Photo: @flouredfingers_
Recipe for vegan twists with pesto cream cheese by Yuliya Mihaylova
Ready-made puff pastry sheets are a lifesaver when you have guests over. They’re tasty, straightforward to work with and can pretty much be used for any application. We’ve had recipes where it’s the centrepiece as in the meatless wellington, and also as a dessert in the cannoli.
But the fastest dish you can create with these sheets is as an appetiser. Here’s a puff pastry twist recipe lathered with a pesto cream cheese dip. It’s fast and easy to create so you can start 30 minutes before your guests arrive and pull it out of the oven as they start streaming through your front door.
See also: Easy recipe for muhammara, a roasted red pepper dip
Difficulty: Easy
Prep time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 15 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
1 sheet of vegan puff pastry
1 serving vegan cream cheese
2 tbsp vegan basil pesto
Optional: Sriracha hot sauce
Sauce (optional)
5 tbsp vegan yoghurt
5 tbsp vegan mayonnaise
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper to taste
Method
Prepare the cashews. Either soak it overnight or if this is a last minute preparation, boil it until it’s soft.
Start by prepping the vegan cream cheese. You can use a store bought version to speed this up even more, but I recommend you try my homemade cashew-based version.
To the already made cream cheese, add the basil pesto and stir well.
Unroll the puff pastry and spread the cream cheese mix all over it. If you like spicy, you can add a bit of Sriracha as well.
Cut the pastry in half lengthwise and then cut into strips.
Line a big sheet pan with baking paper and preheat your oven at 170° C.
Take each strip at both ends and twist them on opposite sides, so you end up with the desired shape.
Repeat for all the remaining strips and put them on the baking paper, leaving some space between them, as they puff up when they bake.
Bake at the middle rack of your oven for 15-20 minutes, or until they become slightly golden on top.
If you wish, you can make a sauce for them. I mix vegan mayonnaise and yoghurt in an equal ratio then season with one clove of minced garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste.
