Mini Gluten Free Vol-au-Vents with Honey Roasted Pumpkin and Brie

Recipe

These delicious Mini Gluten Free Vol-au-Vents with Honey Roasted Pumpkin and Brie are the perfect gluten free finger food for the holiday season. Flaky puff pastry with sweet pumpkin and melty cheese, they're a textural delight with the sweet, salty flavour of your dreams. Super simple to put together with my Epic Rough Puff Pastry, these mini vol-au-vents will impress anyone!

Vol-au-Vents were one of the first things I tried when I first stumbled upon my Epic Gluten Rough Puff Pastry recipe. It felt like the ultimate test for a puff pastry - will it vol-au-vent?? And... it did! I usually choose to make mini vol-au-vents for a couple of reasons. Firstly, they're freaking adorable. Secondly, they're the perfect size for finger food, small enough to be gone in a couple of mouthfuls. And thirdly this size only requires two layers of pastry to get a proportionate rise. Just the base and one ring gives the perfect amount of lift.

While making your own vol-au-vents at home might seem daunting (and let alone a gluten free version) these really aren't too challenging. They require a little time and patience, but as long as you have a batch of my Epic Rough Puff Pastry in the fridge, a rolling pin in the drawer and a couple of small cookie cutters hanging around you can definitely make vol-au-vent shells.

How to Make Mini Gluten Free Vol-au-Vents with Honey Roasted Pumpkin and Brie

The first step of building the shells involves rolling one third of the pastry out to around 4mm in thickness. Use a fluted round cutter that's about 4.5cm across to cut 30 bases out and place them on a lined tray and that's job one done.

The second step is much the same to begin with except that the remaining two thirds of the pastry needs to be rolled out a little thicker to about 6mm. This is to give us maximum lift in the walls on our vol-au-vent cases. Another 30 4.5cm rounds need to be cut, and then we need to cut the centres out to make space for our fillings. I use a straight sided cutter that's about 3cm in diameter for the middles. Once we have 30 rings of pastry ready they just get glued onto the bases with a little egg wash et voila! We have vol-au-vent cases! Well, ok, they're raw vol-au-vent cases, but still. Half an hour in the fridge, another brush of egg wash and a stint in the oven is all they need to turn into flaky, puffy, golden pastry perfection.

For this recipe I've chosen honey-roasted butternut pumpkin and brie cheese to fill my vol-au-vents, but you can of course choose whatever you like to to fill them. My only tip is to consider the miniature size of these when choosing and preparing your filling. (I haven't tried a full-size version of these yet, but it's on the to-do list!) Make sure to chop your filling ingredients into sizes that you'll be able to fit into the cases.

Can I Mini Gluten Free Vol-au-Vents with Honey Roasted Pumpkin and Brie Ahead of Time?

These vol-au-vents are perfect for preparing in advance. You can roast the pumpkin a day or two in advance and refrigerate until you're ready to assemble the vol-au-vents. The pastry cases can be assembled ahead of time as well. Cool completely and store in an airtight container at room temperature. Both the filling and the pastry will be refreshed in the oven after assembling and just before serving, so they'll taste just as fresh as if you'd made them on the day!