When you’re in need of a fast and tasty snack for a planned gathering or unexpected visitors, why not try these ham and cheese pinwheels? The saltiness of the ham combined with the ceaminess of the cheese wrapped in a soft and chewy 2-ingredient pastry make a delicious alternative to the ubiquitous sausage roll.
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Ham and cheese pinwheels
Made in minutes with 2-ingredient dough – watch the magic happen!
Yes, that’s right, only 2 ingredients for the dough, and another 2 for the filling. That’s only 4 ingredients to make these delicious ham and cheese pinwheels.
The pinwheels are made with the WeightWatchers 2-ingredient dough. If you haven’t heard of this before, it is a mixture of Greek yoghurt and self-raising flour in equal quantities. Somehow (by magic?) the yeast in the yoghurt reacts with the flour to transform everything instantly into a ball of dough that would normally take hours to knead, prove and rise by making the dough in the traditional way.
These ham and cheese pinwheels make a delicious anytime snack. Serve on game day with a cold glass of beer, hand round at a party, or even have one for a quick breakfast. They are packed with ham and cheese, and the because the pastry is made with yoghurt instead of butter, they are low on calories.
The dough itself is not light and crispy, as would be the case with puff pastry. Instead, it has a dense, slightly chewy texture similar to that of a bread roll.
What you will need
Equipment
To mix the dough you will need a mixing bowl. I love this set of bowls because they have lids which makes it easy to cover them if you have to let anything stand.
You will also need a rolling pin for rolling out the dough, and a baking tray for baking the pinwheels. And if you line your baking tray with baking parchment it will make cleaning up afterwards so much easier.
Ingredients
This recipe makes 10 pinwheels.
**You can get the complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making these ham and cheese pinwheels on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**
Yoghurt – this can either be thick Greek or natural yoghurt. Don’t think you can use fruit-flavoured yoghurt, it won’t work.
Self-raising flour – this must be self-raising flour – plain flour won’t create the rise we need. If you do use plain flour, you should add 1 teaspoon of baking powder for each cup (140 grams) of plain flour.
Cheese – I use a mixture of grated cheddar and mozzarella cheese. You can use any cheese that you would normally use for cooking.
Ham – sliced sandwich (or deli) ham is ideal for this recipe.
Salt – if you would like to add a little salt to the dough this is fine, if not, you can leave it out with no problem.
Egg – not pictured, but if you brush the pinwheels with beaten egg before baking them, it will encourage them to brown in the oven.
I’ve used ham and cheese as the filling, but you could try these alternatives, or use your own ideas:
- Spicy tomato sauce layered with salami and cheese
- Split open some good quality pork sausages and mix with 2 tablespoons of mustard
- A mixture of grated cheese and onion
- Sundried tomatoes, grated cheese and sliced mushrooms, with a sprinkling of mixed herbs
-What to do
Mix the yoghurt into the flour until it starts to come together. Depending on the strength of your flour you may not need all the yoghurt, so don’t add it all at once – keep a tablespoon or so aside and only add it if you need to.
Tip the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until it comes together into a soft non-sticky ball. Add extra flour if the mixture seems too sticky.
Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 10″ x 8″ in size. Sprinkle with grated cheese, but leave about one inch uncovered on the top and bottom edge.
Lay slices of ham on top of the cheese.
Starting at the bottom on the long side, roll the pastry up and over the filling to form a sausage shape.
Cut the roll into approximately inch-wide slices, flatten them slightly and place them onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Brush with beaten egg.
Bake in a preheated oven (200C / 400F) for 15 to 20 minutes, until the pinwheels are golden.
You can serve these ham and cheese pinwheels either warm or cold.
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Ham and cheese pinwheels FAQ
This is a very forgiving recipe so you don’t need to be too precise with the ingredients. If you find you have added too much yoghurt and the dough is sticky, simply add enough flour to make a manageable ball of dough.
You should have a soft, non-sticky ball of dough that you can roll easily with a rolling pin.
To be honest, I’ve never tried to freeze them. They are so quick and easy to make I always make them fresh.
These pinwheels are best eaten fresh on the day you make them. However, you can store them in a covered container in the refrigerator for 2 days. After that they will start to harden and dry out. You can reheat them in the microwave, or pop them in a hot oven for 2 minutes to warm them.
One dough – many dishes
I love using this 2-ingredient dough, there is so much you can do with it –
- use it as a pizza base and add your favourite toppings
- add minced garlic to the basic dough and paint with melted garlic butter after baking for easy garlic dough-balls
- roll it into a thin sausage shape, cut into lengths and sprinkle with sesame seeds for crispy breadsticks
- you can even make koeksisters which are a sweet South African deep-fried delicacy, soaked in syrup
- and of course, you can make my favourite savoury treat – these delicious ham and cheese pinwheels.
I also use this dough to make my quick and easy vetkoek and fill them with curried mince from my traditional vetkoek and curried mince recipe for a quick and easy family supper made in only half an hour.
Save for later
If you would like to make these ham and cheese pinwheels, why not pin this recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it easily? Just click the image below.
Alternatively, you can save the recipe by clicking on the floating heart icon on the right-hand side of the screen.
Other quick snacks
If this recipe isn’t quite what you are looking for, why not take a look at some of my other quick snack recipes?
- Pork and apple sausage rolls – made with real pork mince and flavoured with apples and red peppers.
- Sweetcorn fritters – bursting with juicy corn kernels and flavoured with cheese.
- Scotch eggs – a traditional English recipe of boiled eggs wrapped in sausage meat with a crispy breadcrumb coating.
- Samosas with cheese and sweetcorn – a new twist on the ever popular samosa – these samosas have a deliciously spicy cheese and sweetcorn filling
- Puff pastry asparagus and ham wraps – tender asparagus and tasty slices of ham wrapped in puff pastry.
The recipe
Ham and Cheese Pinwheels
(Click the stars to rate this recipe)
Equipment
- Wooden spoon
Ingredients
- 1 cup / 140 grams self-raising flour
- 1 cup / 240 ml Greek (or natural) yoghurt approximately (you may need less)
- 6 slices ham for filling
- 1 cup / 150 grams grated cheese I like a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella
- Extra flour for rolling
- Salt to taste
- 1 small egg for egg washing (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. (400 degrees F / gas mark 6)
- Line a baking sheet with tinfoil or baking parchment. If using tinfoil, spray lightly with cooking spray to prevent sticking
- Sift the flour into a bowl and add most of the yoghurt and season with salt to taste.1 cup / 140 grams self-raising flour, 1 cup / 240 ml Greek (or natural) yoghurt, Salt to taste
- Mix well with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together in a ball. Add the remaining yoghurt only if the mixture is too dry.On the other hand, if the mixture is too sticky you can add extra flour (1 tablespoon at a time) until the desired consistency is reached
- Sprinkle the work surface with a little extra flour and roll the dough into a rectangle shape approximately 10 inches x 8 inches.Extra flour for rolling
- Sprinkle the grated cheese onto the pastry and cover with slices of ham. Leave a one-inch border along the top and bottom (long sides)6 slices ham, 1 cup / 150 grams grated cheese
- Roll into a sausage shape and then cut into pinwheel slices about one-inch in thickness.
- Place onto the prepared baking tray. Brush with beaten egg.1 small egg
- Place into the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden.
Notes
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
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