Prosciutto Pinwheels

Happy December friends!

As we are in peak holiday season right now, I am going to roll out some classic family holiday recipes over the next few weeks so yall can give them a try! Some are from the old blog, some are updated and new. And as a thank you for bearing with me over the last few months as I figure out WordPress, I’d like to cheers and say – Sip a little, cook a lot, and enjoy the holidays everyone!

Growing up, my mother had a list of recipes reserved for the holidays. Prosciutto Pinwheels are one of those recipes.

Historically, it’s a simple recipe – purchase frozen puff pastry, prosciutto, parmesan, and basil. Then you roll, cut, bake, eat.

I also made a version that is a labor of love.

In order to encourage you all to make these lovely appetizers this holiday, I am breaking up the post into two sections. The first being the simple assembly with pre-made dough. Try GeeFree or Schar’s for gluten free frozen pastry sheets! Then the second is how to make the dough from scratch if you want to try the “labor of love” version as a repost lost it in the shuffle from the last website, and a throwback to the height of the Covid lockdown when Nick and I fled to Maui for a few months.

INGREDIENTS

1 package frozen pastry dough sheets

2 packages Prosciutto

1 cup Shredded Parmesan

¼ cup Fresh Basil

Serving Size: 8

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 400°.
Take the frozen dough out and let chill until room temperature. When pliable, roll out sheets onto a large swath of plastic wrap and cut into rectangles.
Layer prosciutto, shredded parmesan cheese, and diced fresh basil in the center of the rectangle.
Using the plastic wrap to help, roll the dough lengthwise over the fillings so it looks like a sushi roll.
Refrigerate in the plastic wrap for another 5 minutes.
Remove and use a sharp knife to slice the pastry roll into ½ inch thick rounds.

Place rounds (or PINWHEELS) on the parchment paper.
Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. If not brown by 15 minutes, continue to bake, checking every 3-4 minutes until golden.
Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes, enjoy!

*REPOST: Now there are gluten free frozen GF puff pastry sheets but being that we ended up in Hawaii to escape the California Covid-19 scares, that was not easy to come by. So I took the plunge and figured out how to make my own gluten free puff pastry. It’s scary at first, I am not going to lie. And it’s even scarier when you don’t have a rolling pin available (check out my instructions for an amazing utensil hack). But this recipe and these results are worth every 15 minutes you wait for the butter pastry mix to chill and every panic that you’re not doing it right.

Trust me, you are doing it just fine. Buttery, savory, and perfectly fluffy, they ooze sophistication.

INGREDIENTS

For the Dough —

2 cups All Purpose Gluten Free Flour

*1 tsp. Xanthan Gum (ONLY if not in the All Purpose Flour blend)

1 tsp. Salt

4 tbsp. Unsalted Butter

~1 cup Ice Cold Water

For the Dough Butter Packet —

4 tbsp. All Purpose Gluten Free Flour

16 tbsp. (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter

INSTRUCTIONS

For the dough –

Fill a large bowl with water ice.
In another large bowl, mix together the flour and salt.
Making sure to keep cold, roughly chop unsalted butter.
Add chunks of butter to the flour mix. Using fingers, coat the butter chunks with flour and gently press down into flat pieces.
Create a well in the flour/butter mixture and add ½ cup of water from the ice bowl. Stir to combine.
Add spoonfuls of ice water to the dough until the dough can be pressed into a ball with your hands (it will still look crumbly).
Wrap the dough ball with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator while you make the butter packets.

For the dough butter packet –

Dust a large sheet of parchment paper with flour.
Making sure to keep as cold as possible, place both sticks of the butter side by side, touching one another, on the flour.
Cover with another sheet of parchment paper and pound the butter down to flatten and press the two sticks together.
Use a rolling pin for this step. OR if you are like me and somehow do not own of these baking utensils, soak the label off a screw-top wine bottle, fill with water, close the lid tightly and use it as a rolling pin.
Roll and pound butter out until as much as possible.
Remove parchment paper, fold butter in half, and roll out again.
Continue this process until the two butter sticks are formed into a 4-inch perimeter, 1-inch thick square.
Wrap the butter packet in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes until firm and cold once again.

Combine and roll the dough –

Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface.
Sprinkle with more flour and roll out.
Fold the dough over itself and continue to roll until smooth and spread to a 6-inch round.
Remove the butter packed from the refrigerator and place in the center of the dough.
Using a knife, mark the perimeter of the butter packet on the dough, then return the butter to the fridge.
One square edge at a time, roll the dough out from the marked butter perimeter into a flap that you can fold over the butter (the dough should go from looking like a round to a + sign).
Once the flaps are made, return the butter packet to the center and fold the flaps over the butter until completely covered on all sides (think gift wrapping the butter with the dough).
Roll out the butter and dough as far and thin as you can without breaking.
Once rolled out, fold thirds of the dough on top of itself. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes.
Refrigeration between each roll out (aka “turn” of the pastry), keeps the buttery dough from getting too warm or sticky.
After re-solidifying, roll out as far as possible again.
Repeat the process four-six times (depending on your patience).
When finished, wrap with plastic wrap once again and refrigerate until ready to use.
*WHEN READY TO USE: Take chilled dough out the refrigerator and roll out on a large lightly floured plastic wrap sheet until ½ inch thick.
Using a knife, cut the dough until rectangular sheets.