Crab and Chive Puffs

A few weeks ago we hosted a housewarming party at our new place in Denver. It was a ton of fun but for me, the best part was all the cooking I did before the big event! I made goat cheese tomatoes, truffled potatoes, sliders, chocolate cupcakes and pigs in a blanket...er, puff pastry. It was my first time working with frozen puff pastry and I WAY overbought. I left the extra in the freezer hoping that one day I would stumble across a good puff pastry recipe. Last week I bought the current issue of Real Simple and there it was, a yummy puff pastry idea! I decided to make these as an appetizer for one of our Friday date nights. P loved them and they were able to tide him over until dinner was ready.

The original recipe served 20 so I drastically altered the amounts to just serve the two of us. I am not much of a baker so instead of using a 2-inch cookie cutter (that I don't own) I simply used a pizza cutter to divide the pastry into squares. I figure it probably doesn't affect the taste!

Crab and Chive Puffs
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup fresh chives, plus more for garnish
juice of 1/2 large lemon
sea salt
black pepper
1/4 pound lump crabmeat

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Using a pizza cutter, cut the pastry into 1 inch squares. Place on a greased baking sheet.

In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, mayonnaise, chives, lemon juice, pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Fold in crab.

Dividing evenly, spoon the crab mixture onto the pastry squares.

Bake, rotating the baking sheet halfway through, until the pastries are golden and crisp, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve hot.