Spinach Puffs

Last weekend, my girlfriends and I gathered for our Annual Girls’ Christmas Beauty Bash. In what has become one of my favorite holiday traditions, we each bring a wrapped beauty or cosmetic item of a set value, food, and a bottle of bubbly, then gather to sip, eat, giggle, and play what has become an increasingly heated gift exchange game. I baked these Spinach Pastry Puffs and wrapped up this pretty set of lipsticks, which I fully admit I was tempted to steal for myself during the game.

This recipe is sponsored by Mountain Valley Spring Water.

I resisted snagging the lipsticks, opting for a mini set of these amazing, fancy lip balms instead…which was eventually stolen from me.

Fortunately for each of our appetites, this recipe for Spinach Pastry Puffs yields a large batch, so we could all happily gobble as many as we pleased.

Whenever I need an appetizer for a party that I know will be easy, impressive, and a total crowd-pleaser, I turn to puff pastry. These sheets of buttery, flaky dough are endlessly versatile, bake up beautifully golden every time, and can be found in the freezer section of any grocery store.

In past years, I’ve made Cranberry Brie Bites, Ham and Cheese Pinwheels, and Mushroom Puff Pastry Bites, and while those all have been hits, today’s Spinach Puffs might be the greatest of them all.

{A side note for fellow fans of The Emperor’s New Groove, a seriously adorable and (in my opinion) underrated Disney movie: You know the tasty Spinach Puffs Kronk makes in the film? I like to think that Kronk would approve of this Spinach Puff recipe too!}

To make these spinach puff pastry cups, being by cutting squares of puff pastry. I kept it easy by dividing my puff pastry into nine squares (three rows of three), which fit perfectly inside the wells of a regular muffin pan like these.

The puffs’ filling is inspired by one of the most revered appetizers of our time: spinach dip. It’s a quick, ever-delicious combo of cream cheese, spinach (I use thawed frozen spinach for maximum speed), feta cheese, and BACON.

The Spinach Puffs are creamy on the inside, buttery and flaky on the outside, and the touch of feta, bacon, and garlic in the filling makes them unquestionably addictive.

Despite the semi-fancy vibe puff pastry provides, this recipe is ultra simple. You don’t even need to wait for the cream cheese to soften before you start making the filling. THAT is how no-fuss this spinach cream cheese puff pastry creation truly is.

I was happy with the size of the Spinach Puffs baked in the regular muffin pan. They were sturdy enough to easily pick up with our fingers, and every bite of filling contained bits of both bacon and feta.

That said, if you wanted to make mini spinach puffs instead, I think you could cut the puff pastry into smaller squares, then bake the puffs in a mini muffin pan instead.

In addition to the food, drinks are another one my central focuses whenever I host a gathering. My girlfriends and I adore all things bubbles, and in addition to sparkling wine, I like to provide a nonalcoholic beverage for my guests that still feels special. A few of my friends are pregnant, and I don’t want them (or anyone else who’s taking a break from the booze) to feel as if they are missing out.

I recently discovered Mountain Valley Spring Water, which offers a line of the most adorable individually sized bottles of sparkling water. In addition to being fizzy and fun, the bottles look so cute on a party table.

For the party, I loved that I didn’t need to go to any extra work to make the water look nice, and my friends who weren’t drinking loved having a beverage option that still felt festive.

In addition their all-around YUM factor, these spinach puff pastry cups are a party planner’s dream appetizer. They can be fully baked and frozen weeks in advance.

Spinach Puffs also taste great both warm and at room temperature, so you don’t need to stress about timing the exact moment you pull them from the oven. Heat them up a little before your guests arrive, place them on the table, then enjoy the moment when they disappear.

More Crowd-Pleasing Puff Pastry Appetizer Recipes like Spinach Puffs:

• Cranberry Brie Bites
• Ham and Cheese Pinwheels
• Mushroom Puff Pastry Bites
• Asparagus Tart

GIVEAWAY ALERT! Mountain Valley Spring Water is giving away two tickets to a VIP dinner event and day long music festival in Austin, TX. Find more details including how to enter here.

I am sharing this post in partnership with Mountain Valley Spring Water. As always, all opinions are my own, and thank you for supporting the companies that help me continue providing quality content for you. For more recipe inspiration and ideas, follow Mountain Valley Spring Water on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.

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