The amount of puff pastry I’ve consumed over the past few weeks might be alarming to some, (like my doctor) but not to others (like the French). I’m just saying, if you pass me on the street and want the secret to my glowing skin: butter.
I had to test my 15-minute puff pastry recipe a few times, and then I tested dessert recipes with it. Desserts like apple turnovers and palmiers. Oh, and let’s not forget that ‘dessert,’ where I brushed dough with even more butter and showered it with cinnamon and sugar. I was just showing off for that one. After the last batch of puff pastry was gone, I had the idea to make you a quick, savory appetizer for Thanksgiving. So, I made another batch of dough. Oh, bless these strugglin’ arteries.
One recipe of my homemade puff pastry makes 4 reasonable-sized ham and cheese sandwiches, which we ate with Caesar salad for dinner one night. (Salad negates butter, if you didn’t know). As an appetizer, you can get 8 bites out of it. You can scale up from there, according to your party plans. It’s just so dang simple. Grab some sliced ham (thin, but not shaved) and your favorite cheese (I used Kerrygold Dubliner with Irish Stout), brush on a little mustard, crimp, and bake.
You’ll have the butter glow in no time!
Ham and Cheese Pastry Puffs
Ingredients
- 1 recipe u][15-minute puff pastry[/u]
- flour, for rolling
- 2 tablespoons mustard (Dijon, or your favorite)
- 6 thin slices of ham
- 1 cup grated Kerrygold Dubliner cheese (Dubliner with Irish Stout is fantastic here)
- 1 large egg yolk, beaten
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450.
- The recipe for 15-minute puff pastry calls for the dough to be chilled for 1 hour before use. Do not skip that step. Then, on a floured surface, roll out the dough to a 10" square. Trim the edges with a knife, if you're into that neat sort of thing.
- Brush mustard over all of the dough.
- Place the ham slices, slightly overlapping each other on the bottom half of the dough. Be sure to leave a 3/4" border.
- Cover the ham with the cheese, again leaving a border for crimping.
- Fold the top half of the dough over the ham and cheese, and press the edges closed gently with your fingers. Use a fork to crimp the edges.
- Move the pastry to a baking sheet. Brush the egg yolk over the entire exposed surface liberally with the beaten egg. Use all of the egg, don't skimp.
- Bake for 17-19 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes before slicing an serving.
Salad totally cancels out butter! These look awesome! I am sure I would eat half the batch before serving to others. To test for quality control, of course!
I totally have to make these for my husband. When we first met his freezer was stocked with those frozen hot pocket things. I refuse to buy those for him, but these I could totally get behind! Thanks for the inspiration. :)
You’re killing me with all the puff pastry. Kill me in a good way, of course. ;) I’m always game for butter and flaky pastry.
This looks like a fantastic way to address some lingering post-Thanksgiving leftovers as well, particularly if you’re not a fan of ham.
Irish stout? Cheese? Butter? I mean really, you could’ve posted a single photo without verbiage and I would’ve been all over it. These sound amazing!
This puff pastry dough looks TO DIE FOR!!!! I’m so impressed! I can’t wait to give it a try. Happy Thanksgiving girl!
I love your homemade puff pastry! These look fantastic!!!
I love your sense of humor…I love your recipes. I’ve tried many of them and have loved them all. Looking forward to this one as well. ♡
The pastry looks perfect! The filling sounds easy yes, but delicious. Keep on puffing :)
Ahhhhhh hell yeah!!!!
Yum, yum yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.
Yum.
This looks very similar to something we recently ate at a bed and breakfast.mIt was the same except it had a little egg and used gruyere cheese. Divine!
Hahahahaa!!1 This post made me laugh. Bless you and your struggling arteries!!! These look delicious, like the most elegant of grilled cheese and ham sandwiches!
I love making savory pastry squares-like these! deliciouuuus
Oh my, these look fabulous!
Can the ham be replaced with vegetables (sliced peppers, sliced mushrooms) – I’m vegetarian (dairy and eggs are ok) but would love to make a modified version of this.
Thanks!
I made it with vegan cheese you can get it from fred meyer or any whole foods and veggies and some italian seasoning it was to die for!
Hi! Quick question: I made the dough according to the recipe but I noticed the dough stayed sticky. After 7 times of rolling it out I just put it in the fridge to chill. I took it out almost 2 hours later, I started to make the ham and cheese puffs. But the dough, although fine after taking it out, became sticky – even on the floured mat!
What did I do wrong?
I have a first time batch in my frig as I write this. I will report back…..