Puff pastry cups can be used for so many delicious desserts and appetizers! These are two easy tutorials on how to make puff pastry cups!
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Edible bowls and cups are not only delicious, but super convenient! We definitely say “YES!” to less mess!
Puff pastry is really delicious and tastes great when combined with fruit, pie fillings, cheese, peanut butter, and just about every single other food under the sun! Using puff pastry cups makes serving appetizers and desserts fun and easy! We use Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets for both methods.
This post will teach you two different ways to make puff pastry cups using the same 12-cup cupcake pan.
The first method results in larger, shallower cups, like those pictured above) that are great for mini cheesecakes (a personal favorite!) and other thicker, less runny fillings.
The second method, pictured above, will give you smaller, but deeper puff pastry cups that work best for smaller servings or with fillings that may be a bit more messy.
How to Make Puff Pastry Cups
Method 1 – How to Make Shallow Puff Pastry Cups
Preheat your oven to 400°F.
After defrosting your puff pastry sheet, roll it out on a lightly floured surface until the cupcake pan fits over it. Using the cupcake wells as markers, mark the dough where it needs to be cut to make 12 equal size squares.
Cut the dough and pierce holes in it with a fork. I use the back of a butter knife to cut the dough.
Turn your cupcake pan up-side-down, lay a square of dough over each cup and lightly press around the cup to form a bowl shape.
Lay a sheet of parchment paper or Silpat mat over the top and then a flat baking sheet on top of that. This will keep the base of the cups from rising too much.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool and remove from the pan. Viola! Shallow puff pastry cups!
Method 2 – How to Make Deep Puff Pastry Cups
For deeper puff pastry cups, instead of placing the squares of puff pastry dough onto an up-side-down cupcake pan, you will place the dough into the wells.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly brown and don’t panic when you see the pastry has puffed up and covered the base! Simply use the back of a spoon to press the dough down to form the well.
We most recently used both these cups for the No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake you see in these photos, but the possibilities are endless! Leave a comment and let us know what you are planning to make puff pastry cups for!
Enjoy!
How to Make Puff Pastry Cups (2 Ways)
Ingredients
- 2 sheets frozen puff pastry such as Pepperidge Farm
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. After defrosting your puff pastry sheet, roll it out on a lightly floured surface until the cupcake pan fits over it. Mark the dough where it needs to be cut to make 12 equal size squares. Cut the dough and pierce holes in it with a fork. Repeat with the other sheet of puff pastry.
- For SHALLOW cups: Turn your cupcake pan up-side-down, lay a square of dough over each cup and press around the cup to form a bowl shape. Lay a sheet of parchment paper or Silpat mat over the top and then a flat baking sheet on top of that. This will keep the base of the cups from rising much.
- For DEEPER puff pastry cups: instead of placing the squares of dough onto an up-side-down cupcake pan, you will place the dough into the wells.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool and remove from the pan. For the deeper puff pastry cups, use the back of a spoon to press the dough down to form a well.
Ellen Cronin says
Do the pans need to be greased or is there enough in the pastry itself to not stick?
Lauren Vavala says
Hi Ellen,
I’ve never had to grease the pans. The puff pastry dough usually has an excess of flour on it so it doesn’t really stick at all.
– Lauren
Debbie Jones says
Making a lobster newburg recipe today for a birthday dinner for two. I need a larger cup to hold the filling. Any suggestions on how I can do that. Any help is greatly appreciated
Carol says
They sell a large muffin size pan .
Anita Day says
A perfect serving size for individual mincemeat or mincemeat marzipan desserts.
Lauren Vavala says
Thanks so much!
Jenni says
I’m going to make the shallow puffs. I’ll place a small lettuce leaf in the base, add some chicken salad, and garnish with toasted pecan crumbles.
Jenni says
I actually made my little chicken salad puffs today and they turned out beautifully! For my oven it was 12 mins exactly for the pastry. I tried 15 mins, and they came out a little too well-done. I let them cool completely, placed a lettuce leaf in each one, put a 2-tablespoon scoop of chicken salad in each cup, sprinkled with Old Bay seasoning and a few chopped pecans. Perfect!
Lauren Vavala says
Hi Jenni! These sound really good! Thanks for using the recipe – so happy it worked out for you!
– Lauren
Amy says
What if you need to bake the filling also? Do you still back the shells first, then fill and bake again?
Lauren Vavala says
Hi Amy! Usually you can bake the the filling and shells at the same time. Just use the method where you bake the puff pastry IN the muffin tin. You can see an example in this Breakfast Puff Pastry Cups with Bacon, Egg, and Cheese recipe.
Hope this helps,
Lauren
Gillian Brain says
Hi Lauren, when baked the puff with goats cheese and cooked red onion in the muffin tins the base pastry wasn’t fully cooked but the rest was. How do I bake it so the base is fully cooked?
Lauren Vavala says
Hi Gillian! I would try to par-bake the cups for about half the bake time (use the method INSIDE of the muffin tin to do this), then fill and bake to finish off the puff pastry and warm/melt the filling. Different fillings may cause different degrees of moisture in the bottom of the cups, but I don’t think you should get much from the ingredients you mentioned. Hopefully this works better for you!
– Lauren
Phyllis says
I feel really dumb. I have sometimes had a problem finding puff pastry shells for my creamed chicken. I generally make cream puffs and fill with the chicken but that isn’t a great substitute. My store almost always has the puff pastry sheets. I just never thought of turning the sheets into cups. Thanks for the great idea
Lauren Vavala says
HI Phyllis! So glad you found this post! I never thought to make creamed chicken over puffed pastry before, but I LOVE that idea! I actually just made a creamed chicken recipe for this website (for the fall) and served it over biscuits. I’m going to try the puff pastry next time so thank YOU for this idea!!
– Lauren
Valerie says
Thanks for the tips, but can I use mini muffin pan?
I’ve never used puff pastry. I want a bite size tart.
Lauren Vavala says
Hi Valerie, you can use a mini pan, for sure. Just keep a close eye on them when they bake since they may not take as long.
– Lauren
Marisa Franca says
I simply love individual desserts. Puff pastry is a great staple to have on hand. Fill it and you have a great dessert. In fact, you could fill them with something savory and have a great appetizer. Thanks for the inspiration.
Veena Azmanov says
This is one of the favorite things for my kids to have. They love puff pastry with things in there they can enjoy. I make these quick shells and usually add custard pudding but this sounds so delicious. Can’t wait to try.
Dan Zehr says
Wow, I want to eat it every day! I’m sure this is very tasty. An interesting dessert for my children. I really like. It’s just incredible. Thank you!
Dianna says
These puff pastry cups are such a good idea! I am going to make these for our next family gathering.
Claudia Lamascolo says
what a great idea making these in cups. Easy and no mess and much quicker I really need to try this they look so good!
Laney says
Thank you for the instructions – I needed them. Just a tiny error you might want to fix: about a third of the way down in the instructions you tell us to “scour” the dough. I tried that but hubby didn’t like the soapy taste. Are you sure you don’t mean to “score” the dough? Just saying.
Lauren says
Oh goodness. It’s supposed to just say “mark the dough” like in the recipe card. This was written a while ago, so who knows what in the world I was thinking at the time lol.