Delicious Ham and Cheese Pinwheels for Any Occasion

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Cooking With Anadi

12K subscribers · smoked cheddar and ham rolled in crispy puff pastry

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I love the fall and winter holidays, and I feel this time of year rolls around quite quickly!

I understand that appetizers are a personal pain for many folks. You pour your heart and soul into the main dish and the dessert, but appetizers seem to be the area where people don’t want to put in too much effort. In fact, from my experience, lots of people go for frozen options just to do no work at all!

While I do find the frozen appetizers quite delicious, but when I’m hosting an event my preference is to do as much as I can from scratch. Actually, I’m more likely to bring home some donuts or a cake from the store and make my own appetizer, simply because the dessert section of grocery stores are always just so inviting! However, when it’s a very special occasion - don’t worry! I most certainly make my own desserts, and I totally enjoy it!

I’ve wanted to try making my own pinwheels for quite some time now! With Canadian Thanksgiving rolling around the corner, if you need a last-minute appetizer idea that’s super fast to make (trust me, it really is!) and requires few ingredients, then you’ve found your perfect pinwheel appetizer recipe!

If you love warm and flaky puff pastry, molten cheese, and hearty ham, then I encourage you to put your heart on a plate for your next dinner party by making these Baked Ham and Cheese Pinwheels as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! To get these free guides to motivate you in the kitchen, sign up for my email newsletter!

Check out the video to follow along with all of the steps and get a visual representation of exactly what to do! Please subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven’t already and don’t forget to press the bell button to be notified when all of my video recipes go live to complement the written ones! Let’s get baking!

Why You’ll Love These Easy Baked Ham Cheese Pinwheels!

• Simple appetizer: You can make these in a pinch without dirtying lots of dishes or taking up lots of time. Just place the toppings, roll, chill, and bake!
• Super delicious: This is of course the main reason why you have to make these! I just love the flaky puff pastry combined with the molten cheese and flavorful ham. This combination is really hard to beat!
• Few ingredients: You’ll see soon how you will only need SIX basic ingredients for this recipe! Most likely you have most of them on hand already, but even if you need to go shopping, your list will be very short! This is perfect for you to focus on your main meal and dessert if you’re making these for a party!

Equipment Needed for Ham and Cheese Baked Pinwheels

• Cutting board
• Sharp chef’s knife
• Baking tray
• Pastry brush
• Parchment paper
• Ramekin

Ingredients for This Baked Ham and Cheese Pinwheels Recipe

Be sure to scroll to the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD! You can also click the “Jump to Recipe” button to go directly to the recipe card. The card will also allow you to scale the recipe based on how many pinwheels you want to make, or how much puff pastry you already have on hand! No mental math and ratios for you!

• Frozen puff pastry: Making your own puff pastry is really not necessary as well! Frozen puff pastry will work just fine. Just make sure you’ve thawed it in the fridge before using.
• Double smoked cheddar: I’ve used slice cheese here as it’ll be the easiest to manipulate in our pinwheels.
• Ham: You can use whatever ham you like, but I’ve stuck with traditional black forest ham because it’s simple.
• Jalapeño mustard: This will be at the base of our pinwheels. You can use any type of mustard really, but I like the flavor of Dijon and the jalapeño flavor added some heat!
• Butter: Use unsalted butter that’s melted to make the topping.
• Parsley: Mixed with the molten butter to top the pinwheels before baking.

How to Make Ham and Cheese Puff Pastry Pinwheels

Defrost the puff pastry for 4-6 hours until it has softened.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Place a sheet of parchment on a baking sheet and set aside.

Roll out the pastry and place on a sheet of parchment. Brush with a thin layer of mustard.

Layer with a single layer of ham and then lay the cheese slices over the top.

Using the parchment for assistance, roll the pastry in a tight log and then tightly wrap in parchment or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 5-10 minutes. In the meanwhile, melt butter and add chopped parsley to it. Mix well.

Then, working over a sheet of parchment, unroll the log and slice into even 1 inch sized slices. A regular sheet of puff pastry should give 8-9 equal slices.

Place the slices flat side down on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the parsley butter over the sliced pastry. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

Let the pinwheels cool down for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Tips & Tricks for Cheesy and Warm Savory Puff Pastry Pinwheels

• If you are not using sliced cheese, make sure to grate it finely and spread in a thin layer. Less is more in this case!
• Leave one of the edges of the pastry not covered with toppings to make creating the seam easier to ensure the pinwheels don’t come undone while baking. Additionally, ensure that you roll the pastry tightly.
• Before slicing the pastry into pinwheels, chill it in the fridge wrapped in parchment paper or plastic wrap since the warmth from your hands will thaw out the puff pastry, making it sticky.
• To make clean slices, work over a piece of parchment paper and moisten the knife AND your other hand to make sure that the pastry will not stick.

Flavor Variations

• Cheese: Some recipes use Swiss cheese, but I wanted to go for double smoked cheddar for a bolder flavor. Try different cheeses such as Havarti, Monterey Jack, or other types of cheddar to find your favorite. If you’ve got some cheese that’s already in your fridge that’s waiting to be used, use it up! As I mention in my free motivational guide to explore your potential in the kitchen, Making Cooking Fun!!, you should always use up what you have before going out to buy something new! This especially applies if you’re in a scramble to make an appetizer for a special occasion quickly! I’m sure any sharp semi-hard cheese will taste wonderful, so don’t sweat!
• Ham: Again, try different types of ham and see what makes the best combination! Deli ham spoils pretty quickly, so if you’ve already had some on hand, I recommend you use that! You can even mix and match, if desired!
• Mustard: You can use whole grain Dijon, yellow mustard, or other flavored mustards, such as applewood smoked bacon mustard or honey mustard.

More Puff Pastry Appetizers!

• Aloo Puff Patties - Indian Potato Turnovers
• Paneer Puff Patties - Indian Cottage Cheese Puff Pastry
• Mini Sausage Rolls
• Indian Chicken Puff Patties

Puff Pastry Pinwheels Versus the Cold Tortilla Kind

Two completely different appetizers go by the name ham and cheese pinwheels, and it is worth knowing which one you have landed on. The other version is a cold one: flour tortillas spread with cream cheese, layered with deli meat, rolled, chilled and sliced, served straight from the fridge. There is no cream cheese in this recipe and no tortillas anywhere in it.

These are baked. A sheet of frozen puff pastry gets a thin brush of mustard, a single layer of thinly sliced deli ham and 140 g of smoked cheddar, rolls into a tight log, and goes into a 400 F oven for 20 to 25 minutes until the pastry is golden. A standard sheet gives 8 to 9 even 1-inch slices. The five to ten minutes in the fridge before slicing is not optional either, because a cold log holds its spiral and a warm one squashes flat under the knife.