cubano pinwheels.
INGREDIENTS
1 puff pastry sheet, thawed
6 to 8 slices thinly sliced ham
6 to 8 slices thinly sliced roast beef
1/2 cup very finely chopped pickles
6 slices Swiss cheese
1 egg, beaten, for egg wash
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 garlic clove, grated
RECIPE:
Spread the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface. Patch together any cracks, but do not roll the pastry out thinner.
Arrange the ham, then the roast beef on the pastry sheet.
Spread the chopped pickles across the beef.
Layer with Swiss cheese.
Firmly roll the pastry sheet from one end to the other as tightly as possible to create a log. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes, or up to 8 hours.
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
While the oven preheats, slice the log into 1/2-inch rounds.
Place the rounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush generously with beaten egg, then return to the refrigerator to chill until oven is heated.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden, puffy, and flaky. If the puff pastry isn’t browned and flaky, continue cooking.
In the meantime, whisk together the mustard, mayonnaise, salt, and garlic. Transfer to a dipping container and set aside.
Serve the warm pinwheels with the mustard dipping sauce.
I don’t have a story about how these came to be. I simply woke up one day, thought a Cubano appetizer would be awesome, and drifted back to sleep thinking about it.
A Cubano, or Cuban sandwich, is a pressed sandwich that originated in Cuba as a mixto and eventually landed in Florida, becoming one of the most popular street foods among Cuban immigrants in that era. Of course, over time, the original sandwich evolved, varying in ingredients across the state of Florida. In Tampa, Cuban sandwiches usually include salami, whereas Miami Cubanos will be pressed with roasted pork.
Variations aside, the most common interpretation of a Cubano is a soft, crusted bread (not quite as crusty as French baguette, but not soft like a loaf of white), sliced ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, a mayo-mustard sauce, and roasted pork (sometimes called Mojo pork). Since these pinwheels, by design, have to take some liberties with the Cubano formula, I swapped the roasted pork for deli slice roast beef, which rolls far easier. Otherwise, you have the classic ingredients of a Cubano rolled into little, melty, crispy puff pastry bites.
The development did take quite a while, and I tested it a few too many times (By that I mean, I failed too many times). It started as mini sandwiches, switched to puff pastry, and landed at puff pastry pinwheels. And from there, it took a couple tries to get these right.
But that means I can help you avoid the mistakes I made along the way.
My first mistake was thinking I had to roll the pastry out — it won’t look like much real estate, but once you roll it into a log and slice, you’ll have 12 full pinwheels. So heed the warning: do not roll the pastry, simply unfold the thawed pastry and work with that.
My second mistake was working on a sticky, unfloured surface. Work on parchment or a dusting of flour so that the pastry doesn’t stick and tear. You’ll notice, when rolling the log, how much this matters — if the pastry tears, the pinwheel falls apart.
To roll, start at one side (doesn’t matter which) and firmly, tightly roll into a log. If any cheese or meat get rolled out, just trim the excess. Then, tightly wrap the log in plastic and chill. Chill until the pastry is cold to touch and mostly firm (it won’t harden). This can take about 15 minutes, but I’d recommend doing it as far in advance as you can, up to 8 hours.
When time to slice, work quickly and slice as cleanly as possible with a sharp knife. The pinwheels might start to unravel slightly as you move them around, so handle them gently and push them into shape.
The part that took me the longest to figure out was that my pinwheels just weren’t getting brown, crispy, and flaky in the oven. Here are the root causes:
The puff pastry got too warm. While it’s better to work with room-temp puff pastry for pliability, it is important that it goes into the oven cold. Cold butter steams and bakes in such a way that causes separation between layers, something you want in a pastry because it then becomes flaky. To avoid this, chill the log for as long as possible, and consider chilling the sliced pinwheels before baking, too.
The pinwheels weren’t egg washed. I’ll admit, I got a little lazy on my first batch and only brushed the tops of the pinwheels. Indeed, you really need to brush around the exterior, too.
The pinwheels are underbaked. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out why my pinwheels were still dense and doughy even a few minutes past the recommended bake time. I ended up air frying some of the failed leftovers, which turned out exactly how I originally intended them to be. The reason they were dense and doughy? They were underbaked. You need to bake these for about double the time on the box — or until the pastry is golden brown and flaky.
Hopefully these tricks help you make perfect pinwheels your first time — or maybe you already nailed it and didn’t need this, and for that, I commend you.
Enjoy.
Serves: 12 pinwheels
Prep time: 45 minutes Cook Time: 25 minutes
I found that leaving a little space along the edges made rolling easier.
Cut 1/2-inch slices, or about the width of a finger.
Space pinwheels about 1/2-inch apart to allow for the expanding puff pastry.
