Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Both savory and sweet, tangy, earthy, rich. Texture: The pastry is buttery and flaky, the filling is thick and cheesy with tender caramelized onions on top. Ease: Many elements of this recipe can be made ahead of time – even the finished product. Appearance: Like little bites of heaven. Pros:Addicting and wonderful for entertaining. Cons: None! Except maybe that these pastry bites aren’t exactly health food. Would I make this again? Yes.This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
Sometimes a good recipe is just a vessel for all of your favorite things. Cheese. Pastry. Caramelized onions. It’s not exactly genius, but you know it’s bound to be good. There’s no way anyone could set out a tray of these pastry bites and not have them almost all gone within a few moments. Unless you’re serving to a gathering of vegans. Then you’re on your own. But these little cheesy morsels are perfect for any entertaining occasion, or just when you feel like indulging on something splendid.
Cheesy Caramelized Onion Pastry Bites
Ingredients
- 1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted
- 2 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons dry white wine
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
- 1 8- ounce package cream cheese, softened
- 1 4- ounce package (1 cup) crumbled feta cheese
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
Instructions
- Spray a 24-cup mini muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Cut the puff pastry into 24 2-inch squares, spreading out pastry with a rolling pin to increase surface area if necessary. Press pastry squares into muffin cups. Prick the bottom of each pastry with a fork. Place muffin tin in refrigerator until ready to use.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium to low heat and add the onions. Saute for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft and there is almost no moisture remaining in the skillet. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, the wine, and thyme and continue to cook for another 10 minutes, until the onions are lightly browned. Remove from the heat. Caramelized onions can be made up to 2 days ahead of time. Store cooled onions in an airtight container in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before using.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- In a food processor or with an electric mixer, blend cream cheese, feta, and garlic clove until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Place heaping teaspoons of cheese mixture into pastry cups. Top with another teaspoon of caramelized onions. Pastry bites can be assembled a few hours ahead of time, cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown. Serve hot. Pastry bites can be baked 3 days ahead of time. Reheat at 350 degrees for 5-7 minutes, or until hot.
Made these today for Christmas dinner. What a hit!! Thanks for the recipe … so easy, so savory! It’s my new ‘go to’ appetizer
I have looked at the ingredients on Trader Joe’s Pastry Bites and there are eggs in the ingredients, along with a lot of other stuff, including sugar. Their product is delicious. You have added things that I do not think are in the TJ pastries. Do you believe your version is even close to the original?
Grace – I’d like to first say that I never claimed this recipe to be a copycat for the Trader Joe’s product, only inspired by it. I do believe this recipe produces a very similar, equally delicious result!
Bookmarking this- what a great idea! These look so tasty, and I think they would be a fantastic way to start any dinner party!
Beautiful & delicious. I love the simplicity of the dish & I bet they taste great!
This is such a nice way to liven up our kitchen onions. What a unique preparation
One by one, I could eat them all! Have a nice weekend!
Cheese. Onions. Pastry. All my favourite things! I'll def be making these, yum!