Puff Pastry Breakfast Parcels
Puff Pastry Breakfast Parcels are one of those deceptively easy and utterly elegant things that people love to nosh on. I was inspired to make these at home after noshing on a few like them at Whole Foods while grocery shopping with my son. What could be easier than layering your favorite deli meats on squares of puff pastry? I want people to think I slaved away on something when really it took ten minutes of prep work and a mere 20 minutes in the oven.
What I love about them even more than the lack of skill required is the ability to make these your own. The ones I ate at Whole Foods had turkey and bacon with provolone. I decided to make these with ham and cheddar and another version with prosciutto and Parmesan. You can make them vegetarian with sun dried tomatoes and spinach, or do ones with bacon and caramelized onions. The options are endless and this is something so easy to personalize, which is why I love it SO much.
One sheet of puff pastry (I used Pepperidge Farm since it’s readily available everywhere) will yield 6 of these parcels. In each box of puff pastry you get two sheets so you can make a whole bunch of these pretty easily. And if you’ve never bought puff pastry before don’t be scared! It’s super easy to deal with. It can be found in the freezer section by pie crusts and frozen fruits. You just pull out how ever many sheets you want to deal with and let them thaw on the counter. Mine took 20 minutes, it can take up to 40 depending on the temperature in your house.
Roll the dough out to a 9″ x 12″ long rectangle (use your eyes as a guide no need to measure, just make it slightly larger than a sheet of computer paper).
Then use the lines where the sheets were folded as a cutting guide. Cut three long strips.
Cut the strips in half to equal 6 pieces.
I take each piece and roll it slightly into a square shape. Each square is about 6″ x6″.
Turn the dough so it is a diamond, then put your meat and cheese in the center.
Fold one corner over the middle and then the next corner over the middle as well. It will look like it’s hugging itself. Then brush the underside of the top fold with egg wash to make sure it stays in place during baking and brush the entire outside of the puff pastry with egg wash as well to help it to brown nicely.
If you are using bacon then I suggest cooking it in the microwave slightly. Just put the bacon in between sheets of paper towel on a microwave safe dish. Microwave for 1-2 minutes. This will get some of the fat out of the bacon and allow it to brown up nicely in the puff pastry. You can certainly put the raw bacon in the parcel, but if you do it will require about ten minutes more cooking time.
I cook mine on a piece of parchment paper. I have recently discovered these pre cut sheets perfect for a baking sheet, and they are unbleached. http://amzn.to/2B2VAUn I can’t even tell you how many times I have over estimated what I needed from the roll and wasted parchment. These pre cut sheets are an answer to my problems!
Puff Pastry Breakfast Parcels
Ingredients
- 2 sheets frozen puff pastry thawed
- 1 egg yolk
For Ham Bacon & Cheese Parcels:
- 6 slices bacon see my note above about pre cooking the bacon slightly in the microwave
- 6 ultra thin slices honey ham
- 6 slices thin sliced sharp cheddar cheese
For the Prosciutto & Parmesan Parcels:
- 12 slices prosciutto
- 6 tbsp finely grated parmesan
Instructions
- See the photographs above for reference.
- Preheat an oven to 400 degrees.
- Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Roll the puff pastry sheet into a 9"x12" rectangle.
- Using the lines in the puff pastry from where it was folded, cut three long strips.
- Then cut each strip in half, so you should now have 6 small rectangles.
- Roll each rectangle into a square. The squares should be about 6"x6"
- Repeat with the remaining sheet of puff pastry.
- If making the Ham & Cheese Breakfast Parcels then turn the square so that it is a diamond shape, put a slice of ham, a slice of cheese, and slice of bacon broken in half.
- If doing the Prosciutto and Parmesan Parcel then put two slices of Prosciutto and 1 tbsp of Parmesan in the middle instead. I like to do half and half. 6 Ham and Cheese and 6 Prosciutto and Parm.
- Fold one corner of the dough into the center. Then fold the other corner of dough to the center. It will look like it's hugging itself.
- Mix the egg yolk with 1 tsp water. Brush the egg wash onto the bottom of the two corners and press the top corner into it. This way it will stay wrapped up while it's cooking.
- Then brush the entire parcel with egg wash.
- Bake the parcels for 20-25 minutes in a 400 degree oven. If you did not precook your bacon slightly it will take longer, about 10 additional minutes.
Need inspiration for other breakfast options for guests? Check out one of my previous recipes!
How would you reheat these?
In the oven. They don’t reheat great but the oven has worked out better than the microwave for sure. Put them in at 350 and try for about 10-15 minutes. The pastry should crisp up a bit again. I store them in the fridge usually.
What shelf should breakfast bites made with puff pastry be on
In the oven? I would say in the middle.