Puff Pastry Wrapped Asparagus with Creamy Cashew Cheese

These puff pastry wrapped asparagus spears make perfect appetizers for all kinds of celebrations! They’re easy to make and absolutely scrumptious. You’d never guess they were vegan!

Asparagus season has arrived and I’m so ready! I love my winter comfort food, but by the time spring arrives I’m always looking forward to all the veggies that come with warm weather. Asparagus is one of the first of those veggies to show up every year, which is a big reason why it gets me so psyched up…along with the fact that it’s DELICIOUS!

These vegan puff pastry packets are a great way to use that delicious early spring asparagus. They’re fun to make, delicious to eat, and perfect for occasions like Easter, which is coming right up!

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Raw cashews. These are the base for our creamy dairy-free cheese, which I’ve adapted from my vegan cream cheese recipe. They must be raw. Roasted cashews will result in the flavor and texture being all wrong. You’ll need to soak them in water for a few hours in order to soften them up for blending.
• Water.
• Lemon juice.
• Garlic.
• Salt.
• Fresh herbs. We’re using parsley and chives, but feel free to experiment with other fresh herbs, like basil or dill. They must be fresh though — dried herbs won’t give you a good result in this particular recipe.
• Puff pastry. Make sure the puff pastry you buy is vegan, which, as luck would have it, many brands that you’ll find at the store are! I used Pepperidge Farm brand.
• Fresh asparagus.
• Olive oil. You could substitute another high-heat oil, or even vegan butter if you’d like.

How They’re Made

The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you’d like to skip right to the recipe!

• Start by making the cheese. Drain and rinse your soaked cashews.
• Place the cashews into a blender or food processor bowl with the water, lemon juice, garlic, and salt. Blend everything until smooth.
• Add the herbs to the blender, blend again briefly, just to mix the herbs in.

Note: This recipe makes more cheese than you’ll need, but I don’t recommend scaling down the batch size unless you’ve got a really small blending device. I like to serve the extra cheese on the side, but you could also save it for another use. It’s freezer-friendly!

• Roll your (thawed) frozen puff pastry sheets into 12 inch by 12 inch squares, then cut the squares into smaller squares, 4 by 4 inches each.
• Spoon about a tablespoon and a half of cheese onto the center of each square, then arrange a few asparagus spears over the cheese so that they extend diagonally from corner to corner of the square.
• Wrap up the pastry squares by pinching opposite corners together over the asparagus.
• Brush or mist the pastry and asparagus very lightly with olive oil, pop them in the oven, and bake until golden.

Tip: Ideally, you’ll want to set your puff pastry out on the counter a couple of hours in advance to thaw. But it’s totally fine to thaw it using the defrost setting on your microwave if you forget!

• I like to serve my puff pastry wrapped asparagus with some lemon wedges and any leftover cashew cheese on the side.

Leftovers & Storage

Puff pastry wrapped asparagus is best served immediately, but if you do have leftovers they’ll keep in a sealed bag or airtight container in the fridge for about 3 days. Reheat them in a 400°F oven just until they’re heated throughout.

More Vegan Appetizers

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Puff Pastry Wrapped Asparagus with Creamy Cashew Cheese

These puff pastry wrapped asparagus spears make perfect appetizers for all kinds of celebrations! They’re easy to make and absolutely scrumptious. You’d never guess they were vegan!

Total Time 4 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the Cashew Cheese

• 2
  cups
  raw cashews,
  soaked in water 4 to 8 hours, drained and rinsed
• ½
  cup
  water,
  plus more as needed
• 1 ½
  tablespoons
  lemon juice
• 1
  garlic clove
• 1 ½
  teaspoons
  salt,
  plus more to taste
• 3
  tablespoons
  chopped fresh parsley
• 2
  tablespoons
  chopped fresh chives

For the Asparagus Wraps

• 2
  sheets (about 1.1 pounds or 490 grams total)
  frozen vegan puff pastry,
  thawed
• 2
  pounds
  fresh asparagus spears,
  trimmed (Note 1)
• 2
  tablespoons
  olive oil

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

2. To make the cashew cheese, place the cashews, water, lemon juice, garlic, and salt into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. You can add a bit of extra water to the mixture if needed for blending, but don’t go overboard or it will become runny.

3. Add the parsley and chives. Pulse the machine to incorproate them into the mixture.

4. Give the mixture a taste-test and add more salt if you’d like.

5. Roll your puff pastry sheets into 12 x 12 inch squares, then cut each square into 9 smaller (4 x 4 inch) squares. You should have 18 squares total.

6. Spread about 1 ½ tablespoons of cashew cheese onto the center of each square. Reserve any extra cheese for serving.

7. Arrange a few asparagus spears over each puff pastry square, extending diagonally from corner to corner.

8. Pinch opposite corners on either side of the asparagus together tightly, so that the pastry wrapps over the asparagus and cheese.

9. Arrange the asparagus wraps on baking sheets, leaving at least 1 inch between them. (Note 2) Brush or mist the pastry and aspargus with olive oil, and bake until the pastry is puffy and golden, about 15 minutes.

Recipe Notes

1. To trim your asparagus spears, simply grab both ends of a spear and bend it until it breaks. It should break in just the right spot to remove all of the woody fibers at the bottom.
2. You’ll probably need to bake these in batches, unless you’ve got a very large oven.
3. This recipe makes a nice big batch (18 pieces!). You can cut it in half, but I don’t recommend reducing the cashew cheese portion of the recipe. Unless you have a very small blending device, you’ll probably have trouble blending less than 2 cups of cashews at a time. Instead, I recommend saving the extra cheese for another use (like crackers, bagels, or sandwiches), or sealing it up and freezing it for next time you make these.

Nutrition Facts

Puff Pastry Wrapped Asparagus with Creamy Cashew Cheese

Amount Per Serving (1 piece (1/12 of batch))

Calories 218
Calories from Fat 139

% Daily Value*

Fat 15.4g24%

Saturated Fat 5g25%

Sodium 291mg12%

Potassium 195mg6%

Carbohydrates 17.8g6%

Fiber 2.2g9%

Sugar 2.4g3%

Protein 5.5g11%

Calcium 21mg2%

Iron 3mg17%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.