Cream cheese Wellington

cream-cheese-in-baked-puff-pastry-02

Warm or cold, this cream cheese baked in puff-pastry and layered with Cremini mushrooms, bacon and shallots pairs well with a small bottle of Lambrusco and some left over ciabatta that you have toasted up.

This is one of those dishes you want to take it easy on because you aren’t fooling anyone when you say you are on a diet and then proceed to eat half of this appetizer. It is about as healthy as it sounds. My wife kids herself that this dish is healthier when I make this with “reduced fat” cream cheese.

This is a perfect appetizer spread when you have friends over and is incredibly easy to prepare. I’ve laid out the instructions so that your time actually cooking is kept to a minimum if you can chop whilst keeping an eye on a pan on the stove.

There is no Nutrition Label for this recipe yet.

Cream cheese Wellington
Servings Prep Time
4 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
60 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
60 minutes
Cream cheese Wellington
Servings Prep Time
4 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
60 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
60 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: people
Units:
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 190C / 375F / Gas Mark 5
  2. Place a large skillet or saute pan over a medium flame
  3. Cook the strips of bacon until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side
  4. Meanwhile, peel and chop the shallot very fine
  5. And de-stem and chop the mushrooms very fine
  6. Drain the bacon on paper towels
  7. Melt the butter in the same pan you cooked the bacon. Don't bother to clean out the pan
  8. Place the shallot in the pan with the melted butter
  9. Let the shallot cook for a minute or two, just until it turns translucent
  10. Add the mushrooms to the cooking shallot, spreading them as thinly as possible
  11. Turn the heat down to medium-low
  12. Let the mushrooms cook until soft and a lot of the moisture has evaporated, about 10 to 15 minutes or so
  13. Stir the mushrooms occasionally just to ensure they don't stick, spreading them out thinly after each stir
  14. Whilst you are waiting for the mushrooms to cook, finely chop the cooked bacon
  15. And finely chop the chives to about 3 mm in length
  16. Dust a work surface with about 30 g (2 tbsp) of flour
  17. Unwrap and unfold the puff pastry
  18. Roll out the puff pastry so that it is about half as big again as when it was fresh out of the packet. The puff pastry should be big enough to wrap around the block of cream cheese with a little overlap along one edge
  19. Place the cooked mushrooms and shallot in a medium mixing bowl
  20. Add the chopped bacon to the mushrooms
  21. Add the chopped chives to the mushrooms and bacon
  22. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper
  23. Mix up the bacon, chives, mushrooms and shallot
  24. Lay down a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet (the one with a lip, it can drip grease and water during cooking)
  25. Lay out the puff pastry on top of the parchment paper
  26. Spread 1/3rd of the mushroom/bacon/chive mixture in the middle of the puff pastry
  27. Unwrap the cream cheese and place the block on top of the mushrooms and bacon in the middle of the puff pastry
  28. Cover the cream cheese with the remainder of the mushroom/bacon mixture
  29. Gently press the mushroom/bacon mixture against the cream cheese. It doesn't need to be perfect
  30. Fold up the puff pastry around the cream cheese
  31. Beat the egg in a small mixing bowl and whisk in the milk
  32. Lightly wash down one edge of the puff pastry with the egg wash
  33. Fold up the dry edge of the puff pastry on to of the cream cheese
  34. Fold up the washed edge of the puff pastry top of the cream cheese
  35. Pinch in the ends, add a small amount of egg wash, and tuck them over (on top)
  36. Lightly brush the top of the puff pastry with more egg wash
  37. Bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown. Rotate half-way through the cooking for even browning across the top
  38. Lift the parchment paper off of the baking sheet and place on top of a cooling rack for a few minutes before serving
Recipe Notes

I usually serve this with some toasted ciabatta bread.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This