There is a wide spectrum of foods called “Pinwheels.” Some savory, some sweet, they are all some sort of rolled-up concoction. With the exception of Pinwheel Cookies—which, admittedly, is usually where my mind first goes when I hear Pinwheel. Chocolate-covered marshmallow on a cookie…I’ll take it.
Anyway.
These Pinwheels are a savory appetizer-type food.
I don’t remember where or when I had my first Pinwheel, but it was good. I didn’t ever make them myself until one day I needed a food item to bring to a work potluck. I don’t recall what gave me the idea to make them for that occasion, but bringing them that one time resulted in me being the designated Pinwheel-maker for all future potlucks.
Pretty sure they have been Pinwheel-less since I don’t work there anymore.
Sucks to be them.
The first time I made them was…kind of a clusterfuck. Mostly because I did not have a sharp knife to work with. At the time I lived with my parents and there was no such thing as a knife with a sharp blade in the house. My parents were married in 1966 and I’m pretty sure every knife they own was a wedding gift. The next time I had to make Pinwheels, I bought a damn knife. A sharp one. The second bout with making them went much smoother.
Pro Tip: A dull knife with rip your Pinwheel to shreds. Get yourself a sharp knife. I like to use my Santoku.
They can be a bit time consuming if you’re making a lot and if you’re working alone. Nowadays I usually recruit Bob to help me out. I assemble, he cuts, and we have a rather efficient system worked out. It’s still a little time consuming, but when you have someone to keep you company, it’s not so bad.
I’m really not a fan of picture-intensive recipe posts. It reeeeeeally is NOT. NECESSARY. to have step-by-step-by-step pictures for everything. I’m pretty sure I can figure out how to measure a single teaspoon of Vanilla and get it in the bowl without three pictures showing me how to do it.
That being said, the last time I made Pinwheels, I took a few intermittent pictures to illustrate because for some reason, the process befuddles people.
No.
Really.
You would not believe the blank stares and requests for clarification I get when people ask me (A.) what ingredients I use and (2.) the order in which I put them together.
It’s not difficult.
Maybe I’m just terrible at explaining things (highly likely)…but the blank stares…
These amounts end up making somewhere around 10 dozen Pinwheels. It fills a 9×13 container with 2 layers. I generally only make them for social gatherings because they are time-consuming and a little spendy. I don’t go into it with a specific number in mind and just keep rolling until I run out of one ingredient. There’s usually leftovers of things, but it never goes to waste.
Pinwheels
Ingredients:
24 8-inch flour tortillas (cut in half)
16oz tub plain cream cheese
24oz thin sliced corned beef lunch meat
2 jars baby dill pickles (drained)(These amounts make approximately 10 dozen pinwheels. Use your own judgement for how many you want/need to make.)
Directions:
1.) Take one [half] tortilla shell and spread a layer of cream cheese over the surface.
2.) Place 2 slices of corned beef side-by-side on the shell. Line up the edge of the meat with the flat edge of the shell to keep things somewhat tidy.
3.) Place 1 pickle on the end of the shell and roll tightly. Placing a small smear of cream cheese on the open edge will help keep things closed until the roll is cut.
4.) Unless your pickle runs edge-to-edge, you’ll have excess shell and meat on one side. Trim off the excess for the scrap pile. Slice Pinwheel roll in approximately 1/2 inch pieces. (Bite size) You’ll usually get 3 slices from each roll depending on your pickle size.
5.) Place cut pieces in storage container or on serving dish.
Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
Source: some pot-luck long, long ago…
Keep a plate or bowl for your scrap pile, you’ll have a lot by the time you’re done. The scraps make for good snacking. Or you could just throw them away if you’re terribly wasteful like that.
Carl Buddig is the most common brand of corned beef lunch meat. If you can’t find, or don’t like (weirdo) corned beef, any thin-sliced lunch meat will do. Pastrami tastes practically the same as corned beef, and ham and turkey are good substitutes.
After trial and error (and buying the wrong size by accident) I’ve found that baby dills work best. They’re small, but they roll the best.
Any savory flavor of cream cheese would probably taste good with these as well. I just wouldn’t recommend using block cream cheese as the spreading consistency seems to be different than that in a tub. I find that Whipped cream cheese is easiest to spread.
If you’re working alone, I recommend assembling all of the rolls and then slicing them. If you have a partner it works great to have one assemble while the other cuts.
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Originally posted on [the now defunct] Computer Generated Housewife.
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