Pesto and Camembert Puff Pastry Sunflower (Tarte Soleil)

For an easy appetizer, try this Pesto and Camembert Puff Pastry Sunflower recipe which includes store bought puff pastry, camembert, and pesto. The entire dish is assembled to look like a flower with the camembert cheese in the middle and twists of puff pastry and pesto around the edges. This makes a wonderful hot appetizer during the holiday season or any other time where you need something delicious to serve to guests.

To make this dish, you begin by brushing pesto sauce all over one round sheet of puff pastry before placing the wheel of camembert in the centre. Then, you place another sheet of puff pastry on top before crimping it. Then, you cut strips of pastry around the cheese wheel before twisting them. Finally, the entire puff pastry gets brushed with egg wash and sprinkled with sesame cheese before being baked in the oven. The results are golden crisp pastry with gooey camembert cheese and fragrant basil pesto.

What is This Puff Pastry Flower?

The puff pastry becomes flaky and golden during the baking process, and the camembert becomes hot and gooey. It is quite similar to baked brie cheese that is baked in puff pastry with preserves like cranberries or apricot jam on top.

Pro Tips

• Make sure your puff pastry sheets are thawed before you use them in this recipe.
• If you can’t find circular puff pastry sheets at the grocery store, you can use a cake pan to help you cut the puff pastry sheets into circles.
• This recipe uses basil pesto, but you can feel free to use another type of pesto such as sun-dried tomato pesto instead.
• You will know the puff pastry flower is baked when it is puffed and golden, and the camembert is gooey.
• If you prefer, you could use a wheel of brie cheese rather than camembert instead.
• Brush the pastry evenly with egg wash to ensure that it browns evenly.

What to Serve with This Puff Pastry Flower?

This puff pastry flower can be served on its own as a precursor to a main meal. However, if you would like to round it out, you could serve it with crackers, sliced baguette, carrot sticks or other fresh vegetables for dipping, dried fruit, or nuts.

Should I Use Homemade or Store Bought Pesto?

You could use either homemade or store bought pesto in this recipe. The bonus of making homemade pesto is that it will taste fresher, however, if basil isn’t in season, using a jar of store bought pesto would be just fine.

Can I Omit the Sesame Seeds?

While sesame seeds add delicious flavor and crunch to the puff pastry flower, you can feel free to omit them if you don’t have any on hand or if someone you are serving the pastry to is allergic. Possible replacements for sesame seeds could be poppy seeds or nigella seeds if you wanted to give the puff pastry flower an attractive garnish.

How to Tell the Puff Pastry Flower is Baked?

You will know the puff pastry flower is properly baked through when it is golden brown in color and puffed up. The cheese should be gooey and may be oozing out of the pastry as well.

How to Store This Puff Pastry Flower

This puff pastry flower is best served immediately. However, if you have leftovers, you can store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. The leftovers can then be warmed up in the oven to re-crisp the pastry and help the cheese melt again.

How to Make This Puff Pastry Flower

Step 1: Brush one sheet of the pastry with the pesto. Place the wheel of camembert in the centre.

Step 2: Place the other sheet of puff pastry on top and crimp the edges to seal.

Step 3: Cut the pastry to make several strips around the camembert cheese. Twist the strips of pastry.

Step 4: Brush the pastry with egg wash and sprinkle it with sesame seeds. Bake it in a 375 F (190 C) oven for 20 minutes. Serve immediately.