Cheddar Cheese Pastries stuffed with sausage, apples, and leeks

Cheddar Cheese Pastries are gloden disks of tasty goodness your friends will love.

These Cheddar Cheese pastries are the perfect thing to serve if you have guests and want something fun to munch. They can be made way ahead, frozen and popped in the oven when you need them. I have several variations of these delicious filled pastries. But these babies are the original ones I have been making for more years than I can remember. I love having some of these on hand in the freezer for whenever I want some of these tasty treats.

The dough is easy to whip up if you have a food processor or even by hand using a pastry blender. And it is incredibly forgiving. It can be rerolled several times and will press together if you have any holes. The dough can be frozen ahead if you want to make them in stages. The finished cheddar cheese pastries freeze perfectly and can be stored for 6 months in the freezer.

The key to making these is to use a very flavorful cheddar cheese. If you can find one that is very tangy and full of flavor, it will make all the difference. A mild cheddar will not do, you want a cheddar that will make your taste buds sing! Try an English farmhouse or I used an Orange English Cheddar which gave the pastry this beautiful orange color. An extra sharp American would be great too.

I used to add the chopped apples while I was cooking the filling. But I’ve discovered that if you add the apples after, the apples stay crisper, adding more texture to the filling. The other trick I’ve learned is the filling is easier to handle if you can chill it, so the fat in the sausage firms up and makes the filling more scoopable. Of course, if you are pressed for time, you can skip that step. These bake up beautifully whether from frozen or freshly made. Do not skip the egg glaze, the egg helps the pastry puff up and gives the finished pastries their lovely golden sheen.

These cheddar cheese pastries may take a bit of an effort to make. But I assure you they are worth every bit of trouble. They are impressive to bring out a tray of these delectable tasty disks of goodness next time you have friends over or for your next party. They pair great with wine or my favorite cocktail The Heavenly Vesper. They are so much better than a box of frozen store bought ones.

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Cheddar Cheese Pastries Filled With Sausage, Apples, and Leeks.

Cheddar cheese flavored pastries filled with sausage, apples, sage and leeks

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Apples, cheddar cheese, Leeks, sausage

Servings: 45 pastries

Ingredients

Pastry

• 3 1⁄2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1⁄4 cups or 2 1⁄2 sticks unsalted butter, chilled, cut into bits
• 2 1⁄2 cups shredded flavorful Cheddar cheese preferably English Farmhouse, or Red Brick
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon white pepper
• 2 large eggs

Filling

• 4 tablespoons or 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 2 leeks, white and light green parts, rinsed well and minced, about 1 cup
• 5 oz mushrooms minced
• 8 ounces bulk pork sausage
• 4 tablespoons sherry ,Calvados or brandy
• 1 cup peeled and finely diced apple. About 2
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage or 1 teaspoon dried
• 3⁄4 cup shredded extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, the sharper, the better
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Egg Wash

• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water

Instructions

For the pastry:

1. Place the flour, butter, salt and white pepper in a food processor that is 9 cups or larger, (11 cups is the perfect size). If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a pastry blender for this dough.
2. Process for a minute or so, you still want to have pea-sized chunks of butter.
3. Add the grated cheddar 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 overwork the dough.
4. Add in the eggs and process just until the dough just starts to come together. It should still look like crumbles. There should still be parts that are not entirely combined, that is ok, it will blend when you work it on the work surface.
5. Scrape the mixture onto a clean work surface.

6. Using the heels of your hands, gently push the dough together making sure the dough is blended but still has bits of cheese visible, the dough may be slightly sticky and stick to the work surface a little.

7. Do not overwork the dough.
8. Form the dough into a large disk. Wrap the disk in plastic wrap scraping it off the counter if necessary.
9. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight. This dough can be made ahead and is still great for several days. It can also be frozen for up to one month.

For the filling

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Stir in the leeks and mushrooms. Sauté until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the sausage and sherry or Calvados and sage. Continue to cook, crumbling the sausage with the back of a spoon, until the sausage is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and season to taste with salt and pepper. Let the sausage mixture cool briefly.
4. Stir in the apples, and Cheddar.

5. The filling can be used immediately. But it makes your life easier if you let the filling chill for an hour or more. The filling will then scoop and mound without running.

To assemble the pastries.

1. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat. If you plan on freezing them line a tray with wax paper and stack layers with more wax paper between to freeze. Then bag in plastic bags.
2. Beat the egg with the tablespoon of water and set aside.
3. Divide the pastry dough in half, roll out and fill one half at a time for easier handling.
4. Roll the dough 1/8 inch thick on a floured surface or if you can roll out to the thickness of a quarter.
5. 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.
6. I find it easier to line up the circles in rows to fill them.
7. Lightly brush the surface of all the circles.
8. Scoop 1 generous tablespoon of the filling onto half of the brushed circles, if you have a cookie scoop that is about 1 tablespoon it works fantastic here.
9. Cover each of the filled circles with the other half of the circles. Press down on the top edges of the top circles, gently stretching to make the edges come together.
10. Using a fork, firmly crimp the edges together.
11. Place on the prepared pans or trays to chill or freeze, you can layer with wax paper onto one tray. Repeat with the second half of the dough. Then re-roll the scraps, you will get around 40 or more in total.
12. If you are baking them later, they can be chilled or frozen in multiple layers of wax paper. If freezing; freeze them on a tray and then bag in freezer bags, they will keep for 6 months or more.

When ready to bake

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.

2. Place as many as you would like on a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet spaced about 2 inches apart.
3. Brush the pastries with more egg wash, Even if they are frozen, they can go directly into the preheated oven, just brush them thoroughly with egg wash.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. If they are frozen, they will take a couple of minutes more. Be careful not to over-cook them, they go from golden to burnt very quickly.
5. Serve while still warm.

Recipe Notes

Makes about 4 dozen.