Some of the classic French canapés involve vol-au-vents, which are puff pastry cups filled with tasty savoury or sweet fillings. These are surprisingly easy to make, especially with the availability of top-quality all-butter puff pastry in stores now.
To make the vol-au-vents, roll out a sheet of puff pastry to 3mm thick, or simply take out a pre-rolled sheet of puff which should be roughly that thickness. You will need 2 circle cookie cutters: one in the size that you want the base to be, and one the size that you want the hole to be.
One to two bites are best for canapés, but larger ones can be served as appetizers and entrees. Simply cut out twice the number of large disks that you want final vol-au-vents (plus a few extra for errors). Now use the smaller cutter to cut a hole in half of the pastry disks, forming O shapes. Next, egg wash the underside of the O shapes, and sandwich them onto the bases, creating cup shapes. Egg wash the whole item just prior to baking. Bake fully, cool and then fill with the pre-cooked filling.
