Portuguese Bakery-Style Ham and Cheese Puff Pastry Crispy Turnovers

I stumbled across a recipe similar to these on Reddit, and I thought… square, with cheese and ham? Ohhhh they’re practically portuguese merendas! For those who don’t know, a merenda is something similar to a meat sandwich, just in a more compact format, normally it’s a soft or enriched bread filled with cheese and ham, sometimes it can include other cured meats like bacon or smoked pork. This is an incredibly common snack you’ll find in bakeries all across Portugal, loved by locals and tourists alike for its simple yet satisfying combination of soft sweet bread and savory filling.

But in this case, I went with the recipe I saw and skipped the step of making bread for merenda and used puff pastry instead. It’s important to buy the rectangular kind for obvious reasons. Beyond that, just choose good quality ham and cheese and you’re set! Instead of using just regular cheese, I added a bit of a grated cheese mix just to make it more interesting. This is a simple but absolutely delicious recipe that’s amazing for picnics, snacks, or whenever you need something quick and tasty. Just like I did here, you can make adjustments with different cheeses, different hams, and different seasonings to make it your own and to your taste.

I also took the opportunity to experiment with adding a bit of mustard and some piri-piri sauce right into the pastry. To tell you the truth, I didn’t notice a huge difference with either one, maybe you have to put in a larger quantity, or the cooking process might take away some of the potency of the sauces. Of the two, I’d say the piri-piri was the most pleasant, but that was also the only one I seasoned with paprika, oregano, and turmeric as well. But they were all delicious! This recipe made 12 nice big turnovers, so let’s get to the recipe!

Portuguese Bakery-Style Ham and Cheese Puff Pastry Crispy Turnovers

Servings: 4-8
Time: 2hr 30mins
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
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Well, well, well... a puff pastry merenda! This recipe is perfect when you don't have much time, because it swaps the traditional merenda bread for easier to buy and bake puff pastry, just assemble and pop it in the oven! Delicious!

Ingredients

Puff Pastry – 2 rolls (400gr Rectangular)
Ham – 150g
Flamengo Cheese – 6 slices (+/- 70g)
Grated Cheese – to taste (Mix of Edan and Cheddar cheese)
Egg – 1
Mustard Sauce – To Taste
Piri-Piri Sauce – To Taste
Paprika – A Pinch
Oregano – A Pinch
Turmeric – A Pinch
Pepper – A Pinch
Sesame Seeds – A Pinch

Directions

Start by preheating the oven to 200ºC (392ºF or the temperature recommended on the puff pastry packaging), line a baking tray with non-stick paper.

Roll out one of the puff pastry sheets and cut it into the size of snacks you want. I chose squares, but traditionally these snacks are more rectangular.

Then just add a little cheese and ham to each one. If you want (and I recommend it), vary it a little, season with sauces and spices to your taste. I used mustard on 1/3, piri-piri sauce with paprika, turmeric, pepper, and oregano, and left the last one plain with ham and cheese.

Cover with the other dough, divide and seal each snack with a fork, and place on the baking sheet.

Whisk an egg and brush generously over each snack, sprinkle some sesame seeds on top (this isn’t traditional, but I had some in the pantry, so there you go, hehehe) and bake in the oven. In my case, it took about 28 minutes until they were golden brown. Remove from the oven and that’s it, ready to serve. Bon appétit!

Notes: Since you’re going to make a large batch of turnovers, it’s probably a good idea to do what I did and season some differently. Try other sauces, mayo/ketchup, add curry powder or better yet garam masala, etc. I say this because they were delicious but they all taste the same, so unless you’re making them for a party or picnic, you might get tired of so many turnovers with the same flavor ;D Try different cheese combinations like sharp cheddar with cream cheese and diferent combinations of hams, or add some caramelized onions for extra flavor.

Don’t overfill the turnovers or they’ll burst open during baking. Make sure to seal the edges really well with a fork to prevent the filling from leaking out.

These freeze beautifully unbaked, just add a few extra minutes to the cooking time when its time to cook.

Oh, and you can see that the cheese isn’t melted in the photos, but that’s because I made the turnovers at the end of the day and tasted them right out of the oven, but only took the photos the next day (better light). By then the cheese wasn’t as soft and stretchy anymore 😛

This recipe for Portuguese Bakery-Style Ham and Cheese Puff Pastry Crispy Turnovers was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Merenda Folhada Mista foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.