Puff Pastry Bites

5 from 1 vote

Puff Pastry Bites are quick and easy and make the most delicious appetizer! Pepper jelly bites need only 3 ingredients and minimal effort .

Prep Time18

Cook Time12

Total Time30

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Western

Keyword: puff pastry bites

Servings:

Calories: 132kcal

Grease: use a can of cooking spray to grease 2 x 24 cup mini muffin tins.
Pastry: working one sheet at a time lay a thawed piece of puff pastry onto a chopping board and then use a 6cm (2.2 inch) mini cookie cutter to cut 12 rounds of pastry from it. Place these onto the top of the greased muffin tin. Then repeat so that you have 48 rounds of cut pastry.
Muffin tin: push the raw pastry into the holes then twist up to have them form cup shapes. Then use a fork to lightly pierce the base of each pastry cup. Repeat for both muffin tins.
Brie cheese: add 1-2 small pieces of the cut brie cheese into the centre of each of the pastry cups. Repeat for each muffin hole.
Bake: place the muffin tins into the oven on the middle and lower shelf. Cook the puff pastry bites for 12 minutes (up to 14 for the tin on the lower shelf) and once the cook time is up, use oven mitts to remove the muffin tins from the oven and place them onto a cooling rack. Let the bites cool for a couple of minutes and then use a teaspoon to gently push them out of the tin and rest them back onto the cooling rack.
Pepper jelly: next take a teaspoon and dollop a small amount (½ teaspoon or less) into the centre of each pastry bite.
To serve: sprinkle the thyme leaves over the top and add any remaining pieces of brie onto the top of the pepper jelly.

Note 1 - Puff pastry: we want the pastry to be soft and easy to work with without it cracking when we are trying to cut it. So grab it out of the fridge as a starting point so that it will be ready to go when you are up to that step. Also re the quantity - I use 4 sheets but it is not an exact science. So I am giving you a bit of extra room re 4-6 sheets so that if you need it you have enough for the 48 muffin tin holes.
Note 2 - Brie cheese: we want to cut the wheel of brie into at least 48 pieces. This is easy if you keep the pieces small and cut larger pieces in half. I start with the whole wheel and cut that into half then quarters then I cut each of the quarters into smaller pieces. Having some of these leftover means that as well as baking the brie into the pastry, you can also pop some on top when you are serving the appetizer.
Note 3 -Pepper jelly: you can use any flavor your like! Aussies - you are looking for 'chilli jam'. It is with the relishes and pickles, onions and vinegars in the supermarket. You can also use cranberry sauce if you are looking for an alternative.