5 Ingredients or Fewer

Tomato and Cream Cheese Turnovers

August  2, 2014
4
1 Ratings
Photo by Emily Vikre
  • Makes 6 very large or 12 more modest pastries
Author Notes

I originally was thinking of making strawberry cream cheese croissant turnover thingies, but I had a feeling they wouldn't live up to a beautiful childhood memory I have of eating a strawberry cream cheese croissant, so I decided to veer in a different direction -- a savory direction with tomatoes and sesame seeds. These are kind of a like a sesame bagel with cream cheese and tomato, but on steroids. As with anything using puff pastry, these appear kind of fancy, but are quite easy and fast to make (if you have prepared puff pastry), so they're a great thing to whip up for a last-minute brunch dish. —fiveandspice

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Ingredients
  • 6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 2 large eggs (one is for an egg wash)
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 sheets of all-butter puff pastry dough, defrosted
  • 1 large tomato, sliced in 1/4-inch thick slices
  • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
  • Flour, for dusting
Directions
  1. Heat your oven to 375° F. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and one egg plus a couple pinches of salt and pepper. Beat until smooth.
  2. On a floured surface, roll the first sheet of puff pastry out to about 1/8 inch thick. Cut it into 6 rectangles. Spread some cream cheese mixture on each rectangle and place a bit of tomato on top of the cream cheese. To make more reasonably sized pastries, fold each of the rectangles over their filling and press the edges well with a fork to seal them, then repeat with the next sheet of puff pastry. To make big pastries, put more filling on each of the rectangles, then roll out the next sheet of puff pastry, cut that into 6 rectangles and put one on top of each of the rectangles with filling, then press around the edges with a fork to seal. Transfer the pastries to two baking sheets.
  3. Whisk the second egg with a tiny splash of water, then brush each pastry with some of the egg wash and sprinkle them with sesame seeds.
  4. Bake each sheet of pastries in the oven until golden brown and puffed, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Allow to cool slightly before eating, but these guys are definitely best eaten fresh. Otherwise the puff pastry gets a little sad and the tomato gets soggy.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

22 Reviews

KAM May 7, 2019
These would be great with Trader Joe's "Everything But the Bagel Sesame Seasoning" sprinkled inside on the tomatoes & cream cheese. But be careful, it is very salty.
Karen B. January 21, 2019
I love making homemade pastries--I added some basil pesto I made the day before, and oh my swoon!
morgan August 2, 2018
Letting y'all know about this very easy pastry recipe I used for this, https://www.dessertfortwo.com/15-minute-puff-pastry/
Nancy July 3, 2017
Oh dear! I waited forever to make these and shelled out for the expensive all butter pastry. I slow roasted plum tomatoes and bumped up the filling flavor with herbed goat cheese as others suggested. Otherwise made as per recipe. I did make them smaller to get more. Umm. these missed the mark in every way for me. Pretty bland, boring and underwhelming. Excitement when they came to the table as they look beautiful but after a bite or two no one even finished them. Sad!
Barb August 5, 2016
Funny, I saw the title and thought to myself, "tomatoes, nah, strawberries would be so much better". Then I read the author's notes.
Risottogirl May 1, 2016
Trader Joe has a decent puff pastry but only during the holidays (silly). This works well I the a "rough puff" dough too. I thought thought it was a bit wet with fresh tomatoes so I used some oven roasted plum tomatoes and that worked quite well. For the person that asked about freezing... I froze two made with the oven roasted tomato... and they were lovely.
Karen May 1, 2016
The combination of your oven roasted tomatoes and herby goat cheese from another comment sounds really good.
Shellsie September 25, 2015
Can these be prepared ahead and frozen?
fiveandspice September 25, 2015
Yes, that should work fine.
Paloma D. August 16, 2015
substitute cream cheese for soft chevre goat cheese. Soooo much tastier.
Laurie D. August 9, 2015
Would these work with spreadable goat cheese? By the way Emily, I love in Duluth, we love your spirits and are so excited you guys opened the distillery. Fun to find you on my favorite food blog!
fiveandspice August 14, 2015
So sorry I didn't respond to this faster - I had responded in my mind but apparently forgot to in real life! Anyway I think they'd be great with goat cheese! And thank you!!
Willam J. May 28, 2015
I don't know how, but I missed this recipe when I read this article last!

Thank God I just read it again to find this gem. My woman is going to love these!
Tina H. October 11, 2014
This was pretty yummy. I made it with my gf puff pastry and should have chilled it before I put it in the oven but it still worked out nicely. We're having leftovers as breakfast this morning. Thank you for the recipe!
Ceege August 15, 2014
This sounds like it could be a scrumptious hor dourves. I think for my next party I will try these but making them more bite sized.
fiveandspice August 17, 2014
That is brilliant!
Nancy August 14, 2015
Sorry This is sooo late, just saw the post. Dafour makes the all butter puff pastry it's found at WHOLE fOODS. But...at $11 a box I'd be damn sure this recipe warrants that expense. Good luck!
Nancy
Elisa August 14, 2014
Where do we purchase all butter puff pastry? Not in any of our local grocery stores!
fiveandspice August 17, 2014
Hmm, if it's not in your grocery stores, then I'm not entirely sure. It's possible you could order it online. Or, there's a recipe for homemade shortcut puff pastry on this site, if you search for it.
Nancy August 14, 2015
Sorry This is sooo late, just saw the post. Dafour makes the all butter puff pastry it's found at WHOLE fOODS. But...at $11 a box I'd be damn sure this recipe warrants that expense. Good luck!
Nancy
kfles August 11, 2014
I am craving these at work right now. Can't wait to try them! Just wanted to say that I always love your stuff. Keep it up!
fiveandspice August 17, 2014
Thanks!!!