Puff Pastry Pinwheels with Prosciutto

These Puff Pastry Pinwheels are easy-to-make and crazy delicious. Just roll up prosciutto and grated gruyère cheese in puff pastry dough, then slice and bake! 

This recipe, adapted from Gourmet’s Prosciutto and Gruyere Pinwheels, has been one of my favorite, easy puff pastry recipes for 25 years. It’s elegant, but you don’t need to spend hours in the kitchen to put it together.

When baked, the melted gruyère helps caramelize the puff pastry so each bite is crispy, cheesy, salty, and savory—absolutely to die for when warm from the oven. 

Why Make This Recipe

• Only 5 Ingredients: This elegant puff pastry appetizer has only 5 ingredients, so less time spent at the grocery store and in prepping ingredients. 
• Easy to Make: If you can roll out dough, you can make these pinwheels. Just layer prosciutto and shredded gruyère cheese on puff pastry, sprinkle on some chopped sage, roll up, slice, and bake. 
• Perfect for Make-Ahead: Once you prep the puff pastry rolls, you can freeze them. Defrost in the refrigerator, then slice and bake. No stress when it’s party time. 

🥗 Ingredients

• Puff Pastry: If you’d like to try your hand at making your own puff pastry dough, I highly recommend Cathy Barrow’s Quick Puff Pastry recipe from her book When Pies Fly. If you want to go the easier route, you can find frozen puff pastry dough in many grocery stores. Look for one that is already in sheets to make quick work of rolling out the dough. 
• Prosciutto: Thinly sliced prosciutto makes it easy to cover your dough evenly, but you can make it work with any kind of prosciutto. Or try with a different type of ham. And if you've got leftover prosciutto, try this Prosciutto and Melon Appetizer next!
• Gruyère Cheese: If you don’t have gruyère, you could substitute Emmental, Jarlsberg, or a French Comté. The key is to choose a cheese that melts similarly to gruyère and has a mild flavor that will complement the prosciutto. 
• Fresh Sage: You can substitute dried sage in this recipe (use about half the amount as fresh). Also try substituting fresh thyme for a different, but still delicious, flavor. 

🥣 Instructions

Grate 2.5 ounces of gruyère cheese. Flour a large cutting board or your countertop, and roll out puff pastry dough to 12.5 x 9.5 inches (32 x 24 cm). Turn it so the wider side is horizontal.

Then cut in half in the middle of the long side to make two tall rectangles, each roughly 6 x 9.5 inches (16 x 24 cm). Cover each piece of puff pastry with a layer of prosciutto, leaving a ½-inch border on one of each of the long sides. Sprinkle gruyère evenly over the prosciutto, then sprinkle with chopped fresh sage.

Whisk egg in a small bowl. Use a pastry brush to paint the border of the puff pastry sheet that you left clear. Then, starting from the other end, roll up lengthwise as tightly and gently as possible. Press gently along the edge with the egg wash to seal.

Place rolls on a cutting board or plate and put in the freezer for 30 minutes. While the puff pastry rolls are in the freezer, preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove from freezer when rolls are firm, and slice into ⅓-inch slices.

Arrange onto sheet pans leaving at least 1-2 inches of space around each pinwheel. Bake for 15 minutes.

And voilà! Perfect puff pastry pinwheels! Let cool slightly before serving. 

🧐 Recipe FAQs

👩‍🍳 Expert Tips

The key to perfect puff pastry appetizers is working with your puff pastry dough at the right temperature. If your dough came in a folded sheet, make sure you wait until the dough is defrosted (but not too soft) to unfold it so it does not break or tear. Then, don’t wait too long to begin working with your defrosted dough. If it is out too long at room temperature and becomes too soft to work with, put your dough into the refrigerator to firm it up.

For example, if it is too difficult to roll up your dough with the filling in it because the dough is too soft, just place the unrolled pinwheels into the refrigerator (or freezer) for a few minutes. (This is where it is useful if you rolled your dough out on a cutting board rather than the counter!) 

Similarly, if you find that your knife is really crushing the roll as you slice it, and you are not getting circular pinwheels, put the roll back in the freezer or refrigerator until it is firm. Chilling the puff pastry rolls before slicing and baking also has the advantage of giving you the most attractive circular pinwheels.

Sealing the edge of the rolls with egg wash helps prevent them unrolling when they bake. If your pinwheels do unroll a bit, they’ll still taste great, but next time you may want to make sure that seal is a little firmer (press down harder as you seal it, without crushing the roll). 

You may wonder why the directions call to cut your rolled out dough into halves rather than just making one large roll. The reason for this is that one large roll will have more layers of dough within it. The rolls will be bigger, which is not a problem; however, the additional spirals in the pinwheel will not fully cook by the time the edges have browned. For this reason, making two smaller rolls is the way to go! 

Short on time and want a no-bake pinwheel appetizer? Try these Pesto Sun Dried Tomato Pinwheels!

No puff pastry? Try using pizza dough to make these Pepperoni Pinwheels.

Other Easy Puff Pastry Recipes

Looking for more puff pastry ideas? Here you’ll find puff pastry desserts, puff pastry appetizers, and even a couple of main courses!

• Cherry Danish with Puff Pastry
• Baked Brie with Fig Jam
• Salmon Wellington
• Antipasto Stromboli 
• Cinnamon Swirls
• Apricot Danish

If you try this Puff Pastry Pinwheels recipe, I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below—I read them all, and your feedback is invaluable to me. And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I'd love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!

📖 Recipe

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