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.
Pin This Recipe
Enjoy AverieCooks.com Without Ads! 🆕
Go Ad Free
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.
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
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.
Ohhh muhhh gaw!! I LOVE these!! It’s like everything I’ve ever wanted into a yummy this pastry bite! The combination of avocado, cream cheese and salsa sounds perfect, great recipe love!! :)
Thanks, beautiful…and your photography, always, omg..drool. Over everything you make!
I saw these on Pinterest, and just had to see them! I love anything with avocado’s, and these sound amazing! I can’t wait to try them!
Glad they are making the rounds and thanks for saying hi!
These seriously rock my world! How have I never put avocado in a puff pastry before?!
I think you need to change that :)
These look fantastic! I can’t wait to try them. I thought about you yesterday when I took a 2 hour drive to Phoenix to go to Trader Joe’s. I made a day of it and had a blast! Hit THREE different restaurants that had been featured on Food Network. Waffles for breakfast and pizza for lunch and dinner. Also made it to Penzie’s Spices, Whole Foods and a beautiful knit shop, where I spent $200 on gorgeous yarn I didn’t need. TJ’s was nice, got some yummy pita crackers, salsa verde, rice and lentil mix and some coffee (based on your recommendation). It is a shame that these wonderful stores are not closer. Anyway, just wanted you to know. Have a great day.
Wow what a fun day you had…all the stores, food finds, the yarn finds..nice! Enjoy the coffee, salsa, and all your goodies!
I love the idea of these for breakfast. You know what I love about your blog? Is that you give multiple recipes for your ingredients so if I ever have anything leftover, I know what to use it for. Super awesome! Thanks
Yes…I am the queen of using up leftovers b/c they take over your fridge and cupboards otherwise. Most of my recipes you can interchange the add-in’s and lots of things from the amount of chocolate chips, raisins, to the type of salsa or crackers or whatever used in something based on what you have.
Seriously, I want to place an order for 5,264,716.
these look fantastic! I always love avocados, in any form. And puff pastry is a miracle product.
These look wonderful, awesome pics with very vibrant colors! I bet my nieces would love these too!
My favorite way to use puff pastry is to make a French apple tart. I roll the pastry out into a thin rectangle and prick it all over with a fork. Then I simply lay thinly sliced apples on a diagonal in rows, slightly overlapping. Top that bad boy with tons of sugar and dots of butter and bake it at a very high temp. When it comes out, I brush it with an apricot jam/rum glaze. It’s a gorgeous dessert!
By the way, those avocado puff bites look like little Mexican parties inside – amazing!
If you have the dessert on your site, LMK. It sounds PERFECT!
I’ve never seen such beautiful avocados! The ones available at the grocery store all have a sticker on them saying “Ripe Now” so they are usually brown after 1 or 2 days at home.
As I told another commenter (Gena) earlier in the comments…these avos stay so green and so vibrant, even after cutting into them. The groc store ones get all brown/black and funky VERY quickly but these…I can literally cut into them and leave them exposed to air for 3 hrs before there’s ANY browning and can leave them sliced, wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge for 36 hrs before they brown. Crazy but true.
Oh, wow! These looks great Averie!
: ))
Jen
This would make such a fabulous party food!
Yes they would. I need to throw a party :)
These little pastries look divine with the encased avocado…I think the crunch of the pastry with the silkiness of the avocado would be a perfect marriage.
Yes the silky smooth of the avo and cream cheese and the crunch of the bread, it’s a nice texture marriage.
OMG that is such a brilliant idea! I’ve been very much into eating warm avocado lately. This looks quite perfect with that little crunch & texture. Thank you for all you creative ideas (not only this one!)
thanks for the compliment re my creativity…I appreciate it!
WOW! Those look so freakin fantastical!!!!! This is my idea of a GREAT appetizer! I have made a few things with puff pastry, and I think most, if not all were savory.