Pinwheels—the Addictive Finger Food

Ham and Green Onion Pinwheels

As New Year’s Eve looms on the horizon, I am already scratching my head wondering what I’ll make at our New Year’s Eve party.

My mother would always make “pinwheels”—a name I later heard applied to these sorts of finger foods.

You take a flour tortilla, spread cream cheese over it, lay a layer of sliced ham, roll it up around a pickle, insert toothpicks like a crazy person, and slice. Pickles invariably fly out of one or two and soar through the air like little green cannonballs. Mom doesn’t particularly like making them, but if I help, she figures once a year ain’t bad.

But there are plenty of ways to make pinwheels. Last week I went to a party and had pinwheels that were made from tortillas, cream cheese, taco seasoning, green chilies, and cheese. We dipped them into salsa.

I’ve never seen pinwheels made with corn tortillas, but I have seen ones made with spinach-flavored flour tortillas. You could probably make them in any color or flavor, like with that artesian tomato type.

Perhaps the simplest recipe I’ve seen is cream cheese hand mixed with salsa and spread on the tortilla.

Recipes from friends

Cheesy titles complements of yours truly. Don’t blame my friends.

Gloria’s Tortilla hors d’oeuvres

1 pkg of 10″ tortillas (I like to use whole wheat)
8 oz (1 cup) sour cream
8 oz cream cheese
4 oz chopped, mild green chili peppers
4 oz chopped black olives
2 pkgs Budding thin sliced meat (ham or beef)
small onion, chopped
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Lowry salt (I use onion powder or skip)

Mix all ingredients…
spread on tortillas, roll up, refrigerate overnight, slice in 1 inch pinwheels before serving.

Veggie Scramble

Chop carrots, radishes, cucumber, green pepper and green onion in a food processor, mix with cream cheese, and spread on the tortilla (from Katie)

Billy the Kid pinwheels

using goat cheese, tomatoes, and basil (From Katie)

Southwest Round Up

with cream cheese, sour cream, black beans, salsa, and chopped red pepper (from Katie)

Spicy Turkey Pinwheels

with cream cheese, turkey, pepper jack cheese, black olives, and ranch (or spicy ranch) dressing (from Bev)

Recipes online

Here’s some recipes found online. Out of respect for the original posters, I’m linking to them so you can click through to read the recipe.

Fiesta Pinwheels

Fiesta Pinwheels

with cream cheese, sour cream, olives, green onions, cheese, pimento, green chilies on Make Life Delicious

and also picante sauce and garlic powder on Allrecipes

Ham and Onion Pinwheels

with cream cheese, sliced ham and green onions on SheKnowsFood (see top image)

Home on the Range Pinwheels

with cream cheese, ranch mix, green onions, green chilies, and black olives on SheKnowsFood

Oriental Turkey Pinwheels

with oriental sauce, green onions, smoked turkey, and lettuce on SheKnowsFood

Boursin Pinwheels

with Boursin cheese, basil, sweet red peppers, deli meat, and mayo on SheKnowsFood

Spinach Roll-Ups

Spinach roll-ups

with cream cheese, spinach, ranch mix, mayo, sour cream, bacon bits, and onion on Allrecipes

Tomato Pesto Pinwheels

with cream cheese, ham, sun-dried tomato pesto (or basil and sun-dried tomatoes and red leaf lettuce on Allrecipes