Savory puff pastry shells with salmon cream are an appetizer that will amaze, easy, quick and indulgent — perfect to make for Christmas Eve or the New Year’s Eve dinner. Dramatic and beautiful to look at, they are above all delicious to eat: crisp, tasty and full of flavor. You can fill them as you like; I decided to use a delicious smoked salmon cream. To prepare these beautiful filled puff pastry shells you don’t need molds, just a simple flower-shaped cookie cutter like mine, or simply a round one, and with a single sheet of puff pastry, in about 40 minutes you’ll make 24 and you’ll see what an impression they’ll make on the holiday table! Ready to run to the kitchen? Let’s go, but first I remind you that if you want to stay updated on new recipes you can follow my page Facebook and my profile Instagram.

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Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Medium
Preparation time: 30 Minutes
Portions: 32 pieces
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: Christmas

Ingredients to make the puff pastry shells

1 sheet puff pastry (rectangular)
1 cup mascarpone (about 8.8 oz)
3.5 oz smoked salmon
1 lemon (juice and zest)
to taste salt
to taste pink pepper
to taste pistachio crumbs
to taste egg (beaten, for finishing)

Tools

Cookie cutter
Baking sheet
Piping bag
Star tips

Steps to make the puff pastry shells

Unroll the puff pastry and, using a 4-inch cookie cutter, cut 12 discs; with a smaller cutter, cut some mini snacks from the scraps. With a smooth-blade knife, mark rays on each disc, being careful not to cut all the way through.
Cut each disc in half and brush everything with beaten egg, sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake in a preheated oven at 392°F for 10 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Place the zest and juice of one lemon, the mascarpone, the smoked salmon, a pinch of salt and a few pink peppercorns in the blender jar; blend until you obtain a smooth cream and fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip.
Slice each shell halfway, making an incision with a knife without cutting all the way through — you should obtain the two halves of a shell. Fill them all with the prepared cream and decorate with pistachio crumbs.
Our puff pastry shells are ready; now all that’s left is to bring them to the table and enjoy, or store them in the fridge covered with plastic wrap for a few hours maximum.
If you want to get organized in advance, prepare the shells the day before and keep them in a cool, dry place; likewise prepare the cream and keep it in the fridge.
Assemble everything the next day, even 5 or 6 hours before serving.
Any leftover cream can be kept in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 days.