Havarti Cheese Puff Pastry Sticks (Gluten Free)

About half way through making the puff pastry, it occurred to me that there was no way this was going to work. How could gluten-free dough rise enough to be light and flaky like a croissant?

I wasn't totally wrong, but it didn't matter. The toasted Havarti and warm butter were as satisfying as a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich - everyone loved them.

Allow two days to make the puff pastry, and about 1 hour to assemble and bake. Or, if you can tolerate gluten, just buy frozen puff pastry. You didn’t hear that from me, though, right?

MPM Rating: 5 Persimmons*


For the Gluten-Free Puff Pastry:

Follow the guidelines on Bob's Mill website here.  It takes about two days for the dough to be ready to bake.

For the Havarti Cheese Puff Pastry Sticks:*

Ingredients:

Flour for dusting 
2 sheets of frozen puff pastry, thawed; or recipe from Bob's Mill above (makes 1 large sheet)
Egg wash (1 beaten egg + 2 tablespoons water)
1 package Havarti Cheese (about 8-10 oz)
Fleur de Sel, or other chunky salt
Freshly ground pepper
6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed from stems
Black sesame seeds (about 2 teaspoons)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

1. Dust a flat surface with flour. Roll out the pastry dough and brush with egg wash.
2. Grate the cheese and sprinkle evenly over the dough.
3. Sprinkle the fresh thyme leaves, salt and pepper over the cheese.
4. With a sharp knife, cut strips about 1" wide. (For the gluten-free dough, I cut the strips in half horizontally).
5. Holding the top of a strip, roll it into a spiral from the bottom. Place the rolled strip on a baking sheet, and repeat with the rest of the strips. 
6. Brush the sticks gently with egg wash, and sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Sprinkle a bit more salt and pepper on top.
7. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

Serve warm.

Makes about 24 strips.

#snacks #glutenfree #puffpastry #vegetarian #havarti #cheese #appetizer #Indian #chaat #foodblog

*Thanks to Chef Asima at the Haute Sucre website for the recipe.

*MPM Rating between 1-5 Persimmons

I try out these recipes so you don't have to (and modify them for Paleo where possible). The rating will reflect my opinion of the final result in terms of taste, ease of preparation, nutrition, and sometimes, cost.