This Pinwheel recipe with puff pastry, spinach and prosciutto is rich and flavorful. It’s a great make-ahead appetizer that you can eat with your fingers. Savory and filling, pinwheels are easy to prepare. You can freeze the roll and have it on hand when you need a quick appetizer to share.
A Pinwheel recipe with puff pastry may be the perfect appetizer. Filled with spinach and prosciutto it looks so festive and impressive. A flaky crust that melts in your mouth wrapped around a savory center. You’ll be surprised at how easy they are to make.
You can assemble these savory pinwheels in just a few minutes. Remember to let the puff pastry thaw for 30 minutes and give yourself about an hour for them to freeze before baking.
You can play with the filling to include ingredients that you like. However, I love them with prosciutto and sun dried tomatoes. The combination of flavors converts a bland spinach appetizer into one that captures your attention. Puff pastry keeps them light and flaky.
Why you’ll love them
- These pinwheels will melt in your mouth!
- The texture of puff pastry is delicious in this savory appetizer and will remind you of a flaky and buttery pastry.
- They’re great warm or at room temperature.
- The perfect finger food for any party or get together.
What is puff pastry
Puff pastry is a light and buttery flaky dough that you can use for both savory appetizers or sweet desserts. It’s only ingredients are butter, flour and salt. However, it can be time consuming to make so I go for the frozen variety like Dufour. The texture is similar to a croissant, flaky and buttery. If you love puff pastry as much as I do, then try French Onion Pastry Bites, or go sweet and try a Berry Braid.
What you’ll need
- Puff pastry – Dufour or Trader Joes has butter, Pepperidge Farm does not.
- Frozen spinach – if you get the kind in a bag, you can poke holes in it and squeeze out the water.
- Sun dried tomatoes – these are packed in oil and provide a burst of flavor.
- Prosciutto – adds that salty flavor to the pinwheels
- Parmesan – just a little parmesan cheese to hold things together and add flavor.
- Pantry staples – mayonnaise, garlic powder, onion powder and an egg.
How do you make a pinwheel recipe with puff pastry
Step 1:
Thaw the puff pastry, my favorite is Dufour which you can find at Whole Foods or Fresh Market where I live. Pepperidge Farm also will work fine.
Step 2:
Remove all the water from the spinach and add the spinach to a small bowl along mayonnaise, sun dried tomatoes, cheese and seasonings.
Step 3:
Unfold the puff pastry dough and roll out. Roll it out into a 12 x 18 inch rectangle. Spread the spinach mixture on top. Then add a thin layer of prosciutto slices and roll up jelly-roll style starting on one of the long sides. Wrap in plastic wrap.
Step 4:
Freeze for about an hour until it is firm but not frozen through and using a sharp knife, slice and place slices on a prepared baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Or you can keep in the freezer for later.
Pro tip: A serrated knife works great to cut through the partially frozen dough.
Step 5:
Brush with an egg wash and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.
Puff pastry appetizers are delicious right out of the oven but also still yummy at room temperature. Easy to pick up with your hands and they don’t make a mess when you eat them. Perfectly flaky but not crumbly.
When you need an easy appetizer recipe and don’t have time to make anything, you can just relax and take it out of the freezer and slice and bake. What a great make-ahead appetizer to have on hand for unexpected friends or for a dinner party. Each roll will make about 18 pinwheels.
You can store these overnight in an airtight container on the counter and they will still be fresh the next day.
If you’re going to serve this at a party, get some helpful tips along with 25 delicious game day appetizer recipes to choose from.
FAQs and tips
Pinwheels are a great appetizer to make ahead of time and keep in the freezer. Freeze the roll before cutting. Or cut into slices and refrigerate until ready to bake.
These taste almost as good at room temperature as they do warm, perfect for a party.
Dufour has the most butter so it will give you that buttery taste, Trader Joe’s also has butter but is only available around the holidays.
If you want to try something different in your pinwheels, you could try feta cheese or substitute cooked bacon for prosciutto. Or make them more pizza like and add chopped pepperoni or go vegetarian and add mushrooms.
MORE delicious appetizers
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Pinwheel Recipe with Puff Pastry
Ingredients
- 1 puff pastry sheet
- 10 ounces frozen spinach thawed and squeezed completely dry
- ½ cup sun dried tomatoes drained, chopped and patted dry
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup parmesan/asiago cheese grated
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 6 thin slices prosciutto (5ounces)
- 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Thaw puff pastry at room temperature for about 30 minutes or until it is easy to unfold.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, mayonnaise, cheese, and seasonings. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Unfold a sheet of pastry and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll it into a 12 x 18 inch rectangle. Spread the spinach mixture evenly over the pastry sheet leaving a ½ inch border along the longer sides. Cover the spinach mixture with thin slices of prosciutto.
- Starting at a longer side, roll the pastry tightly and pinch the seam at the end. Wrap with plastic wrap. Freeze the logs for about an hour or until they are firm but not completely frozen. If you freeze them all the way, let them thaw slightly so they will be easier to cut.
- Preheat oven to 425º.
- Slice into ½ inch slices and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Brush with egg wash.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Video
Barbara’s Tips + Notes
- Use a serrated knife to cut the pinwheels to make a clean cut.
- You can freeze these in a log or cut in slices and freeze the slices so that you take out just as many as you need.
- Check the time on baking as the thinner they are the less time they will take. Remove when they are golden brown.
- You can leave out the meat for a delicious vegetarian appetizer.
- For the flakiest pinwheels, use a puff pastry that is made with butter like dufour or Trader Joes.
Nutrition
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I love pinwheels!! But have always made them cold with tortillas. Can’t wait to try these… wonder if we could swap out some ingredients to make them a little lighter/healthier….? Thanks for sharing a little B&B love every morning 🙂
My family could not stop eating these!
I know what you mean!
Do I need to roll out the puffed pastry to a certain size?
Is there a difference between rolling up from the long side or short side?
Following your recipe, I had so much filling I could hardly roll it up. Any tips?
Thanks!
I try to roll it as thin as I can about a 12 x 18 inch rectangle. If you roll it up from the short side you will have larger pinwheels, so it just depends what you are looking for. If you had a lot of extra filling, it could be you needed to roll it out into a larger rectangle. I’ll make that clearer in the post.
Thanks very much for your speedy response, Barbara.
I’ll try rolling out the pastry next time.
Pat E