I changed to a vegan diet before I ever had the opportunity to taste really good cheese. I often feel left remorse when there is an epic charcuterie board at a party or those cute little brie bites. However, my travels and meeting other vegans have opened the doors to quality vegan substitutions that are available.
Vegan cheese has come a long way since my early vegan days in 2005. Now you can find dairy substitutes in every grocery store. For this recipe I used Babybel plant-based mozzarella because when quartered it creates the perfect portion for pumpkin butter cheese bites.
I have made puff pastry once in my life and going forward I use store-bought to ensure that my pastry is perfectly crisp and not bleeding plant-based butter all over the place. I am definitely not a baker. 🙂 Pepperidge Farm puff pastry can be found in the cold section of most grocery stores. Dufour is another brand that I have used and you can find them in the cold section at Whole Foods.
Pumpkin butter cheese bites come together quickly and can be served at room temperature making them the perfect party appetizer. If you are looking for other great recipes to serve at your party check out these ideas for inspiration:
Pumpkin Butter Cheese Bites
Equipment
- muffin pans
- cutting board
- paring knife
Ingredients
- 1 sheet vegan puff pastry thawed
- ¼ cup pumpkin butter
- 3 plant-based babybel individual cheese rounds quartered
- ¼ cup candied pecans chopped
- 1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 °F.
- Lightly oil a 12 cup muffin pan.
- Cut the puff pastry into 12 equal pieces by cutting the longer side into four pieces and the shorter side into three pieces.
- Place each pastry square into a muffin cup section.
- Top each pastry with 1 tsp of pumpkin butter, then a quarter piece of the plant-based babybel, and a sprinkle of candied pecans.
- Bake in the muffin pan for 30-35 minutes or until the puff pastry is puffed and golden.
- Remove from oven and top with a sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves and allow to cool in muffin pan.
- Once the pumpkin butter bites are cool enough to remove from tin they are ready to serve.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and tag @anothervegan.foodblog on Instagram and hashtag it #anothervegan.foodblog.