These puff pastry cheese straws are the answer to the question, "what do I do with leftover puff pastry scraps?" Some Parmesan cheese, some butter, and a few seasonings later, you have a crispy and addictive appetizer that are the perfect light nibble before a meal or as part of a fancy cheese plate or charcuterie board.
8ozof homemade puff pastry or 1 sheet or store-bought1/2 pound
2ozbutter1/2 stick or 4 Tablespoons (optional)
4ozParmesan cheesegrated (canned is fine or freshly grated)
2teaspoonsItalian seasoning
½teaspoongarlic powder
heavy pinch of salt
½teaspoonfreshly ground black pepper
½teaspoonhot or sweet smoked paprika
½teaspoonground fennel seedoptional but lovely
Instructions
Freeze your puff strips on a parchment-lined sheet pan for about 30 minutes while you prepare the cheese mixture.
Heat the oven to 375F convection or 375-400F conventional.
(OPTIONAL: You can also just scatter the spices and roll the puff in the mixture, skipping the buttering step) Melt the butter in a small bowl until mostly melted and stir until completely melted, about 30 seconds in the microwave. Set aside.
In a bowl, whisk together the Parmesan and all the seasonings.
Evenly pour just over half of the cheese mixture into a shallow tray or onto your clean work surface.
Take the cold strips out of the freezer and give each a quick dunk in the butter and then place into the Parmesan mixture. NOTE: Make sure your butter is barely warm so it doesn't melt the butter in your strips and make your puff hard to work with.
Evenly sprinkle on the rest of the Parmesan mixture, making sure that at least most of each pastry strip has a good coating. Gently press down on the strips to make sure the cheese mixture adheres to both sides.
Twist each strip several times. If your pastry gets soft, refrigerate for a few minutes and then soldier on.
Place each twisted strip on your parchment-lined sheet pan leaving about 1 1/2" between each.
Bake for about 15 minutes, rotating the pan after 10 minutes. Twists are ready when they are nicely puffed and deep, golden brown. As a bonus, your kitchen will smell incredible.
Serve warm.
Notes
VARIATIONS
As I said at the beginning, the sky is the limit with these guys.Use Parmesan like I did, or consider other harder, grating cheeses:
aged Cheddar
Gruyere
Pecorino Romano
Fontina
Asiago
You can also keep things simple by only rolling cheese into/pressing cheese onto your puff pastry.There is no rule that says you have to use herbs and spices.But for additional flavor, use your favorite dried herbs and spices to enhance your cheese.You can also choose to substitute something like sharp mustard for the butter. That would be incredible with some sharp, aged Cheddar.
STORING
Keep tightly sealed at room temperature for about 5 days. If they are a little soft, refresh in your oven or toaster oven for 3-5 minutes and they will crisp right back up.I recommend freezing them before baking so you can pop some straight into the oven from frozen and have tasty little snacks in about 20 minutes or so. They’re especially nice to make during the holidays to bust out for holiday meals or cocktail parties.