Easy Puff Pastry Bites. Party pastry sandwiches layered with YOUR favourite fillings. Optional gluten free; dairy free; vegan.
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Puff Pastry Bites are Perfect Party appetisers
Puff Pastry Bites are simple to make party pastries. They look amazing, taste fabulous and are incredibly versatile. Whether gluten free or not, they are quick to throw together using shop-bought puff pastry, but will turn heads with their simplicity and deliciousness.
Puff Pastry Bites originally created for Coeliac Awareness Week
The original recipe for these party pastries (made with gluten free pastry), was created in 2018 to support Coeliac Awareness Week. Facilitated by Coeliac UK, Awareness Week takes place each year in May and highlights important issues facing the Coeliac community. In 2018, Coeliac UK celebrated its 50th anniversary (being founded in 1968 (when it was known as The Coeliac Society)).
Since then it has gone from strength to strength… Campaigning for and supporting everything from medical research and awareness of the condition, to prescription services, mentoring, food labelling, coeliac-safe restaurants, training for chefs and supermarkets committed to stocking gluten free staples… It is an amazing organisation.
I have written other posts on Coeliac Disease during previous awareness weeks which you can read here and here. An autoimmune condition which affects about 1 in a hundred people, the condition results in serious illness for sufferers when they eat gluten.
What pastry can I use for Puff Pastry Bites?
Although I used gluten free ready-made, shop-bought puff pastry to make Puff Pastry Bites, these party pastries are flexible to lots of variations.
If you feel confident in making your own from scratch gluten free puff pastry, then feel free to go completely home-made. My recipe is really easy to make.
Alternatively, whether gluten free or not, you can buy ready-to-roll puff pastry block or ready-rolled puff pastry sheet, that will make the whole construction quicker and easier. Jus Rol make a whole range of pastries including a gluten free ready-rolled puff (which is Vegan). Asda also have a similar own-brand gluten free version.
And if you are looking for gluten free ready to roll block… Genius make a gluten free-dairy free (but not vegan) pack and for some of you outside the UK, Schaer make a similar product too.
How easy are Puff Pastry Bites?
If using ready-made puff pastry, these morsels are incredibly easy. Once the pastry is rolled, it just needs cutting, baking and filling.
What fillings make the best party pastries?
Puff pastry bites can be filled with pretty much anything, with one golden rule… They need to be constructed with something that will help them to stick together (fairly important for a party pastry). My favourite savoury ‘wet’ fillings are whipped cream cheese, cottage cheese, hummus, patés, and Baba Ganoush. Guacamole works well too, providing it is served soon after filling. You can even use a spread of sticky chutney or jelly.
For extra interest, pair your sticky filling with other meats, fish, or veggies in layers. Just choose your fillings for variety and dietary needs. Whatever you fill them with, they will be guaranteed to bring a smile (Coeliac or not).
Can I make Puff Pastry Bites dairy free and vegan?
Absolutely yes! Just make sure the pastry that you use is safe for your dietary requirements and then choose fillings to match. My houmous and beetroot combo is a perfect party vegan pastry.
The recipe for Puff Pastry Bites
Below you’ll find the recipe for my Puff Pastry Bites. Whether you serve them as pre-dinner appetisers or make them as party pastries for a full-on knees-up, I know they will go down a treat. Trust me… They were devoured in a flash at GFHQ.
If you do make them, please remember to come back and rate the recipe so that other people will be able to find it. And leave a comment, take a photo and tag us on social media (links at the top of the page).
Looking for other party appetisers?
At Gluten Free Alchemist, we are adding to our recipe collections all the time. Why not take a look at our Gluten Free Appetiser and Sides Index and our Party and Picnic Index? For everything else, start with our Main Recipe Book Index and navigate to what you’re looking for…
Meanwhile, here’s a few other party bites to whet your appetite…
Puff Pastry Bites (Savoury Party Pastries)
Key equipment
- cookie cutter(s)
- fridge
- small bowl
- Oven
- grater
- sharp knife
- whisk (optional)
- Piping bag and tip (optional)
Ingredients
- 400 g pack ready-to-roll puff pastry or use ready-rolled as preferred; GF/Vegan as required
- 1 egg lightly beaten with a little milk
- 2 tbsp cheddar cheese (approx) finely grated
- ½ tsp paprika powder
- 2 tsp sesame seeds
- 250 g Philadelphia or other cream cheese approx
- 70 g sliced cooked ham approx
- 100 g sliced smoked salmon approx
- 200 g houmous (approx) home-made or shop-bought
- 3 cooked/pickled baby beets (approx) finely sliced
Instructions
Pastry Preparation
- Base-line 3 to 4 baking trays with baking parchment (or prepare to batch-bake with less).
- Lay a large sheet of non-stick baking paper on your work surface and dust with tapioca flour.
- Place your ready-to-roll pastry on top and dust the top with flour too, before carefully rolling to a thickness of approximately half centimetre. (Skip the rolling if your pastry is already a rolled sheet).
- Using a small cookie cutter, carefully cut out your pastry shapes, trying to minimise any pastry waste (TIP: to get the best flakiness in the pastry, your pastry should (as far as possible) be cut on the first roll-out).
- Place the cut pastry shapes on the prepared baking sheets and chill for half an hour.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 C/350 F/Gas 4.
- Prepare the egg-wash by lightly beating an egg with a little milk using a fork.
- Brush the tops of half of the pastry shapes with egg-wash.
- While the egg wash is still wet, sprinkle a third of the pastry shapes with a little grated cheese, a third with paprika and a third with sesame seeds.
- Bake all of the pastry shapes in the oven until risen, crisp and golden (about 20 to 25 minutes).
- Once baked, remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely.
- If batch-baking the pastry shapes, repeat the process using the left-over pastry.
Filling the pastry bites
- In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese a little to lighten and add air.
- Take the ham and either cut into smallish pieces or use the cookie cutter that you used for the pastry to cut into shapes – set aside.
- Repeat the same cutting process with the smoked salmon – set aside.
- Slice your baby beets into thin discs with a sharp vegetable knife.
- Use a piping bag with a large open star tip (or just use a teaspoon if easier) to pipe two-thirds of the plain cooked pastry bases with a small blob of cream cheese.
- Top half of the cream cheese piped bases with a piece of ham and the other half with a piece of smoked salmon.
- Take the cheese topped, glazed pastries and carefully pipe a further blob of cream cheese on the underside, before gently pressing onto the ham pastries.
- Repeat the process, piping a small blob of cream cheese onto the underside of the paprika-topped pastries and sandwiching onto the smoked salmon bases.
- Finally, take a clean piping bag with a clean tip, fill with houmous and repeat the same process with the remaining pastry bases and sesame tops, sandwiching two houmous layers with a disc of beetroot. (It is best to make the houmous ones just before you eat them as the houmous will quickly dry and darken at the edges).
- Chill to store.
Notes
Nutrition
© 2019-2023 Kate Dowse All Rights Reserved – Do not copy or re-publish this recipe or any part of this recipe on any other blog, on social media or in a publication without the express permission of Gluten Free Alchemist
Puff Pastry Party Bites shared with :
- Cook Blog Share with Glutarama
- Full Plate Thursday #511 with Miz Helen’s Country Cottage
- What’s For Dinner #289 with The Lazy Gastronome
Previously shared with:Free From Fridays with Le Coin De Mel and Free From Farmhouse; Fiesta Friday #223 with Angie and The Frugal Hausfrau;That Friday Linky with Twin Mummy & Daddy
These look so pretty.
Thank you Jacqui x
Thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday, 511. We will be live for our special Thanksgiving Edition on Tuesday this week, be sure and stop by! Hope you have a very special Thanksgiving!
Miz Helen
Thank you Helen xx
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Thank you for sharing at #OverTheMoon. Pinned and shared. Have a lovely week. I hope to see you at next week’s party too! Please stay safe and healthy. Come party with us at Over The Moon! Catapult your content Over The Moon! @marilyn_lesniak @EclecticRedBarn
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You’re welcome Marilyn xx
We eat appetizers for Christmas eve – and this is going to be one of them! Pinned -Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party! Have a lovely rest of the week.
Thank you Helen. Enjoy xx
I can see how Miss GF would visit your stash of these. I think I could gobble them up in one go. They look so beautiful.
Thanks Vicki x
I can't believe how cute these are with the little star cutter, so clever! And the colour from the beetroot is genius! xo
Thanks Amanda. I didn't want to cut bog-standard circles or squares, but I was rather pleased with the result. x
These definitely look like very scrummy party food Kate – something yummy that a lot of people can enjoy. I was fascinated to learn that Coeliac's UK has been going for 50 years now – they definitely seem to have made huge strides in recent years with so much more awareess and a greater range of suitable food available. Thankyou for sharing with #BakingCrumbs,
Angela x
Thanks Angela. The range of GF food is still growing fast, although it can be frustrating that you have to traipse from supermarket to supermarket to source it. Coeliac UK have done so much to move things forward. x
They are so cute and I love that you've done them in a star shape. The world has changed so much in relation to dietary needs, it really is amazing and it will only get better.
Thanks Kat. We are definitely improving our understanding and our options for eating al the time x
Great recipe and an important condition to highlight. Even though doctors are more aware my sister was not diagnosed until into her 50s. Our dad was a baker her health has so much improved now she follows a strictly no gluten diet. Thank you for linking to #CookBlogShare
Oh goodness….. Sadly, that is not a rare story…. There are so many people who have suffered for a long time before diagnosis. So pleased that your sister is on the road to recovery x
Lovely little bites Karen. I always look for ideas for nibbles and these are lovely to look at too.. not just delicious!
Thank you Alida x
These are so adorable and I love the fillings. What a powerful story about your dad and I'm sure he'd be very happy that your daughter is not suffering in the same way.
Thank you Emma. I think Dad would be amazed at what we can make now and would be very proud of Miss for handling Coeliac so well…. x
What a wonderful recipe – I just love those gorgeous stars. So perfect for party. I can well understand why Miss GF gobbled them all up. And such an interesting post about the change in attitudes towards Coeliac 'disease'. I am amazed that they could identify your dad as a Coeliac so long ago, yet didn't know to insist he should avoid gluten. (Bananas? really?) Your poor dad to suffer for so long, how awful. You must be so grateful to live in much more enlightened times. (Well it's better at least – I know some people still don't get it!!) Eb x
Thanks Eb. They were pretty good!
Dad lived in a very different time. Bananas was a weird one! He actually had them specially shipped in for him during the war….. the other kids were so jealous….. But I'm not sure it did anything to make him feel physically better xx
How wonderful that puff comes in a gluten free option!! What a perfect Mother's day brunch item. Or perfect for a shower! Thanks for sharing with us at Fiesta Friday!
Mollie
Absolutely Mollie. GF puff was a long time coming and so welcome….. It's such a drag to make at home!
Great recipe for an important cause! I love how easy these are to put together and your filling choices are delicious and I would so enjoy every one of them 🙂 Perfect canapés if you ask me! Thank you for sharing with #BakingCrumbs 🙂 x
Thanks Jo. There are so few good GF canapé recipes around…… I suspect I could be making these very often! x
You make everything look so pretty! And cute! Great party snack idea:)
Awww thanks Monika. Pretty food always looks extra yummy!! x
These puff pastry bites sound like perfect party food! It is great that so much has been done to raise awareness of ceoliac disease over the last few years. It must have been incredibly difficult in the past for people to follow a gluten free diet and I guess a lot of people did just decide to put up with the ill effects. Thanks so much for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice x
They certainly are Corina and Thanks! Always good to share x
My Dad would be astounded at how differently Coeliac is understood these days.
those hummous ones sound like the bites I would make a bee line for! I am amazed at the story of your dad being diagnosed and still eating all the wheat food – I guess back then he would not have had many alternatives. One of my colleagues at work said her brother was diagnosed as a child 60or 70 years ago and if not for the diagnosis (which was quite new) they think he might have died – I wonder what would have happened to my niece if she had not been diagnosed as a baby as she was obviously affected quite badly by it at that age. Sad to think that your dad just suffered through the pain. Glad you and your daughter get a better deal – in fact some really wonderful GF food!
Thanks Johanna.
The houmous ones are so good….. but then I have a particular love of houmous with spicy beetroot!
Coeliac diagnosis and treatment has come a long way in the last 50 years….. If my dad were alive today, I think he would be amazed at how much GF food is available and how much better we understand the condition! x
These look perfect for this week's FF party! Thanks for sharing, Kate! x
Thanks So much…. You're welcome x
Hats off to you Kate, this is an awesome idea for a recipe and what a commemorative way to share it. This is going to be a new addition to accompany my other party food favourites, family and friends will love them xx
Thanks Rebecca. They are so easy to make. They will definitely be on my party 'go to' recipe list now!