Puff Pastry, olive tapenade and artichoke & asiago tapenade – 3 store bought ingredients makes for a crowd pleasing appetizer.
I have made this little appetizer several times for different occasions. I have brought it to book club, a wine tasting party (best kind of party in my book), and most recently to a fun little get together where half of the pinwheels didn’t even make it downstairs to the bar before they were gobbled up. The artichoke and asiago pinwheels do tend to go much faster but I encourage you to try the olive tapenade ones as well. I’m a very picky eater and I wouldn’t pop an olive into my mouth and chomp away but I do quite like the salty olives with the rich and crunchy pastry.
Rolling rich and salty spreads in puff pastry is not a new idea here on the interwebs and once you make this you will see why. Even the most culinary-challenged person can pull this off. I added a step of brushing lightly beaten egg and sprinkling grated Parmesan cheese but I usually don’t bother. The hardest part of this recipe is to remember to take the puff pastry out of the freezer so it has time to thaw before you want to use it.
Unroll puff pastry and spread artichoke and asiago tapenade thinly and evenly on dough.
Unroll puff pastry and spread olive tapenade thinly and evenly over the dough
I generally shop at Zehrs so the President’s Choice brand products are often in my cart. If you are Canadian and live in Ontario you will likely have a grocery store near you that sells PC Products. If you are reading this and live elsewhere in the world, then any artichoke antipasto spread and pre-made olive tapenade will do. Have a look in the condiments aisle, that is where I find the jars I used in this recipe. The key is small chunks that will spread nicely over the puff pastry and not be too lumpy when you roll it into a cylinder before slicing into the pinwheels.
Another little tip is that if you don’t have a very sharp serrated bread knife, then pop the cylinders in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before slicing. Otherwise you will squish them as you slice. Not a big deal- I have done it and I just manipulated them back into round shapes.
Slice rolled puff pastry about 1/2″ thick and place the pinwheel on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Aritchoke and Asiago Pinwheels ready for the oven
When I made these the other night I was short on time and I had forgotten to take out the puff pastry to thaw 2 hours before I needed to bake it like it said on the package. I took the pastry rolls out of the box and set them on the counter. I only had time to let them thaw for an hour. It worked out pretty well except when I was unrolling them as I got closer to the centre it was still pretty frozen. I just unrolled it slowly and used the heat of my hand to prevent it from cracking. I did not put it back in the freezer before slicing mainly because we were already running late.
Find an excuse to make these and let me know how it goes.
Tapenade Puff Pastry Pinwheels
Ingredients
- 2 rolls of frozen puff pastry thawed
- 1/3 cup prepared olive tapenade
- 1/3 cup artichoke and asiago tapenade
- 1 egg lightly beaten optional
- 2 tbsp finely grated Parmesan cheese optional
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Line baking trays with parchment paper.
- Unroll pastry and leave it on the parchment paper that it comes wrapped in otherwise it will stick to your board.
- Spread the the olive tapenade on one piece of puff pastry and the artichoke and asiago tapenade on the other. Spread the tapenade so that there is a 1/2" border on the two long sides so the filling doesn't ooze out as you roll it. You can go right to the edge on the short sides.
- Roll the pastry starting at the short end (roll it back the same way you unrolled it). Roll it tightly enough so that you have a nice pinwheel but not so tight you squeeze out the filling.
- If the puff pastry is very soft and you don't have a very sharp serrated knife, place the cylinders in the freezer for about 15 minutes to firm up a bit.
- Slice the cylinders a 1/2" thick using a sharp serrated knife and place each pinwheel on the baking tray with room for them to spread while baking.
- Brush each pinwheel lightly with the beaten egg and sprinkle with a pinch of Parmesan cheese.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a nice golden brown.
- Remove pinwheels from baking trays and place on a serving platter. Serve warm from the oven or at room temperature.
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