Want to impress your guests or friends with a seemingly gourmet treat that you actually put together in under 20 minutes? Then try these recipes! They’re quick and easy, and everyone will be going for seconds.

One of the best ingredients you can ever use to put together a quick meal is puff pastry. A whole packet of 2 sheets of puff pastry can be bought for just five dollars, but the endless possibilities in different desserts and appetizers you can make with puff pastry make it worth every cent.

Puff pastry could be your new best friend. You can use it in all sorts of ways; stuff it with berries and bake it to make easy tarts, or sprinkle some cheese and melted butter over it and bake it as a cheese pastry. The possibilities are endless.

With that said, here are five of my best appetizer recipes for you to try that’ll take less than 20 minutes of your time.

All recipes have been tested for perfection and have been made in my own kitchen

1. Jalapeno Cheese Poppers

• 6 jalapeno peppers
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1/2 cup feta cheese
• Olive oil
• About 1/3 cup seasoned panko bread crumbs

1. Before you begin, make sure your cheeses are softened so that they are spreadable.
2. In a bowl, stir the cheeses, and set aside.
3. Wash and dry your jalapeno peppers and cut them in half so that you have two equal pepper pieces, cut out the membrane and leave some seeds in for spice.
4. Brush the inside of each pepper pod with olive oil, spread about 1 tablespoon of the cheese mixture into each pepper, and place all 12 peppers on a cookie sheet.
5. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top of each pepper and bake for 7 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Berry Tartlets

• 2 sheets cold puff pastry
• 1 lb. assorted berries
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 4 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 egg yolk
• About 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1. Sprinkle a clean work surface with flour and place both sheets of puff pastry on the counter.
2. Coat lightly with flour — puff pastry is made up mostly of butter, so it gets sticky the longer it’s left out, which is why you need to flour your work space.
3. Roll out both sheets of puff pastry to about 1/8 inch thin*
4. Cut each sheet into about 6 equal rectangles, for a total of 12.
5. In a bowl, combine one pound of mixed berries, corn starch, and lemon juice.
6. Spoon a tablespoon of the berry mix into the center of the rectangle and fold one side of the pastry onto the other.
7. Using a fork dipped in flour, seal the edges so the juice doesn’t leak. Repeat this step with all your puff pastry rectangles. Line all the tarts on a greased cookie tray.
8. Beat the egg in a bowl, and, using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash on top of each tart.
9. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes and enjoy.

Note: Store bought puff pastry, such as Pepperidge farms, comes with two sheet of puff pastry that are little too thick to work with. Rolling it out will make your dough much smoother when baked. 

3. Hummus Chicken Bites

• 1 teaspoon grinded cumin
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 chicken breast
• 1 packet Sabra hummus or any you prefer
• 1 head Romaine lettuce
• 1 tomato
• 1 packet saltine crackers

1. Using a chef’s knife, cut off any nerves or white parts in your chicken breast, that stuff is just chewy and no good.
2. Marinate the chicken with the cumin, paprika, and turmeric and set aside.
3. Now, line a serving tray or platter with as many saltine crackers as desired.
4. On a stove over medium heat, cook the chicken in a skillet with a little olive oil for roughly eight minutes, or until both sides are cooked tender and golden to perfection.
5. Lay the cooked breast on a cutting board, and using a rocking motion with your knife, shred the breast into thin chicken strips or cubes.
6. Meanwhile, on a separate cutting board, dice your tomatoes into tiny cubes and shred your romaine lettuce into bite size pieces.
7. Top each cracker with a tablespoon of hummus, and spread evenly. Add one bite-size chunk of lettuce on top of the hummus on all the crackers, then add about 2 or 3 cubes of tomato on top of each cracker.
8.  Finish it off with a generous amount of the chicken shreds on top of each cracker. Serve and enjoy.

4. Stuffed Bell Peppers

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 (18 oz) can of diced tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 Tablespoon Worcester sauce
• 1 medium onion
• 1 teaspoon salt and pepper
• 6 red or green bell pepper
• Cheddar cheese

1. In a stockpot, bring about five cups of water to a boil and drop in all the bell peppers. Remove the peppers from the boiling water after about five minutes, or until soft.
2. In a saute pan over medium heat, cook the ground beef until evenly browned. Drain the fat from the beef and return back to the saute pan.
3. On a cutting board, peel and dice the onion and toss into the beef. Mince the cloves of garlic with your knife and add into the pan with the beef.
4. Cook the pan of beef over medium heat, stirring constantly, and add in the rest of the ingredients except the cheese.
5. After cooking the beef for a minute or two to let the flavors develop, take off the pan from the heat and set aside. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 9 by 13 inch pan with aluminum foil.
6. Cut off the top of each bell pepper (where the stem is) and remove the seeds from the inside using a spoon.
7. Line all the peppers on the pan and fill each pepper with a generous amount of the beef mixture.
8.  Finally, sprinkle a large scoop of cheese on top of the openings of each pepper and bake for 10 minutes so the cheese melts.

5. Mac and Cheese Cups

• 1 package macaroni pasta
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon Cayenne powder
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 egg yolk
• 4 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 strips bacon (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. If you are going to use bacon, start off by chopping the two uncooked strips of bacon into squares.  Cook over high heat on a skillet until crisp, then set aside.
2. In a saucepan over high heat, bring about 2 cups of water to a boil, salt lightly, and add macaroni. Cook the macaroni for about 7 minutes or until al dente, which means the pasta is still chewy when you bite into it. This is fine since the macaroni will be baked in the oven later on.
3. In a dutch oven over low heat, create a roux. A roux is a french cooking method where you add equal parts of fat and flour ( such as 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon flour) to create a thick paste that thickens soups and sauces. A dutch oven is needed because you need a wide surface to whisk the roux in.
4. Add the butter in the pan and let it melt. Once melted, only add 1 of the 4 tablespoons of flour in the pan. Using a whisk, stir until a light brown paste is made.
5. Add the cayenne, nutmeg, salt and pepper and whisk the roux.
6. Bring the stove to medium-high heat and slowly add the milk to the dutch oven while whisking. Bring the milk to a slight boil and continuously whisk until the milk has thickened into a sauce-like consistency.
7. Turn the stove off, and add just 1 cup of the cheese into the sauce, and whisk until melted. Add all the cooked macaroni into the dutch oven and stir into the cheese with a wooden spoon.
8. Next, add the cooked bacon, egg yolk, and remaining 3 tablespoons of flour into the mixture and mix.
9. Lightly grease a muffin pan with butter, and divide the mac and cheese into 12 equal cups. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of cheese over each of the 12 servings and bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes.

Note: On the mac and cheese cup recipe, if you don’t want to bake the mac and cheese into cups as appetizers and you just want to enjoy a simple bowl of mac and cheese, cook the pasta for 10 minutes in boiling water rather than 7 minutes, and skip adding the egg yolk and 3 tablespoons of flour into mixture.

Master these simple recipes, and you’ll be well on your way toward becoming the culinary host of your dreams.