Cheesy Jalapeno Bites

Now over the holidays I was given the task of making some appitizers for a  few family events.  Well mostly I am given the option of what side do I want to do and I opt for apps as they are usually easier to transport given my husband and I live relatively far from everyone, and there is nothing harder than transporting food and keeping it tasty for long hauls. I often go for the apps as they can be frozen and don't require a long time to cook or can be brought at room temp.

So this particular recipe came about from my husband's work pot luck, he called me telling me that there would be a pot luck and he wasnt sure what to make. Translation, make something honey cause I dont have a clue.

I started off with thinking I would make some homemade sausage rolls [a far cheaper alternative and tastier than the store bought kind], but the husband didnt want to have something that some people couldn't eat due to dietary restrictions.  And after some flattery from him I scrapped that concept and decided to go with something that was a little spicy, and very cheesy; plus it would have the nice crunch of the puff pastry. What can I say, while pregnant it is all about the ranges of flavour and textures that keep me going. And right now my dear future minion has my heat meter off a bit so even my "hot" is now far more mild but this can be spiced up by keeping in the membrane and some seeds from the peppers. I will say though there is a nice balance with this one with it having a slow heat that doesnt take over.

In the end what I came up with were these lovely delicate bites of spicy cheese wrapped up in a puffy pastry that honestly are darn addicting.



Cheesy Jalapeno bites

Makes approx 64 pieces

6 - 8 Jalapeno peppers [for hotter just keep in the membraine]
2 blocks of cream cheese
1 c grated cheddar or marble cheese
Splash of table cream [or milk]

2 boxes of pre rolled puff pastry [or puff pastry of choice, I am just lazy and like to buy the pre rolled packs from WalMart]

Directions:
[Note: I do use a food processor, as it is quicker, but this recipe certainly can be done by hand]

1. Finely chop your peppers, then add in the cheeses and add in enough milk to make the mixture creamy. It should be thick and light green with green flecks from the peppers.

2. Roll out your pastry and cut into 4 x 4 squares

3. In the centre of each square place a dollop of the mixture and then fold together the corners so that you get a lovely package of creamy spicy goodness.

[At this point you can either freeze them for later, or bake them off right away].

4. Bake on parchment paper [my pastry comes with parchment wrapped around it, they totally make it too easy for me to be lazy] at 375deg for 20-35m [until nice and golden as it is only the pastry that needs to be cooked in this].

The chesy mixture

Just fold the corners together