Puff pastry hearts: the recipe for savory appetizers for Valentine’s Day

I puff hearts they are a delicious appetizer perfect to bring to the table at breakfastaperitifor be offered as antipasti on Valentine’s Day for a romantic dinner in good company. Quick and easy, they are prepared, like vol-au-vents, with ready-to-use dough and special molds of different sizes.

To make them, it will first be necessary to cut out many hearts in the dough then superimpose on the latter as many hearts, of the same size, cut in the center: thus you will create the edges of the rustici and you can then stuff them, according to the personal tastes, with the most diverse. We offer them here four different versions: a more pleasant one, based on spreadable cream cheese and salami, a very chic one, with salmon and pink pepper, and two vegetarians, with mozzarella and tomato, and ricotta and spinach.

Once filled, all you have to do is bake the puff pastry hearts in the oven and then serve them, hot and fragrant, for a special occasion or on the occasion of the Carnival buffet, playing with the shapes and fillings as you wish. If you want, you can also cook them comfortably in advance then assemble them just before serving, or you can try a sweet version made with butter and cinnamon.

Learn how to make puff pastry hearts by following the step-by-step procedure and tips. If you liked this recipe, also try the rustici puff pastry.

How to make puff pastry hearts

Cut out the first roll of dough with the largest heart-shaped cookie cutter 1.

Proceed in the same way with the second roll then, with a small heart cookie cutter, cut out the inside of each heart 2: this way you will get lots of empty puff pastry hearts in the center.

Place the puff pastry hearts obtained from the first roll on a baking sheet, brush the edges with the lightly beaten egg yolk and overlap the cut-out hearts 3.

Brush them again with the beaten egg yolk 4.

With the smallest mold, make lots of hearts with the slices of smoked salmon 5.

Do the same with the slices of salami 6.

Prepare the ricotta and spinach filling: cook the spinach in a pan with a drizzle of oil and a pinch of salt, then chop it with a knife, let it cool and mix it in a bowl with the ricotta 7well drained whey.

Fill the hearts by filling some with the ricotta and spinach mixture, others with a little tomato purée, seasoned with a pinch of salt, and the last with the cream cheese spread 8.

Cover the hearts with cheese, alternating the hearts of salami with the hearts of salmon 9and place in a static oven at 180°C for about 20 minutes. Once the cooking time has elapsed, remove the rustici from the oven and bake again for a few minutes only those with tomato sauce, with a few cubes of mozzarella on top.

When the mozzarella is melted, arrange the hearts of puff pastry on a serving plate, garnish the rustici salmon with pink pepper tenbring to the table and serve.

Advice

If you wish, you can bake the hearts of puff pastry without filling then garnish them, once out of the oven, with all kinds of savory creams, or you can play with flavors and textures, and replace the proposed ingredients with cooked ham and smoked provola, gorgonzola e walnut kernelsprawns and arugula, mascarpone and crushed pistachios…

you can use i puff pastry scraps advanced to make delicious snacks based on robiola and salmon, pretzels, gift baskets or other tasty, original and quick starters.

To end an evening for two on a sweet note, you can also try a heart of cheesecake or Valentine’s Day cookies.

storage

Puff pastry hearts should be eaten flavored and at the time. Cooked, not stuffed, they can be stored at room temperature, tightly closed in an airtight container, 1 to 2 days maximum. Alternatively, you can freeze them raw and put them in freezer inside a food bag, interspersed with parchment paper to prevent sticking.