Veggie Pesto Pinwheels

These Pinwheels are delicious and so handy to have in the freezer for lunch boxes or an after school snack.

There are so many things you can put in pinwheels, you can make sweet versions, or savoury versions but the one thing they have in common is puff pastry. I have never made my own puff pastry so I use shop bought pre-rolled puff pastry. I have also used the frozen blocks and they work really well but tricky to roll into a rectangle!

This recipe is for my favourite pinwheels filled with a roughly blitzed veggie puree, pesto, ham (totally optional) and cheese. My kids love them and so do I.

Ingredients For the Veggie Puree

1 tsp olive oil

1 medium carrot grated

1 small courgette or half a medium one grated

1/4 red pepper

1/2 smallish onion finely chopped

handful spinach

Feel free to add a bit of brocolli, sweetcorn, kale etc 

Heat a lidded frying pan and add a tsp on Olive oil. Add your grated and finely chopped veggies to the pan and stir until they're all mixed together. Add the lid and lower the heat and sweat for 7-8 minutes.. Add the spinach and allow to sweat a couple more minutes. Lift the lid and stir the veggies allowing any excess wetness to evaporate. Turn off the heat and leave to cool a little. Use a stick blender to blitz it roughly. Make sure all big chunks have been broken down but don't blend until smooth. Allow to cool. If you need to store the puree for another day you can use our Reusable pouches or a small Tupperware container. You can keep in the fridge for up to 2 days or pop it in the freezer for use another time.

Pre Heat the oven to 200 degrees (fan assisted)

For the Pinwheels

1 pack of ready rolled Puff Pastry

1 tablespoon of basil pesto

50g mature cheddar cheese

1 egg beaten (for egg wash)

slice of Ham (optional)

Roll out the pastry in it's paper. Spread the pesto thinly all over the pastry leaving around 2 cm at one of the short ends. Add 2 tablespoons of the veggie puree onto the pastry and spread over the pesto. Add a sprinkling of the ham if you want to. They are also delicious without. Add a sprinkling of cheese and then it's time to roll.

I like to roll my pinwheel the way that the pastry unrolled but make sure you start from the opposite end to  where you left a 2cm gap. Use the backing paper to help you get started rolling and roll the whole of the pastry up and sit it on the "seam"

Use a sharp knife to gently cut the large roll into slices. I usually cut them just over 1cm in width so you get 14-16 pinwheels out of a sheet.

Lay them on baking parchment or a reusable liner and coat with egg wash or some milk.

Pop them in the fridge for 10 minutes if you have time - I often don't)

Bake for around 20 minutes until the pinwheels have expanded and are golden brown. Keep an eye on them in case they cook a bit quicker.

These are perfect for lunches and snacks! Enjoy.

Our reusable pouches are also awesome for freezing your veggie purees and our snack bags are fab for taking pinwheels out and about.. Find them here