These aren’t actually cheesy pants (obviously). When J and I were putting together our Thanksgiving menu, I misread the Cheesy Papillons from this Serious Eats recipe as cheesy pantelones and after laughing until I couldn’t breathe, the name stuck.
Cheesy Papillons are simple, delicious and perfect appetizers. While best right out of the oven, they are just as tasty after they’ve cooled.
Ingredients:
Flour
2 puff pastry sheets (17 ounces total) (We found this hidden in the freezer isle!)
Coarse sea salt (such as Maldon or fleur de sel)
2 cups grated Gruyère (about 6 ounces. My new favorite cheese!)
1/4 teaspoon piment d’Espelette (since we don’t have this glorious spice, we used a substitute of half paprika and half cayenne)
Directions:
Follow the package directions for defrosting the puff pastry. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Dust the countertop (or the cutting board) with some flour. Unfold the puff pastry, dock lightly with a fork and season with a generous pinch of sea salt. Scatter 1 cup of cheese evenly over the top and use a rolling pin to gently press it into the pastry (this is important to keep the cheese from falling off as you roll). Top with half of the piment d’Espelette. Repeat with the second sheet of pastry and the remaining ingredients.
Use a ravioli cutter (we just used the pizza cutter) to slice the pastry in strips about 1-inch by 3 inches. Twist each strip in the middle to form a bowtie (a bowtie meant the cheese fell out for us, so we rolled into crescents with the cheese on the inside.).
Place strips, spaced out, on a parchment-lined baking sheet (you may need to do this in two batches). Bake until puffed and golden, 15 to 20 minutes.
My opinion:
So wonderful. I’m glad we had friends over to help me eat these because I would have eaten the whole batch myself.