Mushroom Duxelles in Puff Pastry

 

If you don’t know, duxelles is just French for “mushrooms cooked down into paste”. Mushroom paste?

Blech. No wonder they made up a fancy-sounding word for it.

But it is yummy if you’re into mushrooms. If you’re not, I completely understand because I have hated mushrooms my whole life until very recently when I had them Spanish-style braised in sherry and garlic. I was transfixed and never again will I turn my nose up at a mushroom… unless it’s too mushroomy.

You can use duxelles as a stuffing inside butterflied chicken breasts or pork chops. It’s required when making Beef Wellington. It would also be lovely in an omelet. And as a matter of fact, it goes great with cream cheese in puff pastry, which should be obvious because really what doesn’t go great with cream cheese in puff pastry?

Mushroom Duxelles

Short answer: nothing.

BUT. WAIT. STOP. THE. PRESSES.

Before we go any further, I need you to imagine that you hold in your hand a jar of that sweet and spicy Nectar of the Gods known as jalapeno jelly. Now imagine it used as a dip for these crisp, savory puff pastry nibblies.

Great. Now we can all relax.

Mushroom Duxelles Video

Print

Duxelles in Puff Pastry

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

4.8 from 5 reviews

Hearty appetizers filled with mushrooms, shallots, and cream cheese

  • Yield: 12 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 8 ounces mushrooms, minced
  • 1 large shallot, minced
  • 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 tablespoons sherry or dry white wine
  • 3 ounces cream cheese
  • 1 pound puff pastry

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Melt the butter over high heat and add the mushrooms, shallots, and thyme.
  3. Cook for about 5 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated.
  4. Add the sherry and cook another few minutes.
  5. Remove from heat and let cool.
  6. Sprinkle a smooth work surface with flour and roll one sheet of puff pastry out into a rectangle, about 9″x12″.
  7. Cut into 12 squares.
  8. Put 1 tablespoon of the duxelles and 1 teaspoon of cream cheese in the center of each square.
  9. Moisten the edges with water and pull up the corners of the pastry to make a little packet.
  10. Put them on the parchment-lined sheet and bake 20-25 minutes.
  11. Repeat with the other sheet of pastry and the remaining filling.
  12. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Did you make this recipe?

Share a photo and tag us — we can't wait to see what you've made!

Also try these easy stuffed mushrooms!

28 Comments

  1. Bev Weidner on December 6, 2011 at 10:21 am

    UM HELL YES. need these in my belly.

    • Hilah on December 6, 2011 at 12:02 pm

      YES. You do.

  2. Great Stone Face on December 6, 2011 at 3:45 pm

    Question about the yield–
    The instructions say to cut the first sheet of puff pastry into 12 squares, then put 1 T. duxelles and 1 t. cream cheese on each of the 12 squares. Then, repeat with a 2nd sheet of puff pastry. But the yield says 12 servings. Isn’t that 24? Will the filling ingredients be enough for 24 or should we double them?

    • Hilah on December 6, 2011 at 3:49 pm

      It makes 24. We’re using the new recipe indexer thingy and the “Serves” field is just a drop-down menu with only the options of 1,2,4,6,8,10,12. Pretty dumb. I’ll start clarifying the actual yield somewhere else in the recipes.
      Thanks for asking!

  3. Diane on December 6, 2011 at 7:26 pm

    OMG, as the kids say, mushrooms and thyme are one of my favorite combinations and these look awesome. I’m making them and soon!

    • Hilah on December 7, 2011 at 9:05 am

      Yay! You’re gonna love them, Diane!

  4. Veronika on December 7, 2011 at 12:41 am

    These look great. Do you think they could be prepared in advance, then frozen, and thawed/cooked on the actual holiday? Signed: the person who will already be cooking far too many things that day.

    • Hilah on December 7, 2011 at 9:04 am

      Hi Veronika!
      I know what you mean about cooking too many things in one day.
      I think these would be just fine if you wanted to assemble them and then refreeze without baking. I’d just put them frozen, right into the oven, and add an extra 5-10 minutes cooking time.
      I did try this, though, too and it worked: bake the day before, cool, and store in a container on the counter overnight, and reheat in a 350 oven for about 7 minutes. Not sure if that will work for your schedule, though.
      Good luck! Let me know how it goes if you get a chance!

  5. Reed Freyermuth on December 7, 2011 at 10:01 pm

    Hilah,
    First of all you are doing great and it is wonderful you have pulled out of your blahs to phoenix so successfully. Missed seeing you in California this year. Hopefully, next year.
    If you like mushrooms so much, you may consider attending (as my guest, if you want) the Fungi Federation of Santa Cruz Festival the weekend of 13-15 January.
    It is, arguably, the king of mushroom orgies in the world and occurs once a year.
    Let me know if you have an interest.
    Check out the ffsc website.
    All the best,
    Your fan,
    Reed

    • Hilah on December 12, 2011 at 10:03 am

      Hi Reed! Great to hear from you!
      I checked out the FFSC website. Looks like a lot of fun. I also happen to be a botany-nerd and even though, true, fungi and plants are two different kingdoms, I do like to learn about fungi, too.
      This January, though, I’ve already got a trip planned so I can’t take any more time, but maybe the following year!
      Thanks for letting me know about it.
      yours,
      h

  6. Tom 'The Winegeek' on December 8, 2011 at 7:36 pm

    I like your recipe and your rapid knife skills in the video were killer. I hope to gain that kind of speed someday. When I made my duxelle I wanted a little bourbon-y goodness in place of the sherry and blended the cream cheese with a little blue cheese. It was like a hella good earthy boozy cheesey ‘splosion in my mouth. And it makes a great starter to a meal that ends with Bourbon pecan pie. No need to change up on the boozing. Keep on cookin’ girl.

    • Hilah on December 12, 2011 at 9:59 am

      Hey Tom!
      I LOVE LOVE LOVE the blue cheese and bourbon idea! I don’t think I’d have ever thought of that combo but now that you mention it I can’t get it outta mah head.
      Thanks, buddy!

  7. Sandy on December 21, 2011 at 6:32 pm

    I am making Beef Wellington for Christmas dinner. How far in advance can I make the duxelles?

    • Hilah on December 22, 2011 at 8:55 am

      Hi Sandy! It will keep fine in the fridge for up to 5 days. Merry Christmas!

  8. Joanne on February 22, 2013 at 1:55 pm

    Just made these for a bridal shower tea I am catering, and they turned out perfect and tasty! Thank you! From Livermore California…

    • Hilah on February 22, 2013 at 8:25 pm

      That’s wonderful to hear, Joanne! Thanks for writing and thanks for letting me know where you’re writing from. It’s always nice to know. 🙂

  9. Emilee on October 15, 2013 at 12:53 am

    I bet these would be amazing with bacon in them. MY boyfriend’s two favorite foods are bacon and mushrooms.

    • Hilah on October 15, 2013 at 9:37 am

      Yes, Emilee, I think you’re onto something!

  10. Emilee on October 15, 2013 at 3:43 am

    I am making this tomorrow as soon as I get off work. I will do a variation on this recipe because I do not have any puff pastry … sadly… and I am missing a few other ingredients. I plan on using crescent rolls and adding bacon to the mushroom ones and then also making chicken pastry things. We shall see how they turn out. I am super, super excited.






    • Hilah on October 15, 2013 at 9:38 am

      Let me know how they turn out!

      • Emilee on October 19, 2013 at 1:02 am

        They were AMAZEBALLS. I made 8 of them but only got to eat 2 because my boyfriend hogged the rest 🙁 I ended up adding hamburger meat instead because I also made empanadas so I just threw a little of the browned hamburger meat in and I also added Italian cheese and Parmesan cheese.






        • Hilah on October 19, 2013 at 9:04 am

          Those sound awesome! Much more like a meal than an appetizer this way. Thanks, Emilee!

  11. Rebecca on May 25, 2015 at 9:24 pm

    I will be trying this recipe and since I have some swiss cheese, it will be added.

  12. BK on December 29, 2016 at 8:47 am

    Thought of these as an Appetizer for a get together for tomorrow night. Have you ever used the pastry cups with cream cheese on bottom and mushrooms on top?






    • Hilah on December 30, 2016 at 10:13 am

      I haven’t done that, but sounds like it would work!

  13. Zellie F on February 15, 2017 at 3:34 pm

    Here is how to pronounce duxelles:
    https://www.howtopronounce.com/french/duxelles/

    I can’t wait to eat them!






  14. Frank on December 8, 2021 at 11:22 am

    This has become my secret specialty..I may or may not make a tray and devour all of them about once a week.






    • Hilah on December 8, 2021 at 11:45 am

      That makes me so glad to hear, Frank! 🙂

Leave a Comment

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.