Delicious, flaky Puff Pastry pizzas with cream cheese and veggie toppings ( vegan option available) . Perfect for a special heart shaped Valentines treat!
Did you know that the 9th Feb is International pizza day? And, on top of that, we are also now officially in the month of Valentines! So I decided to share my recipe for individual heart shaped valentines pizza’s. With a puff pastry base, this isn’t the ‘pizza’ you’re used to but the flaky pastry works amazing as an alternative pizza base and is sure to impress.
Whether you’re a celebrate Valentines or not, I think anyone can appreciate a personalised, delicious individual sized puff pastry pizza. Plus, they are actually really simple to make!
For this particular recipe, I’m sharing a rainbow tomato vegan topping option and a Courgette, sweetcorn, olive, peas & Feta vegetarian version. To veganise the recipe it is as simple as swapping out dairy cream cheese/cheese to a vegan version and the toppings can be swapped out for whatever you’d like. So it’s the perfect vegan valentines treat. Just be wary of super ‘wet’ ingredients and having a ‘soggy’ base.
When I originally wanted to create this recipe, I’d planned to use a block of puff pastry but during my recipe testing phase I could only get a hold of pre-rolled sheets and I actually think it’s perfect for this recipe.
You might think that there would be a lot of waste but I actually found a way to use at least 95% of the pastry. The excess puff pastry can be used to make little individual triangle parcels ( savoury or sweet) and even additional rectangle/square shaped mini pizza’s. The decision is up to you! I personally like the idea of creating little savoury snacks for a pre-pizza snack and sweet treats as a cheeky dessert. Boom! valentines/ party sorted.
As for the actual heart shaped pizzas , it’s as simple and spreading on a generous layer of a cream cheese of your choice and topping with veggies.
Bake them until they’re golden brown and you end up with a very simple to make, impressive vegetarian/ Vegan Valentine’s treat.
Without further ado, here’s the recipe for my Heart Shaped Valentines puff pastry Pizzas !
Heart Shaped Valentines puff pastry Pizza
Delicious, flaky Puff Pastry pizzas with cream cheese and veggie toppings. Perfect for a special heart-shaped Vegetarian / Vegan Valentines treat!
Ingredients
- 2 Puff pastry sheets Any brand will do. I used JusRol and Tesco's own here
- Garlic & Herb Cream Cheese Vegan or not
- Toppings Options: You can use whatever veggies you prefer!
Tomato Pesto Topping (OPTIONAL)
- Rainbow cherry Tomatoes
- Pesto use vegan/GF if needed
- Basil to garnish
- Cheese dairy or dairy-free
Vegan Veggie Topping
- Cream cheese dairy-free (as the 'base' instead of tomato sauce)
- Courgette thinly sliced
- black olives sliced
- sweetcorn
- peas
- feta cheese I used vegan feta, to sprinkle over the top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200.
- Roll out your pastry and get ready to cut it into a heart shape. To do this I used a bit of baking paper to create a heart template and then used a knife to cut around that shape.
- When trimming the remaining pastry away, I made sure to try to keep the bits as large as possible to be able to use the cut-offs for other bakes. ( see photo's above for reference).
- Using a fork, prick all over the base of the pizza's, leaving space for the 'crust' around the edge.
- Spread your cream cheese liberally over the bases. You can add a bit of normal cheese too ( make sure it's a melty one if making the pizza's 100% vegan)
- Meanwhile, it's time to prepare your toppings. I was able to use a mandolin to really thinly slice my veggies, but if you don't have this available then you can just use a knife and slice thinly. *
- Once the toppings have all been prepared and placed ( I used a bit of green pesto onto the tomato topping too, for that 'something extra') then bake in the oven for around 20-25 minutes, till golden brown. *
- Meanwhile, while the puff pastry pizzas are baking, you can prepare your additional pastry bits. I created savoury parcel bits by adding a spoonful of cream cheese inside the triangle shaped pastry, along with some of the additional veg I had. I then folded it over and used a fork to crimp and seal it shut. Using a fork, I pricked it a couple of times just to reduce any spillage. And then created more pizza's with the rectangular bits*
Notes
- I don't have an exact amount for toppings because these can easily be swapped out for whatever toppings are your favourite. It also depends on if you're planning on using similar toppings/fillings for the excess pastry. I would suggest buying a punnet of mixed tomatoes if wanting to use them as a filling. Also, a single, small courgette will be more than enough
- No need to cut the pastry into a heart-shape
- In the images, I used two varieties of puff pastry and you can see they both look very different. The Jusrol version ( tomato) created a beautiful golden brown finish and so I'll likely use that for everything in the future- however any puff pastry sheets will work fine.
- For some sweet versions simply replace the cream cheese and veggies with some chocolate and strawberry slices!
As always, I’d LOVE to see your results, so if you try the recipe out then let me know and feel free to tag me in any pics @memoirssoluciie and #MSLuciierecipes.
Till next time,
And as always: To pin for later!
