I just had some leftover spinach after cooking my Tuscan Chicken – you can find the recipe HERE – and I had no idea what to do with it. So I turned to almighty Google for ideas and Kronk’s Spinach Puffs jumped up – … and I was sold, then and there, immediately and purely just by the name since I’m a die-hard Disney fan….

Before we start tho’ I need to straighten something out and address a very serious issue here.
Okay, first of all… “The Emperor’s New Groove” is one of the most underrated Disney films probably like… ever – side by side with Brother Bear… – Fight me if you want, but it really is.
Second of all… well there’s no second of all to this topic, actually.
So, aaanyway…

Ingredients:

• Puff pastry sheets
• 150 g cream cheese
• 150 g feta cheese
• 250 g spinach leaves
• 100 g bacon
• 50 g grated cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 small onion
• 2 – ∞ cloves of garlic
• Salt, pepper, dill

⏱️ prep time: 20 minutes
⏱️ baking time: 15-20 minutes
🌡️ baking temperature: 200°C

Probably out of all the other cookies and cakes and tapas and stuff I’ve shared here, this is gonna be a bit more tedious job – … but don’t leave just yet, it’s not hard, just the prep takes a little time, but the results are gonna be delicious, I promise.

… and entering me, to guide you through the whole process

… Although I can’t promise that Kronk’s original recipe has bacon, and dill – but I can guarantee it’s a nice touch.

So, let me show you how I make Cheesy Spinach Puffs with bacon!

• First, cut up the bacon, the onion, and the garlic cloves into small pieces

• Neeext: start cooking the bacon on lower heat, I don’t add any oil, since the meat is quite fatty. Make sure to not burn it up straight away, just make it sweat.
• After a few minutes add the onion and the garlic

• Now let the flavors get to know each other in the pan. While they are slow dancing we are gonna wash and cut up the spinach if they are too big. No need to mush them up, just cut them here and there into smaller pieces.
• Neeext: it’s gonna be a very surprising turn of events… Add the spinach to the pan.

• BAMM
• Now let it cook, and move it around once in a while so the bacon is not sticking to the pan.
• While the spinach is cooking, let’s start preparing the other part of the filling, the cheese. So… Put the cream cheese and the feta cheese in a bowl.

… shocking that I made a picture of this step, but since I did it – here you have it!

• In 5-10 minutes the spinach should be fine, when it softens and shrinks that’s when it’s good – … strictly, we are talking about the spinach here…
• Add it to the bowl with the cheese and mix it well
• Neeext we are doing a taste test. If you feel it’s not salty enough, add some salt for your tasting, also pepper if you want and some dill – fresh if you have. – I think this is THE secret ingredient, I just love the flavor of the dill in this mixture.

• Neeext: roll out your puff pastry sheet and cut it into squares – … maybe try to cut it a bit more even than I just did…
• Let’s start filling them with the cheesy cream, take a good spoonful or two for each square – or more if you like.
• Fold them – you can make little pillows, or cones, or just fold up the two opposite corners – easy and jobwelldonegoodbye.
• Make some holes in the pastries with a fork, so the steam can get out.
• Beat an egg, and give them an egg wash – but don’t make a swimming pool, just gently brush them.
• Sprinkle some grated cheese and a little dill on top – totally optional, but again, I think it’s a really nice touch.
• … and repeat. I made 2 sheets, that’s 18 pastries… so chop-chop, keep going

I haven’t prepared enough spinach filling, but I had a bit of dough left, so I was improvising here a little bit and filled them with ham and cheese this time – … but I have to mention for the sweettooths that, luckily, nutella is working just as fine…

• Pre-heat the oven to 200 °C
• … and in, they go.
  For like 25 minutes – … or until it’s nice and golden. Just keep an eye on it tho’ because once this pastry puffs up, it’s burning quite fast.

• Ta – daaa, you made your Cheesy Spinach Puffs.
• Now you are allowed to look at how pretty they are.
• Let it cool off for a few minutes and then, ideally, they should come off easily from the baking sheet.

… beautiful final product picture

… and the first bite, we all needed.

Aaaanyways,

Enjoy!

… and see you at the next one,

Noémi

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