These mushroom and artichoke pastry cups are the perfect vegan party food! They’re quick and easy to prepare with a creamy filling that bursts with the flavours of the Mediterranean!
I don’t know about you but whenever I’m asked to bring something vegan to share to a party I try to be a little more creative than the typical chips, hummus, or guacamole.
I’m quite convinced that the only reason I get invited to some parties is because they know that as a food blogger I’ll be sure contribute something delicious!
I’ve previously shown up to parties with these vegetarian sliders with mushrooms and mint-pea pesto and these vegan Mexican tortilla roll ups.
Now I’ve got a new recipe to bring to my next vegan party: these bite-sized mushroom and artichoke pastry cups! Not only are they super easy to make, they look cute too!
Show up to your next party with these bad boys and you’ll be sure to be invited back, lol!
How to make pastry cups
There are several different ways to make puff pastry cups or shells. I’m supremely lazy so I went for the second easiest way.
The first easiest way would be to buy a package of frozen puff pastry cups. You can totally do that and omit the first steps of this recipe and skip straight to the filling if you want.
Where I live the frozen puff pastry cups are not available and the closest similar product at my supermarket has milk in it so I had no choice but to make them myself.
So the second easiest and least fiddly way to make homemade pastry cups is to simply cut circles out of a sheet of puff pastry and bake them up into little pastry puffs. Then just cut a lid out of the top.
There are other techniques for making vol-au-vent which involve cutting and layering different sized circles together but like I said, I’m too lazy for all that.
To cut the puff pastry I used a pastry ring that measures 3.15 inches (8 cm) across. If you don’t have a pastry ring, you can use a biscuit cutter, a tin can or something similar.
With this size of a cutter, the stuffed pastry cups are big enough to be eaten with your fingers in 2 – 3 bites. I wouldn’t recommend making them any bigger as they will be too hard to eat with your hands but you can certainly make them smaller if you want.
What you want to be careful with when cutting the puff pastry is to not twist your cutting device as this can interfere with how it puffs while baking. Try to just press your cutter down into the pastry and pull it up.
If you’re wondering if there is a use for the excess puff pastry surrounding your cut circles, I saw on another blog somewhere that you can use a small cookie cutter to cut out some shapes like stars and then use them as a garnish on top of your filled cups. I don’t have any cookie cutters so I didn’t try it but it’s a nice idea!
Transfer your circles to a lined baking pan and bake until you get these golden brown puffs. They bake much faster than indicated on the package instructions so keep an eye on them. Mine were done in just 15 minutes.
Once cool enough to handle, cut a small lid off the top. Be very gentle when handling your pastry puffs as they are very delicate and it’s easy to accidently stick your thumb through them!
Some of the pastry cups naturally come out hollow inside. Others have a few layers of the pastry inside. Use your fingers to gently pull out some of the pastry layers inside if necessary to create space for your filling.
What to fill pastry cups with
There are lots of options! What usually comes to mind with any kind of stuffed pastry is a spinach filling like these vegan spinach puffs. Due to the abundance of Swiss chard in my garden I recently made these Swiss chard and mushroom stuffed puff pastries.
With this particular recipe I wanted to make a sort of faux crab filling similar to something you’d find in a crab stuffed mushrooms recipe.
My personal opinion is that hearts of palm are the best vegan seafood substitute. I have previously used them in my vegan fish tacos recipe and they texture is amazing. However, they’re quite expensive.
So as a cheaper alternative in this recipe I used artichoke hearts. I then added sautéed mushrooms for extra juiciness.
To keep with a Mediterranean flavour profile, I added basil and a touch of lemon zest. Instead of Parmesan I used nutritional yeast and for creaminess I added vegan mayonnaise.
That’s it. Really simple yet really flavourful!
Can I make pastry cups ahead?
Yes. You can bake the puff pastry cups and prepare the filling several hours ahead.
Store the unfilled pastry cups in an airtight container at room temperature. Store the filling in an airtight container in the fridge.
It’s best to fill the cups as close to serving time as possible. That said, I have left filled cups for several hours and they did not get soggy.
I have also had some leftovers that I put in the fridge overnight. They pastry cups lost a bit of crispiness but they were not soggy.
However, these mushroom and artichoke pastry cups are so delicious that if you serve them at your next party, there are sure to be none leftover!
Mushroom and Artichoke Pastry Cups
Ingredients
- 1 sheet (13 x 10 inches / 32.5 x 25.5 cm) vegan puff pastry thawed if frozen - $2.50
- 1 tablespoon olive oil - $0.16
- ½ medium red onion finely diced - $0.30
- 2 cloves of garlic finely diced - $0.08
- 10.5 oz (300 gr.) button mushrooms stems removed and finely diced - $1.15
- 1 (14 oz / 400 gr.) can artichoke hearts drained and squeezed a bit to get out excess liquid. Finely chopped - $2.29
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast - $0.16
- 4 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise - $0.13
- 2 tablespoons chopped basil - $0.44
- The zest of half a lemon - $0.29
- ½ teaspoon salt - $0.02
- Pepper to taste - $0.02
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F / 200 C.
- If necessary, gently roll out your puff pastry on a lightly floured surface until you reach the dimensions mentioned in the ingredients.
- Use a 3-inch (8 cpastry cutter, tin can, biscuit cutter or anything that can cut cleanly through puff pastry to cut 12 circles. Try not to twist your cutter, just press it into the pastry and lift it up.
- Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake until they puff up and are golden – about 15 minutes. Remove and let cool.
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Heat the oil in a medium pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until soft. Then add the garlic and sauté until soft. Transfer to a bowl and add the chopped mushrooms to the pan. Fry until browned then remove to the bowl with the onions. Allow to cool.
- When the puffs are cool, use a sharp knife to gently cut lids off the puffs. Handle them very gently as they are delicate and it’s easy to stick your thumb through them. If any are not hollow inside, use your fingers to gently pull out some of the pastry from inside.
- When the mushrooms are cool, add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Spoon the filling into each pastry cup and serve. If you want you can put the lids back on (I didn’t) and garnish with a few leaves of basil.
Notes
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