Ham and Swiss Pinwheels — Life & Kitchen

Jake and I are finally back from our 12-hour road trip from Pittsburgh to Boston so I am back online! My dad, who we were visiting, has decided to simplify his life so he has no cable or internet access at his current house. Every time I visit I feel like I am completely disconnected from the world. And it's actually pretty awesome. This whole no-immediate-internet-access thing must be what life was like... oooh say 10 years ago. Practically the middle ages.

So, anyway, we are back online and back in business. What better way to celebrate than with these salty, savory, oh-so-delicious pinwheels? Jake loved them. Loved them. I brought them all out on a single plate for us to share and the poor guy had to physically restrain himself from eating all of them. He eats about twice as fast as I do and it was torture for him to sit there and watch me take little bunny bites while he just wanted to polish them off. I think that for the sake of our marriage, I will dirty an extra plate next time.

What's odd about this recipe being so good is that you practically make baby food out of the ham. It just doesn't sound good. But it is! I'm a little bit finicky with meat though, so maybe putting ham into a food processor won't creep you out as much as it does to me.

Then you spread it all out in layers. Easy as pie. But I can't emphasize enough the need to get rid of the seams in the croissant on both sides. I only made sure they were joined on one side and as I was rolling it up I regretted my lack of attention to detail. The seams started to separate and I had to fix them mid-roll. It wasn't an ideal situation.

I cut up slices on swiss cheese instead of buying shredded. For one thing, I couldn't find shredded swiss cheese. But also, the sliced swiss from the deli was on sale. It was a no brainer.

When I sliced the roll and put the slices down on the cookie sheet there were some gaps in the middle, but it wasn't a big deal in the end. The cheese melted to fill the holes and crisped up on the sheet. There was nothing to worry about.

Please make these. They are pretty easy to prepare and completely delicious.

Ham and Swiss Double Pinwheels (from Pillsbury):

1/4 lb cooked ham, cut into pieces (about 1/3 cup) 1 oz cream cheese (from 3-oz package), softened 1 can (8 oz) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese (2 oz) 2 tablespoons sliced green onions (2 medium)

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. In food processor bowl with metal blade, process ham and cream cheese until smooth and well blended.

If using crescent rolls: Unroll dough into 1 large rectangle; press into 13x8-inch rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal.

Spread ham mixture over rectangle. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, Swiss cheese and onions.

Starting with both short sides of rectangle, roll up both toward center. With serrated knife, cut into 16 slices; place cut side down on cookie sheet.

Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve warm.