These delicious savoury pastries, made with our versatile Cream Cheese Pastry, are just the thing for the youngsters at Christmas. They’ll love the ham, ricotta and cheddar filling and be delighted by the Christmassy shapes.
Enlisting the children to be creative with the decoration will encourage them to tuck into their own artwork, ensuring they eat something healthy as well as the naughty (but nice) temptations on offer.
Adults will love these pastries too. So go ahead, bake a few extras for the grown-ups.
Caren
CHEESE AND HAM PASTRIES
Makes 4-6 depending on the shape and size
1 quantity Cream Cheese Gluten-free Pastry (see below)
175 gm ricotta
100 gm cheddar, grated
80 gm ham, thinly sliced and cut into small pieces
1 egg, lightly beaten
Tomato sauce and mayonnaise in squeezy bottles to decorate.
Combine the ricotta, cheddar and ham.
Remove a cream cheese pastry disc from the fridge. Roll between 2 sheets of baking paper to a thickness of 5mm. Transfer, on the baking paper, to a baking tray, and place in the fridge. Repeat with the other disc.
This pastry is easier to work with when cool, so return it to the fridge as often as required.
Remove one tray of pastry from the fridge. Cut out roughly outlined shapes 1cm larger than your cookie cutter/s, as shown in the photo.
Place a spoonful of ricotta mix in the centre of the shape. Brush the edges with beaten egg. Cover with another similar pastry shape and press the edges together. Using your chosen cookie cutter, cut out the decorative pastry shape pressing gently to flatten the filling a little. Return to the fridge on the baking tray.
Repeat with the remaining pastry and filling. Refrigerate all the pastries for at least 10 minutes before baking.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Brush the pastries with beaten egg. Bake for 20-25 minutes depending upon their size and shape. They should be crisp and golden.
Cool for a few minutes and then enlist the children to decorate the pastries.
TIPS: The quantities can easily be doubled to make more pastries. Adults love these too!
Use the pastry off-cuts to create decorative shapes. They will cook faster than the filled pastries.
CREAM CHEESE PASTRY
150 gm cold butter, cubed
250 gm cream cheese, cubed
180 gm rice flour
60 gm tapioca flour
40 gm potato flour
4 gm guar gum or pysllium husks
Place butter and cream cheese in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add flours and guar gum or psyllium husks, and process until the pastry comes together.
Turn the pastry onto baking paper and knead for several minutes, dusting with extra white rice flour if necessary. Divide into 2 equal discs and refrigerate until required.