A pinwheel sandwich is a slice of bread that has been flattened with a rolling pin. The filling is added, the bread is rolled up and then sliced to make small wheel shapes. These sandwiches require a little more effort to make than traditional sandwiches, but the end result is worth it!
Serves 4 (Makes 20 small pinwheels)
- 4 lettuce leaves
- ½ cucumber
- 4 slices wholemeal bread from a medium-sliced sandwich loaf
- 150g low-fat cream cheese
- 4 thin slices cooked ham (optional)
Serves 10 (Makes 40 small pinwheels)
- 8 lettuce leaves
- 1 cucumber
- 8 slices wholemeal bread from a medium-sliced sandwich loaf
- 300g low-fat cream cheese
- 8 thin slices cooked ham (optional)
Equipment:
- Colander
- Kitchen paper
- Chopping board x 2
- Sharp knife
- Bread knife
- Rolling pin
- Table knife
- Cling film
Method:
- Wash the lettuce leaves in the colander. Dry with kitchen paper and tear into small pieces.
- Wash the cucumber, slice very thinly and pat dry with kitchen paper.
- Remove the crusts from the bread slices using the bread knife and chopping board.
- Flatten each slice of bread with a rolling pin, rolling from the short edge.
- Spread the cream cheese onto one side of each slice of bread.
- Lay the sliced ham onto the sandwich (if using).
- Arrange about 3 cucumber slices and some lettuce on top of the sandwich filling.
- Using your clean fingers, roll up each sandwich, starting from the longer edge, into a long sausage shape. Keep all the ingredients together and firmly packed during the rolling process.
- Wrap the sandwich rolls in cling film and refrigerate for about 30 minutes until chilled.
- Remove the sandwiches from the wrap and cut each roll into 5 slices.
Top Tips:
- Use really fresh bread, which is moist, as dry bread will not roll successfully.
- Keep even pressure on the rolling pin to prevent tearing the bread.
- Thin layers of filling are needed so that the sandwich will roll up easily – avoid wet ingredients such as tomatoes.
- You can make larger pinwheels by joining 3 slices of bread together and rolling.
Something to try next time:
- Add 4–8 finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes and swap the plain cream cheese for a one with a different flavour (such as chive, pineapple or garlic).
- Use chutney or mustard as spreads for the sandwiches to complement different fillings.
- Vary the vegetables you add to your sandwich, red pepper (3–4 slices) and radish (4–5 slices) work well but cut them very thinly.
- Use wraps to make the pinwheels, as they don’t need rolling before filling. You can buy various colours and flavours, such as herb and tomato.
See Also
