These vegan Cranberry Cheese Strings are the perfect party snack! With flaky puff pastry and filled with a sweet-savoury combination of homemade cranberry sauce, vegan cheese, and nutty hazelnuts.
For this recipe, we're creating the cranberry filling from scratch and you can use both fresh or frozen cranberries - whatever you have on hand! It's also great using leftover cranberry sauce from Christmas dinner - or other festivities. If you're using pre-made cranberry sauce and it's simply missing 'that special something', then stir in some cinnamon and balsamic glaze and you're ready to make your own cranberry cheese strings.
The vegan cheese I've used for these cheese strings is the Epic Mature from Violife. I find it works just perfectly for this type of recipe - as it melts in the oven but it is not too melty to make the cheese strings soggy (that often happens when using vegan Greek-style cheese, so I wouldn't recommend that!). You're welcome to swap it out for your favourite vegan cheese! For best results use a hard block cheese that you can grate and that melts in the oven.
This recipe is:
- 100% vegan
- egg-free and dairy-free
- super cheesy
- the perfect mix of sweet and savoury
- delicious
- a tasty party snack
- a brilliant use of leftover cranberry sauce!
Cranberry Cheese Strings
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 15-20
- Total Time: 7 minute
- Yield: 14 1x
- Category: Festive
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: British
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These vegan Cranberry Cheese Strings are the perfect party snack! With flaky puff pastry and filled with a sweet-savoury combination of homemade cranberry sauce, vegan cheese and nutty hazelnuts.
Ingredients
- 1 sheet vegan-friendly puff pastry, e.g. jusrol
For the cranberry sauce:
- 250 g cranberries
- 100-150 ml water
- 2 tbsp light brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 2-3 tbsp balsamic glaze
For the rest of the filling:
- 1 block vegan cheese (200 g) - for best results use Violife Epic Mature
- 50 g crushed hazelnuts
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp browned butter
For the 'egg wash':
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp tamari soya sauce
Instructions
- Carefully unroll your puff pastry sheet and place the unrolled sheet into the fridge.
- To prepare the cranberry filling, place your cranberries into a saucepan and pour in the water. Stir regularly over medium heat until the cranberries begin to break down. Continue cooking for about 10 minutes, until all the cranberries have broken down and the mix turned into a cranberry sauce.
- Stir in the sugar, cinnamon, black pepper, and balsamic glaze, then remove from the heat.
- In a small bowl, stir together the crushed hazelnuts, nutritional yeast, and salt. Brown the butter in a small saucepan on the stove and mix it into the nut mix.
- Roughly grate the cheese into a bowl and preheat your oven to 190C (375F).
- Spread the cranberry sauce across the entire puff pastry sheet, then cut the sheet in half. Top one half with about 3/4 of the nut mix and most of the cheese, then fold the other half of the cranberry puff pastry sheet on top. Gently press it down, then cut the sheet into 14 equal, lengthy pieces. Take each piece and twist it 3-4 times, then place it onto a lined baking tray.
- Mix the maple syrup and tamari, then brush it onto the twists. Sprinkle the remaining nut mix and cheese on top and transfer to the oven.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Allow for the cheese twists to cool down for 10 minutes before carefully removing them from the tray & enjoy as a festive party snack!
Keywords: vegan cheese strings, vegan cheese, cranberry sauce recipes, leftover cranberry sauce
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