My favorite part of any party is the appetizers. (Okay, seeing people you love is usually pretty good too.) But really, a party is largely an opportunity for fancy snacks, and everyone loves fancy snacks. It’s a unifying force. But fancy snacks don’t need to be difficult to make. Quite the contrary! Take these 4-Square Foldovers as an example. With just five ingredients and some fun technique, you get a seriously tasty appetizer that will wow your guests even though they’re a breeze to make.

What Ingredients Do You Need for 4-Square Folders?

Only five things! You’ll need:

• Two sheets of puff pastry.
• Cream cheese.
• Cheddar cheese.
• Red pepper jelly.
• Ground Italian sausage.

That’s it!

How Do You Make 4-Square Foldovers?

The great news is that there’s no pre-cooking involved here. It’s really just a matter of smearing and folding… so just some simple technique and some oven time, nothing fancy.

To start, you want to make sure your puff pastry is thoroughly thawed. Then, cut each puff pastry sheet into four equal squares. (A pizza cutter works wonders here.)

Take one puff pastry square and lay it out on a work surface in front of you. Then, make a cut in the center of the bottom up to the middle of the puff pastry. That slit will allow you to fold the puff pastry onto itself.

Now, imagine that the square of puff pastry has four quadrants. In the lower right quadrant, the one to the right of the cut you just made, spread a little bit of that softened cream cheese. Above that, in the top right quadrant, spread a little bit of the pepper jelly.

In the quadrant on the top left, add a sprinkling of cheddar cheese, and in the quadrant on the lower left, spread some of the sausage. (Yes, uncooked. Yes, it cooks through just fine.) You don’t want to over-stuff these, so just go for about a tablespoon of each ingredient.

Next, you fold:
Take the bottom right quadrant and fold it up onto the top right one. (The cream cheese onto the pepper jelly.) Then, take that folded section and fold it over to the left onto the cheddar cheese. Take that folded section and fold it down so the whole stack is now on top of the sausage.

Place it on a baking sheet, give it a brush of egg wash, and keep folding until they’re all done. After about twenty minutes in the oven, these will be puffy and flaky and golden brown, but layered with an ideal sweet and savory combo with just the teensiest kick of heat.

What Variations Can I Make?

Such a great question! Really, the variations are endless here. You can swap out different meats, cheeses, and jams with countless combinations. Some ideas:

• Prosciutto, brie, fig jam, and cream cheese
• Mortadella, Gruyere, raspberry jam, and goat cheese
• Pepperoni, mozzarella, pizza sauce, and cream cheese
• Ground beef with a touch of taco seasoning, Mexican shredded cheese, refried beans, and cream cheese

See? So many options! And they’re all delicious.