I recently discovered the magic of puff pastry. I have no idea where it's been all my life, but when I happened to find it in the frozen section at Caputo's, I immediately picked some up. I had zero plan with it too. And to be honest, had no idea how to cook with it. All of these things made me extremely happy haha!
First I made some berry, honey and Mascarpone pastries, and those were pretty good but the filling ran out the sides too much. So next I tried Spinach Dip, which I had already began preparing for our family Christmas that happened last weekend, so then I figured why not stuff Spinach Dip into the most delectable little dough ball ever? And it worked!
To be clear, I bought this puff pastry at the store. From what I hear, it's about the same as if you make it yourself, except you save a lot of time. That works for me, especially as I am running around taking care of 3 little ones all day long.
I preheated my oven to 425° to ensure it was nice and hot and would allow the pastry to "puff."
Then I got to work on my spinach dip. I used 1 1/2 containers of fresh spinach (the half sized ones), mostly because my 2 year old jumped off the side of the cart at the grocery store and whacked her head on the floor. We had to get out ASAP and I had the baby trying to frantically get out of his seat so he could show off his new walking skills. It was chaotic to say the least.
So back to that spinach dip. I wilted down the fresh spinach dip in 2 tbsp of butter and turned the heat to low. From there, I added in my go-to seasonings: salt, pepper, smoked paprika and garlic powder, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. I added in a bit of mayo, fresh garlic, an egg, Parmesan and cream cheese. Next came the mozzarella cheese. I put it into a bowl and cracked an egg over it once it cooled a little and mixed it all up until well-combined.
After taking the puff pastry out of the wrapper, I used a bit of flour and a rolling pin to shape it into a rectangle. I cut even, 1 inch strips long ways, then cut those in half.
I greased up my muffin tin and laid two strips across each other, creating an x. From there I put in about 2 tbsp of spinach dip mix then crossed the strips and pinched them into a cute little knot. I cracked another egg, whisked it lightly and applied an egg wash to the outside of the "knots" before baking.
My oven runs hot, but really what you're looking for is the pastry to "puff" and begin to brown. From there I lowered the temperature to 375° for another 12 minutes to cook through. If you smell any kind of burning, take it out. My oven runs a tad hot so I am always on the look-out at the end of baking anything.
We enjoyed these as is once they cooled a bit! The spinach dip stayed firm and savory and the puff pastry nicely complimented the dip for a delicious appetizer!
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