Homemade is wonderful…when you have the time. But in certain cases, there is nothing wrong with a shortcut! This quick and easy fall dessert utilizes two of our favorite short-cut ingredients: frozen puff pastry and canned pie filling. Combined with a few other easy ingredients, these result in a quick and easy pastry filled with fall flavors!

Ingredients

1 package frozen puff pastry
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 C powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Spiced Apple filling
1/2 C apple butter (we prefer L&A Pure Unsweetened Apple Butter)
1/2 tsp apple pie spice

Pumpkin Spice filling
1/2 C canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Bonus option
1 can apple pie filling (we prefer Lucky Leaf)

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Preheat your oven to 400F.

Step 1: Make flavored cream cheese filling

Combine room temperature cream cheese with powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Stir well to combine.

To make spiced apple-flavored cream cheese, fold in apple butter and apple pie spice.

To make pumpkin spice-flavored cream cheese, fold in pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice.

Set your fillings aside while you build your puff pastry.

Step 2: Cut and build your puff pastry

Defrost your puff pastry according to the package directions. It usually takes around 30 minutes.

Once defrosted, cut the pastry into an even number of squares.

Cut the center out of half of the squares and discard the middle, creating an outer frame. You should end up with an equal number of un-cut squares and outer frames. Wet the edges of each un-cut squares and secure one outer frame to the top of each un-cut square to create a sort of window frame. (See photo for reference.)

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Use a fork to dock (poke holes all over) the center portion of the puff pastry. The holes will allow more moisture to evaporate from the center so it doesn’t puff up too much.

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Spoon 3 tablespoons of cream cheese filling into the center. (OPTIONAL: If you’re feeling fancy, brush the outer frame of your pastry with melted butter and sprinkle some turbinado sugar for extra sweetness!)

Bake your puff pastry “window frames” at 400F for 20-25 minutes, or until nicely golden and puffed. Once done, let them cool for at least 5 minutes. Note: they will settle a little.

At this point, your quick and easy pastries are ready to enjoy! But if you wish to add an extra oomph to the spiced apple flavor, continue on to step 3!

Step 3: Add pie filling

To make the spiced apple pastries even better, spoon pie filling on top of the cream cheese filling in the center.

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