Caramelized Onion & Cheese Puff Pastry Bites!

When I was going through my kitchen today looking for something fun to make I tried to take inventory of what I had in my house already. I always have a handful of onions in the pantry, butter is a staple, and I usually have an assortment of some cheeses. Luckily, I also had some puff pastry in the freezer so I decided to do my take on a appetizer I've made before.

This recipe is an easy crowd pleaser but note it will usually require defrosting of the puff pastry and caramelizing the onions so plan accordingly!

Overall prep/cooking time: Approx. 45 minutes-1 hr

Serves: 12

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 sheet of room temperature puff pastry

• 2 medium yellow onions or 3 small onions

• 1 egg (scrambled to use for egg wash)

• 2 tbsp of butter

• 1 1/2 cup of shredded cheese (I used a 60/40 blend of Jarlsberg & Parmesan Reggiano)

• 1 tbsp granulated sugar

• Salt & Pepper

• Thyme leaves

RECIPE:

1. Remove puff pastry from freezer or make your own from scratch if you prefer

2. While the dough is defrosting, cut your onion into longer thinner slices. I usually cut my onion in half once, and then cut thin vertical slices for caramelized onions.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

4. Melt butter on medium heat and add onion slices. Season with approx. 1 tsp salt & pepper (or to your taste)

5. Once the onions have cooked down add sugar and turn temperature down to low and let the onions caramelize until a golden brown color (about 10-20 minutes).

6. Using a clean floured rolling pin and surface, roll out your puff pastry into one even rectangle and then slice into 12 even pieces. You can also cut these into smaller slices if you want to serve bite size hors d'oeuvre vs. appetizer size.

7. Brush each puff pastry square with egg wash and transfer to a greased or lined pan. I prefer to use parchment paper under my pastry for easy cleaning!

8. Add about 1 tsp-1 tbsp (depending on how large you cut your squares) of shredded cheese on the middle of the puff pastry square. Season with pepper.

9. Add 1 tsp-1 tbsp of caramelized onions to the top of the cheese.

10. Sprinkle with thyme leaves and put the pastry into the oven for about 13-15 or until golden brown.

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This recipe would be great using a variety of cheeses or garnishes. You could do brie and diced pear or apple, swiss cheese with onions and mushrooms, or get a little funky with some blue cheese. This would even be great by adding a drizzle of honey if you like your pastry a bit sweeter...The options are endless!

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