Spinach & Cheese Puffs

I love working with Puff pastry for appetizers and desserts. Why? because, the dough is flaky, soft and buttery which most people equate to decadent.  The best part is how easy the dough is to work with...I do buy store bought as layering slabs of butter between dough I feel needs to be left up to Commercial bakers...not me!  I watched a chef make puff pastry once, it was an hour long show that was time lapsed (enough said?) Even that chef admitted that buying it frozen from the store is a far better and less time consuming endeavor.  I trust his word!  I buy frozen Puff Pastry and just grab it from Freezer when I know I want to be baking with it. The instructions are to thaw 40 mins at room temperature - you do want the dough softened but, still cold.  I lay out parchment paper and open up my dough sheets to let defrost...(you usually get two sheets per box) I then use a rolling pin to stretch the dough a bit (it the dough starts sticking to your pin, its getting too warm (pop in fridge for 5 mins) <---or flour your rolling pin if need be.  I hope you enjoy this little appetizer (I fully admit, this recipe is ON THE BOX!) Some of the best recipes usually are somewhere on the products box or packaging - I figure if they took the time to place it on there - it must be decent!  ~Enjoy! Diane

Spinach & Cheese Puffs  

Ingredients: 
1 egg
1 tbsp. water
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese  
garlic powder
1/2 pkg. Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed
1 pkg. (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained, lightly salt.

Directions:
Heat the oven to 400°F. 
Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork.
Unfold the pastry sheet onto a piece of parchment paper, lightly roll out dough a bit longer and wider then place dough on parchment paper onto a baking sheet.  Brush the pastry sheet all over the top surface with the egg/water mixture.  
Sprinkle garlic powder lightly over entire egged, surface. Top with the cheese and lightly salted spinach. 
Starting at a short side, roll up like a jelly roll.
Cut into about 10 (1 inch) slices.  Place the slices, around your backing sheet cut-side down. Brush the slices with the egg/water mixture.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown.  Remove the pastries from the baking sheets and let cool on wire racks for 10 minutes. The wider you cut your slices, the longer they take to bake (if cutting 1/2 inch slices, cook time is approx 15-20 mins) 

For best results, make sure to remove as much liquid as you can from the spinach before adding it to the pastry. If it's too wet, it may make the pastry soggy.

Recipe Adapted from: Pepperidge Farms
Photos by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home