Pepper Jelly & Cream Cheese Bites

When you’re really hungry, you don’t have time to prep and cook a whole bunch of different ingredients for a long, complex recipe. You just need food now!

Likewise, when you have famished friends or family members coming over, you need recipes that are quick and easy to make. Luckily, we here at Grandma Jones’ Pepper Jelly have just the thing for you: pepper jelly & cream cheese bites!

With just a few ingredients and not a lot of work, you can have a unique, satisfying, and utterly delicious snack ready to go at a moment’s notice. Just follow these simple directions below and you’ll be well on your way to sweet ‘n’ spicy goodness.

How to Make Pepper Jelly & Cream Cheese Bites

Ingredients

Puff Pastry

Use packaged puff pastry sheets or a complete homemade puff pastry recipe. Puff pastry, canned crescent dough and phyllo are different products and need different handling. Follow your pastry package for thawing and baking; mixing only flour and butter is not a complete puff pastry method.

Pepper Jelly

The biggest deciding factor of how your cream cheese bites will taste when finished is what flavor of pepper jelly you choose. Fortunately, it’s easy to use multiple varieties to ensure your cream cheese bites please all palates.

Cream Cheese

You can’t make cream cheese bites without cream cheese, of course. Although you could use cream cheese right out of the fridge, it’s a good idea to let it sit out for a few minutes before you get started. This will make it softer and easier to work with.

Preparation

1. Thaw puff pastry according to its package directions, keeping it cold but flexible enough to unfold without cracking. Do not assume all brands or sheet sizes thaw in 10–20 minutes. If the dough becomes soft and greasy, chill it before shaping.
2. Cut the dough into 12 equal-sized squares.
3. Spritz a muffin tin with some non-stick cooking spray, then place one square of dough inside each muffin cup. Gently press each square into place.
4. Bake the dough in a 400-degree oven for about 10 minutes.
5. Because of how puff pastry expands when baked, you may have to use a spoon to push them back down into the tin cups a little.
6. Add a small amount of cream cheese and a thin layer of jelly, leaving room for the pastry to rise. Overfilling can cause leaks and a wet center; the muffin-cup size and pastry dimensions determine how much filling fits.
7. Put the tray back in the oven for another 6-8 minutes.
8. Let the bites cool briefly until comfortable to eat, then serve. Because they contain cream cheese, refrigerate leftovers promptly rather than leaving them out until fully cold.

Discover More Tasty Recipes with Pepper Jelly

Whether you need hors d'oeuvres for a big party, some appetizers for family dinner, or just a snack for a lazy Saturday afternoon, these pepper jelly & cream cheese bites are sure to be a hit. Once you try them, we know you’ll never want your kitchen to be without pepper jelly ever again.

Are you having trouble finding where to buy pepper jelly? Good news! You can get Grandma Jones’ Pepper Jelly shipped right to your door. There are many, many, many more exciting recipes to try using pepper jelly, so order some today and get started.

Avoid a Soggy Center and Plan Storage

The listed bake times are estimates. Follow your pastry package's oven guidance and check that the pastry base and sides are baked, not merely browned on top. Fill lightly and keep unused dough refrigerated between batches. These directions are an assembly guide rather than a kitchen-tested formula with a fixed sheet weight and filling yield.

Keep cream-cheese bites refrigerated at 40°F or below when they are not being served. Refrigerate within two hours, or one hour above 90°F. Use leftovers within three to four days and reheat to 165°F; pastry texture may soften after refrigeration. See USDA leftover guidance. For an example of brand-specific pastry handling, Pepperidge Farm's pastry instructions specify a cold, flexible sheet and their own thawing limits.