Butternut Squash Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onion Pastries

Crumble the goat cheese and put into a bowl. It doesn’t have to be finely crumbled, just chunks. Place the crumbled goat cheese into the freezer for 30 minutes to get really firm.

Place the flour, butter, salt and white pepper in a food processor that is 11 cups or larger. If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a pastry blender for this dough.

Process for a minute or so. You still want to have pea sized chunks of butter. 

Add the goat cheese and again process just for a minute until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, there can still be little bits of butter and cheese. Try not to over work the dough.

Add in the eggs and process just until the dough starts to come together. It should still look like crumbles. 

Scrape the mixture onto a clean work surface and with your hands push the dough together into a flat disk. The dough will be slightly sticky and may stick to the work surface a little. 

Wrap the disk in plastic wrap, scraping it off the counter if necessary. 

Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight. This dough will be ok if it sits in the fridge for 2 or 3 days.

Pre-heat oven to 375°.

Take the goat cheese out and let it come to room temperature as you cook the filling.

Place the diced or cubed butternut squash on a rimmed baking sheet and toss with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, about ½ teaspoon each.

Roast the butternut squash, tossing occasionally for 45 minutes or until the squash is cooked and starting to brown on the edges. 

While the butternut squash is roasting, heat a large non stick skillet on medium high heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. 

Stirring often, sauté the onions along with a pinch of salt. 

When the onions start to brown, turn down the heat to barley medium and keep an eye on it to not burn the onions.

Continue to stir often and cook until the onions have started to caramelize. The onions just need to get good color. They don’t have to have the deep caramel color that you want for onion soup.

Place the roasted butternut squash and the onions in a bowl and let cool.

Add the grated Gruyere cheese and gently mix together.

Place the softened goat cheese into a quart sized Ziploc or small pastry bag if you have one, to make it easier to divide onto the dough circles.

If you are baking them right away, pre-heat the oven to 350°. Have a couple of trays lined with Silpat ready.

Divide the pastry dough in half, roll out and fill one half at a time. 

Roll the dough 1/8 inch thick on a floured surface.

Using a round cookie cutter about 2 ¾-3 inches in diameter (the one I used is 2 ¾”), cut out as many circles as possible from the dough. Save the scraps to make more circles, this dough can be re-rolled a couple of times.

I find it easier to line up the circles in rows to fill them.

In a small bowl, beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of water. 

Lightly brush the surface of all the circles with the beaten egg mixture.

Cut one corner of the Ziploc bag if using. Pipe about a quarter sized disk, (about 1 teaspoon) of the goat cheese onto half of the circles. 

Spoon 1 tablespoon of the butternut squash mixture over the goat cheese. If you have a small cookie scoop, it works great here.

Cover each of the filled circles with the other half of the circles. Press down on the top circle, gently stretching to make the edges come together. 

Using a finger, firmly crimp the edges together.

Place on the prepared pans. If you are baking them later, they can be chilled or frozen in multiple layers of wax paper. 

Repeat with the second half of the dough. Then re-roll the scraps, you will get around 40 or more in total.

If freezing; freeze them on a tray, once frozen, bag in freezer bags. They will keep for 6 months or more. 

When ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 350°.

Place as many as you would like on a Silpat lined or non-stick baking sheet spaced about 2 inches apart.

Brush the pastries with more egg wash, either frozen or just made.

Bake for 20 minutes until they are golden brown. If they are frozen, they will take a couple of minutes more. Be careful not to over cook them.