Homemade Spinach & Cheese Patties (from scratch)

Chicken Patties have always been a must on our Iftaar (breaking of the fast meal) table therefore, puff pastry packs were one of the main items on the Ramadan grocery shopping list. My Mom would always keep ready-made puff pastry in the freezer and would just fill it up with different fillings and shape them into either triangles or rectangles as they were already available in cut up squares, and freshly baked them just moments before the Iftaar time. The lovely aroma of the buttery, flaky pastry and the succulent savory or pleasant sweetness of the filling was enough to make us not stop on just one! My mom not only made chicken and beef mince patties but she also made, strawberry jam and dates & nuts filled patties. Another one of her filling creations was to make thick sugar syrup and then add lots of chopped nuts into it; it kind of turned into a mixed nuts jam and she filled the pastry with that and baked. You can then serve it dusted with some icing sugar. There you go, you got some different ideas plus a bonus recipe :D Those sweet and nutty patties are one of our most favorite type of sweet snacks :)

Just fill up with whatever filling you desire to

After moving back to the home-country, we came to know that the availability of the puff pastry is not that easy as it used to be back in the K.S.A besides, the ones available at some leading stores weren't up to the mark hence, we used to buy ready-to-eat patties from the bakeries but still, they were of no match to the ones we were used to making at home and loved eating. Last year during Ramadan, I assigned this task to myself of making puff pastry at home by using very simple ingredients and the effort turned out to be fruitful! Yes, you heard me right, successful attempt of making homemade puff pastry from scratch! You can simply prepare it at home but the process is a tad bit time consuming yet totally worth it! The filling I used was totally vegetarian and am going to share that with you but you are free to use any filling you want to. Once you start making puff pastry at home, the filling would become secondary as you'd be free to fill your homemade puff pastry with whatever you have on hand and enjoy freshly baked, hot out of the oven patties at home and will thank me always :D

Let's get some buttery aroma unleashed in your kitchens today! 

Homemade Spinach & Cheese Patties

Ingredients for Puff Pastry:

(For the Dough)

All Purpose Flour: 2 cups 

Unsalted Butter: 2 tbsp. 

Salt: 1 tsp.

Lemon Juice or White Vinegar: 2 tbsp.

Chilled Water: 1/2 cup 

Corn Flour/Corn Starch: for rolling the dough. 

(For the Butter Filling)

Unsalted Butter: 300 grams (at room temperature, not melted. Keep it out of the freezer an hour prior to starting the process)

All Purpose Flour: 2 tbsp. 

Lemon Juice or White Vinegar: 1 tsp.

Salt: 1 tsp

Ingredients for the Patties Filling:

Spinach: 1 cup (chopped)

Cottage Cheese: 1/2 cup (crumbled)

Onion: 1 small sized (chopped)

Oregano: 1/2 tsp.

Salt: 1/2 tsp.

Black Pepper Powder: 1/2 tsp.

Butter: 2 tbsp.

Egg or Milk: for brushing the tops of the patties.

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients for the dough in a large mixing bowl. Knead for a few minutes (you can use the food processor too for this step) Cover the dough with a cling wrap and refrigerate till used.
2. Grate or mash the butter with the help of a spoon, add all the remaining ingredients for the butter filling and mix gently. Keep aside.
3. Roll the prepared dough into a rectangular shape and roll it out as large as possible but not too thin. Use plenty of corn flour/starch to avoid stickiness.
4. Now put one part of the butter filling on 2/3 part of the rolled dough, leaving the 1/3 of the surface without any fat. Fold it into 3 folds, folding the empty side first. Wrap it with a grease-proof paper or with a plastic wrap and then with a damp tea towel. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
5. Take out the rolled and folded dough from the refrigerator and repeat the process of rolling it, spreading of the butter, folding and refrigerating (this step shall be done at least 3 times)
6. The final rolling and folding of the dough will be done without using any butter. Refrigerate the prepared pastry for at least 1 hour before using. This puff pastry can stay well in the freezer up till a month.
7. Prepare filling by heating butter in a cooking pot over medium flame.
8. Now saute onions in the butter till soft and translucent. Add chopped spinach and cook till wilted. 
9. Add all the seasonings and mix well. Turn off the heat.
10. Let the filling cool down a little before adding the cottage cheese. 
11. After adding the cheese, cool down the filling completely.
12. Take out the puff pastry and roll it out a bit so that you are able to cut around 8 equal sized square of the pastry.
13. Put some stuffing in the middle of each pastry square, fold and close them to shape as desired.
14. Seal the edges to secure the pastry well. You can do it with the help of a fork.
15. Now brush some beaten egg or milk on top of each prepared patties.
16. Bake in to a preheated oven for 20-25 min at 180C/350F/Gas-Mark 4.
17. Serve hot/warm with tomato ketchup or any sauce of your choice. Enjoy.

Makes 8

That's all bakers! :) The spice level and the baking time can always be adjusted according to your taste buds and type of ovens. I hope you enjoy making and eating them. Until next time, keep sharing the goodness of this greatest blessing, that has been bestowed in abundance upon us the lucky ones, with the less fortunate ones.
Thank you and please this Ramadan do remember everyone esp. The Ummah-e-Muslimeen (Muslim Nation) in your Du'as/prayers including me :)

Jazak'Allah Khair! (May Allah reward you)

*Not be duplicated, rewritten or published without permission- Thank you!