Cashew Cheese & Sausage Cups
These mini appetizer cups are bite size and absolutely delicious. They are filled with a smooth creamy cashew cheese and topped with a flavorful sausage mixture.
Great news, they can be made the night before, covered and refrigerated until you are ready to bake them. If you don’t have a high powered blender, I highly recommend soaking the cashews for a few hours in HOT water. Even if you do have a high powered blender, I still recommend soaking for at least 15 minutes in HOT water.
I like to wet and forget my cashews. I place those beautiful little nuts in a hot bath and leave them alone. Soaking is a time savor and makes a big difference in the texture of the cashew cheese.
Cashew Cheese & Sausage Cups
These mini appetizer cups are filled with a smooth creamy cashew cheese and topped with a flavorful sausage mixture.
Equipment
- Blender
- mini muffin tins
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
- 1 Package Puff Pastry (Pepperidge Farms or Wewalka)
- Sausage Filling Ingredients
- 1 Package Beyond Meat Sausage Links
- 1/2 Onion Diced
- 1/2 Red Pepper Diced
- 1/2 Cup Mushrooms (chopped)
- 2 Cloves Garlic Minced
- 1/4 Tsp. Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
- 1/4 Tsp. Italian seasoning
- 1/4 Tsp. Tomato paste
- Cashew Cheese Ingredients
- 1 Cup Cashews
- 2 Cups Hot Water (For soaking the cashews)
- 1/2 Tsp. Lemon zest
- 1 Tbsp. Lemon juice
- 2 tsp. White miso
- 1/2 Tsp. Garlic powder
- 1/2 Tsp. Onion powder
- 1/2 Cup Water
- 1 tsp. Nutritional yeast
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
- Remove puff pastry from the refrigerator and let set while working on the sausage mixture.
- Chop 2 sausages and heat in a saute pan over medium high heat. Chop mushrooms and onions and add to the sausage. (Add water if necessary to keep from sticking) Once the sausage, onion and mushrooms mixture begins to brown, add the red pepper, tomato paste and seasonings. Cook for 4-5 minutes until all ingredients are cooked.
- Remove from the heat and let the sausage mixture cool while you work on the cashew cheese.
- For the cashew cheese, drain the cashews and place them in a blender along with the rest of the ingredients. Blend for at least 30 seconds until the "cheese" is smooth. Let it sit in the blender while you work on the puff pastry.
- Unfold the first sheet of pastry on a lightly floured surface and gently roll to remove any creases (it will be a 10- or 11-inch square).Using a 3" round circle cutter, cut out circles. (you should get approximately 12). Place the circles in the mini muffin tins and press down on the edges and bottom to fit.
- Fill each cup 1/2-3/4 with the cashew cheese and top with the sausage mixture.
- Cook @ 400 for 15-20 minutes or until puff pastry is golden brown on the edges.
- Serve warm