a kick from the green salsa verde.
All topped off with an egg wash inside a warm, doughy, gluten-ey, fluffy and puffy flaky-layered little package.
This screams both comfort food
and a way to impress your spouse in under a half hour.
They also impressed the almost-five year old.
I stored the extra couple that were left from the batch of 9 (after Scott went back for thirds) in an air-tight container on the countertop and fed them to Skylar for breakfast the next morning.
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Avocado, Cream Cheese, and Salsa-Stuffed Puff Pastries
Ingredients
- 1 large sheet puffed pastry, thawed (I used Trader Joe’s brand, look in your grocer’s freezer case)
- 1 ripe avocado, halved and mashed (approximately 1 tablespoon of avocado per pastry square)
- ⅓ cup cream cheese, approximately 1 teaspoon of cream cheese per pastry square
- ⅓ cup salsa, approximately 1 teaspoon of salsa per pastry square. I used a combination of Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde and Trader Joe’s Mango Red Pepper Chutney
- salt and pepper, sprinkled to taste
- 1 egg, beaten
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F and prepare two baking sheets with either parchment paper, Silpat liners, or spray them well with cooking spray.
- Thaw one large square of puffed pastry for about 10 minutes. Flour your countertop or working surface and roll out the pastry square as thinly as possible. With a pizza cutter or knife, slice the puffed pastry into approximately 2-inch by 2-inch squares. From the one thinly rolled large sheet of frozen puffed pastry, I created 18 squares.
- On half the squares (9 squares for me), place a dollop of avocado, then cream cheese, then salsa, season with salt and pepper. Use the remaining squares as the lids and place one lid over the filling mounds. Seal the pastry packages by pressing the edges with a fork, taking care to seal the edges well, pressing the fork in repeatedly, so no filling escapes during baking.
- In a small bowl, beat an egg with a fork, and apply an eggwash to each of the pastry packages.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until desired browning and puffing has occurred. Watch them closely after 10 minutes in case your oven is hotter or your brand of puffed pastry cooks faster.
- Remove from the oven and serve. Pastries are best fresh, but extras will keep for up to 48 hours airtight in the refrigerator; reheat gently in micro before serving. To keep vegan, use vegan cream cheese such as Tofutti and there are many recipes on the internet for ‘vegan puffed pastry’ that you can make at home. Pepperidge Farm brand puff pasty is vegan, but of course read the label as ingredients can be changed or varied. Omit the eggwash and if desired, lightly wash with almond milk or soy milk.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Related Recipes
If savory cheesy baked goods are your thing, I suggest Baked Savory Cream Cheese & Herb Donuts
I have my Avocado Recipes consolidated if those are of interest.
There’s Microwave Pepperjack Tofu with Salsa that you can make in 5 minutes in the micro if you have salsa or various condiment odds and ends that are taking up valuable refrigerator space.
And if you really just want something sweet with cream cheese,
Strawberry Cake Mix Cookies with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting will hit the spot.
Because I prefer cream cheese in frosting form, over savory form, always.
Have you ever made anything with puff pastry? What was it?
I have many more ideas from savory to sweet; from little bites and puffy packages to logs that have been rolled and sliced. Things are about to get puffy.
Would you stuff your puff with something savory or sweet?
I am a sweets girl all the way and have so many things I want to stuff into them. Marshmallows come to mind, immediately.
And for savory, I would like to make a crab and cream cheese filling or a salmon salad with cream cheese type of filling, but those seem a little fancier, party appetizer food. Guess I need to throw a party or pretend and make the average Tuesday night fancy.
Wow do these look scrupt!
Aka SCRUMPT. short for scrumptious!
I’m the shorthand queen. I totes figured that out b/c I use abbreviations like they’re going out of style.
Glad you likey :)
WOW, these are fantastic! I’m new to puff pastry and can’t believe I waited so long in fear of it :) What a beautiful, unique appetizer…or dinner :)
Mmmm it’s like mexican layer dip bites!
Never thought of them that way but you’re right!
Love that filling idea–particularly the salsa chutney combo w/ avocado. A little smooth sweet heat. I made some puff pastry appetizer pockets stuffed with a little Brie cheese and hot pepper jelly. They were a hit. I’ll have to try your filling–my husband loves avocado on just about anything!
brie and hot pepper jelly YES…all the way. TJ’s hot pepper jelly that ive posted about so many times is done for the season I fear but next year, I am making these with that in the middle rather than a big brie/pastry spread…mini ones like this.
This is my ideal combo, if I got puff pasty they would probably look something just like this! Lovely pictures too :)
Thanks, Katie!
I usually use puff pastry to make samosas because I don’t have a deep fryer. Samosas are ridiculously easy to make. The ones I make are basically a combination of mashed potatoes, cooked peas and carrot pieces, mixed with curry paste (Patak’s brand, about 1 tbsp or so), a bit of ketchup to thin it out, garam masala, tumeric, and additional curry powder if needed. The tumeric stains, so best to be careful with it! It’s really good with apricot jelly as the dip/chutney.
Your recipe looks so delicious! I think it would also be great with a bit of goat cheese… and dates, because I put dates in my guacamole and so I think it just goes! I’ll have to try this recipe on my boyfriend sometime. :)
Your creation sounds wonderful, too!
Mm – these look and sound so delicious! If you replace the salsa with some chocolate you’ll have a great dessert, too! ^^
Trust me, my wheels have already turned in that direction :)
I think if I could afford to have a live-in chef at my house, I would definitely hire you to take over my kitchen. These puffs are the bomb dot com! I usually come to your blog for cookie and other dessert ideas, but this time I was pleasantly surprised to find such a tasty savory treat showcased for the day. Woohoo for avocado puff pastries! I’m pretty much convinced that you could shove avocado inside a sock and I would probably try to eat it. Thanks for the great recipe yet again, Averie! Do you think I could substitute a Laughing Cow cheese wedge for the cream cheese? Just a thought
I know, I can check the savory recipe obligation of my to-do list for 2012 now :)
Thanks for the sweet compliments and yes, goat cheese, no cheese, brie, soy cheese…
peanut butter, marshmallows…pretty much anything and in most any combo you wanna stuff, go for it!
Oh my, those look fantastic. You know I’ll have to make this sometime. Maybe sub in some goat cheese though. :) Also, I had no idea Trader Joe’s made filo pastry!
I know and the box was 2.99 I think for 2 big sheets. So I made all of this with half the box, $1.50 worth of dough. Can’t beat that!
Savory and sweet is just so awesome!! These are gorgeous! Im with the man on the brown corners
you can have the brown corners, for sure! :)
I made some mini butternut squash and goat cheese turnovers, which were a big hit with my friends! https://www.confessionsofachocoholic.com/veggies/butternut-squash-and-goat-cheese-turnovers
they look wonderful!
these pictures are beautiful… and the recipe, more importantly, DELICIOUS! really anything baked in a puff pastry is going to be good with me, but throw some avocado in and that might just put me over the edge!
thanks for the pic and recipe compliments!
Wow! These made my mouth water!! I must make these a.s.a.p.!!!
super kiddie friendly, too :)
Those are beautiful! I want to roll around in all that gooey middle and eat my way out.
Yeah I could have just skipped the dough and gone straight for the goo :)
Holy cow averie!!!! These look incredible! and i’m with you on the no brown corners! I like it crispy with no brown… which is a pain in ze butt to watch over but soooo worth it! =) hehe
I let some of them go 1-2 extra mins b/c my hubs just loves a brown corner so those were for him.
OMG these look delicious! I might have to make them tomorrow. I love when cream cheese gets soft and warm.
super easy and LMK if you make them!