How To: Make elegant tomato jewel puff pastry treats as yummy appetizers

Add a healthy twist to your puff pastries and make an elegant appetizer perfect for any party. It's not quite a dessert, but it still taste like one, with cherry tomatoes being the key ingredient. This recipe from Holiday Kitchen will show you how to make these wonderful little Tomato Jewels, a yummy and appetizing little gem.

Ingredients:

1/2 of a 17.3 oz package Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed
24 cherry tomatoes
4 oz softened goat cheese
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp chopped fresh chives
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
flour for rolling

Thaw: 40 minutes
Prep: 40 minutes
Bake: 12 minutes
Makes: 24 pieces

Instructions:

1. Take out a package of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets and remove one sheet from the box. Let it thaw on the counter for 40 minutes - or overnight in the fridge. Return the second to the freezer.

2. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

3. Prepare the filling for the cherry tomatoes by adding the goat cheese to a medium mixing bowl along with the parsley, chives and parmesan cheese.Season with the cracked black pepper and lemon zest. Mix all of the ingredients evenly and set the filling aside.

4. Lightly flour your surface and take one sheet, unfolding the pastry. Roll the pastry sheet into a 10-inch square. Using a sharp paring knife or pizza cutter, slice it into four strips, each about 2 1/2-inches wide. Then cut each strip into six triangles about 3x3x3-inches. Discard any remaining pastry.

5. Press the pastry triangles into the bottoms and up the sides of 24 -- one and a half inch, mini muffin-pan cups. Bake the puff pastry for 7 minutes.

6. Cut slits in the tops of the cherry tomatoes and scoop out the seeds. Spoon about 1 ½ teaspoons of the cheese filling into each tomato. Place the tomatoes in the center of the warm pastries and press down lightly.

7. Bake the stuffed tomatoes for about 5 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown.