Parmesan Spinach Puffs (or Twists)

I don't usually make appetizers for several reasons: 1) I don't go to many appetizer-ish parties where you just nibble on little things. 2) I'm usually so busy just fixing a main course I don't think about what people can snack on when they arrive. 3) I don't have a lot of ideas besides chips and dip, cheese and crackers, nothing too fancy.
Well, tonight we're going to our church Christmas party and people are bringing a variety of food and treats and snacks. I wanted to break out of my usual meatballs-in-a-crockpot (which are delicious!) and try for something different. I found this recipe on Pinterest (gasp!!) and tried it this morning. Loved it!! Here is the finished product:

Surprisingly the website this recipe came from is food ideas for kids. This could be a substitute for sandwiches or a snack. To me it screamed appetizer. It can be served hot or cold, it's easy to assemble and easy to eat with your fingers, and it has four ingredients. But I decided to make mine for the party a little smaller, more bitesize. I basically followed the original directions, just cut them smaller. :)

Ingredients:
1 sheet puff pastry (in the freezer section with the pies)
Fresh baby spinach (about 1 1/2 cups)
Grated Parmesan cheese (as much as you want)
1 egg (beaten)

This wasn't in the original recipe but I found it easier to rough cut the spinach and trim the stems. Here's my pile of spinach...yes that's Koshka. She's sitting on a bar stool and keeping in the know on what's happening in the kitchen!! It's one of her favorite chairs to sit in.

My pastry sheet is thawed and all spread out. A word of warning: make sure the sheet is thawed completely before you try to unfold the sheets. Otherwise it'll just tear. Yes, I buy Parmesan cheese at Sam's club for our little family of three...we eat a lot of pasta!

 I decided to spread the cheese and cut spinach on the pastry sheet before cutting it into strips. You could do it either way. I recommend putting the cheese first so it can stick to the pastry. The original recipe said to cut ten strips then fold them in half and twist. That's what I did for the first batch but since I wanted these bitesize I cut the sheet in half horizontally, then in ten strips vertically. Then I cut each of those ten strips in half again horizontally. When I folded them over they were the perfect size to grab and pop. I pinched the edges together at the seam and laid them on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

 Let them firm up in the fridge for about 10 minutes. This helps the pastry stick together better. This is also a great time to preheat your oven to 400. When you take them out, give the tops a brush with the beaten egg, just to help them golden up. Then pop them in the oven. It's hard to say how long these take. It depends on how big you made them, if you twisted them, etc. I checked every few minutes until I saw they were golden brown.

 And here they are!! You can serve them right from the oven or after they've cooled. Little Girl is currently walking around the house eating one from my first attempt and saying, "Yum, yum, yum." I guess they are popular with kids!!