Vegan Cheese And Ham Puff Pastry

This is a paid collaboration with Bute Island Foods.

Who remembers how good cheese and ham pastries were? well you'll be pleased to know that this recipe is a vegan friendly version that tastes just as good as I remember them being! 

I used to find that a lot of vegan cheeses never melted the same way that regular cheese does, it took me a good two years to find one that I thought was decent enough to use in my recipes, but for a while now I've been using Bute Island Foods range of delicious cheeses in my recipes (I'll link a few below!) and I've found that their cheddar shreds / blocks melt perfectly in recipes such as this one! You won't even miss regular cheese.

Check out more of my cheesy recipes below:

- Soft Pretzel Bites & Cheesy Dip

- Mini S'mores Cheesecakes

- 1 Hour Cinnamon Rolls & Cream "Cheese" Icing

- The Best Vegan Chilli Cheese Fries

- Quick & Easy Greek Salad

- Cheesy "Chicken" & Sweetcorn Pasta

- Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks With Tomato Dip

- Mexican Stuffed Peppers

- Simple Vegan Mac & Cheese

This recipe is super easy to follow and can be made in just 40 minutes and would be perfect for brunch!

- VEGAN CHEESE AND HAM PUFF PASTRY - 

Makes: 4   Prep Time: 10 mins   Cook Time: 30 mins

You will need:

- 1 block (500g) of puff pastry (double check its vegan) 

- 4 tbsp apricot jam

- 2 cups Bute Island mild cheddar shreds

- 1 packet vegan ham slices (around 8 slices)

- 2 tbsp fresh rosemary

- 1 tsp thyme, fresh or dried

- 1 tbsp dairy free milk, for brushing

Method -

1. Roll out your block of puff pastry on a clean, floured surface. Making sure it's not too thick and is roughly around 1cm thickness, cut the pastry into 4 equal squares. You could cut them smaller and make more depending on how many pastries you want to make. Mine were large and I split each one between two people, but this is entirely up to you.

2. On each of the four squares of pastry, spread 1 tbsp of apricot jam, making sure it's spread out evenly. 

3. Divide the 2 cups of mild cheddar shreds between the four squares. You could use more or less depending on how cheesy you want them. 

4. Cut the vegan ham slices into little squares and place them on top of the cheese, spreading them out so they don't all stick together. 

5. Chop up the fresh rosemary and sprinkle this on top of each pastry, along with the thyme. 

6. Fold the corners of each pastry almost to the middle. Sometimes the pastry will lift in the oven (like mine above) but sometimes they will stay stuck down depending on if the jam on the corners stick to the cheese well enough. The outcome is still brilliant so don't panic.

7. On two separate baking trays, line each one with parchment paper and rest each pastry on top, keeping them spread out. Brush the top of each pastry with a light coating of dairy free milk (I use unsweetened oat milk, but it's up to you). 

8. Place the baking trays in the oven for 30 minutes, checking on the pastries often as they can burn easily.

9. Once you remove them from the oven you may realise that the cheese has lifted a lot, but this will soon deflate and they will go back to their normal shape in no time at all, so don't worry if you think they look bad!

Serve the pastries immediately as they are best served warm, but as I mentioned, I split each one between two people as they are very filling and one definitely goes a long way. You could always make the pastries smaller by cutting them into more squares and dividing the toppings accordingly.

You can find Bute Islands range of delicious vegan cheeses here!

What's your favourite kind of pastry?

Love Always,

Shannon x