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.
Related Recipes
If savory cheesy baked goods are your thing, I suggest Baked Savory Cream Cheese & Herb Donuts Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes!
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.
