Kronk's Spinach Puffs (The Emperors New Groove)

Ever since I watched the movie the Emperor's New Groove I fell in love with the character Kronk and his love for cooking. Especially for his homemade spinach puffs. They just looked so amazing in the movie that I had to make them at home and live my Kronk fantasy!

I hope that you give these a go and that you love them as much as I do! they are so incredibly cheesy and flaky you have to try them!!

Ingredients

-         ½-1Tbsp olive oil

-         1 medium brown onion, chopped finely

-         4 cups fresh spinach, chopped and remove the stems (or use 1 cup frozen spinach,

thawed and drained of excess water)

-         1 large egg yolk

-         2 cloves garlic, crushed

-         1/3 cup cream cheese

-         1/3 cup ricotta

-         1/3 cup feta cheese

- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

-         Salt and pepper to taste

-         2-4 sheets of puff pastry (it depends on how big your sheets are and how big you

want them) I’m cutting mine into quarters/

-         1 egg (to make the eggwash)

Equipment

-         Large frying pan

- Spatula

-         Knife

-         Large mixing bowl

-         Oven, baking tray and baking paper

-         pastry brush

-         mixing spoons

Place a large frying pan over medium-high heat and add the olive oil and onions, stirring and cooking them until they become light brown. This should take about 4-5 minutes. (Add a pinch of salt here to help draw out the moisture from the onions to help them brown quicker)

Then add the garlic to the pan and stir for about 30 seconds until it becomes aromatic and you can smell the beautiful flavour. Then add the fresh or frozen spinach and cook until it reduces by more than half. Then season with some cracked black pepper. Then place this aside to cool for about 5 minutes

To make the cheesy spinach mixture add the four kinds of cheese to a large mixing bowl and stir together. Add the egg yolk then the warm spinach mixture. Mix to combine.

To form the spinach puffs cut the puff pastry into quarters or smaller (this depends on the size of your pastry) but make sure to add it to a square as this will help give the shape we are after. I’m using about 10-12cm x10-12cm squares.

To make the egg wash take the egg and whisk it until it is uniform in colour (this will help make the pastry stick together and give it a beautiful golden colour.

Then add a minimum for 2 Tbsp of filling (again add as much as you like just don’t overfill them) to the pastry. Then with a pastry brush place, some of the eggs wash around the corners of the square pastry and then lift two corners of the pastry up and join them together to make a pointed cone shape. Make sure to pinch the pastry together so the filling does not fall out.

Then place them in the fridge to cool down for about 10 minutes (if you are in a hurry you can skip this but it helps make them become even more delicious).

When you are ready to bake them pre-heat the fan-forced oven to 190 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit).

Then brush each spinach puff with some of the same egg wash as before and bake for 12-16 minutes or until they are golden brown and delicious!

Make sure to serve them nice and hot, ideally a couple of minutes out of the oven. They are incredibly delicious and I hope you share them with your friends, family, woodland creatures and llamas (again from the movie XD).