Home Breakfast Cream Cheese Baklava Pinwheels

Cream Cheese Baklava Pinwheels

by Ann
5 comments

Cream Cheese Baklava Pinwheels ~ Sumptuous Spoonfuls #easy #baklava #pastry #recipe

Cinnamon cream cheese and cinnamon scented walnuts rolled up in flaky puff pastry and drizzled with a honey orange syrup. What’s not to love about that? These little pastries make a beautiful dessert or a lovely breakfast treat in the morning with your coffee (or tea).


The other morning I had to get up at 5 am to take my daughter to work. It was ungodly early and I knew I needed more sleep because I had a cooking class to teach that night! I told myself I’d go back to bed when I got home, but my daughter always has this incredible surge of energy before work that’s a little contagious so my brain totally woke up on the way to drop her off. I had made baklava for my Mediterranean cooking class and had a bunch of extra cinnamon scented walnuts that I was wondering what to do with. And then a brilliant idea struck me: wouldn’t baklava pinwheels be fun?

So I made a stop at our local grocery store on the way home and picked up some puff pastry and an orange (for the syrup). And as soon as I stepped into the house, I started making my nutty pinwheels. But my brain was wondering: how will they stay together? Won’t the nuts just fall out? That was when the cream cheese shouted at me from the fridge and I knew just what to do.

I made up the syrup. I mixed the cream cheese with a bit of the syrup, some cinnamon, vanilla and a bit of honey. I opened up a sheet of the puff pastry and smeared the cream cheese all over it. I sprinkled the nuts over top. I rolled it up. Some of the cream cheese oozed out. There were a bunch of nuts on the table that had fallen out as well. Some of the pinwheels were strangely shaped when I cut them, but I formed them back into a circular shape on the pan and added the extra cream cheese that had oozed out and sprinkled with the fallen nuts. I baked them and drizzled them with the lovely orange scented honey syrup.

In the end it didn’t matter that some of them were shaped funny. I was able to make them round again and they all turned out beautiful (except for the end one which was SERIOUSLY malformed, but it still tasted marvelous)! The cream cheese sort of disappeared from view, but you could still taste it. The creamy cinnamon cream cheese mixed with the cinnamon walnuts, the pastry and the honey syrup-together it was all so divine.

I took these pinwheels to cooking class with me and gave everyone TWO kinds of baklava for dessert. Stay tuned for the other recipe!

Oh, and by the way, I never did get my nap. I was SO tired by the time the cooking class was over, but it was a super fun day anyway.

Don’t have any walnuts on hand? You can substitute other nuts for the walnuts. Try pecans, pistachios or even almonds.

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Cream Cheese Baklava Pinwheels ~ Sumptuous Spoonfuls #easy #baklava #pastry #recipe

Cream Cheese Baklava Pinwheels

  • Prep Time: 40 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
  • Yield: 10 - 12 pinwheels 1x

Ingredients

Scale

For the honey orange syrup:

  • 3/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • A couple pieces of fresh orange peel
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • A pinch of salt

The nuts:

  • 1/4 lb. walnuts (or other nuts), toasted
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon cloves

The cinnamon cream cheese mixture:

  • 6 oz. Greek cream cheese or Neufchatel
  • 12 Tablespoons honey
  • 12 Tablespoons honey orange syrup (from above)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

The rest:

  • 1 puff pastry sheets – 1/2 of a 17.5 oz. package
  • 1 egg, whisked
  • 1 Tablespoon turbinado (raw) sugar – optional

Instructions

  1. Let the puff pastry sheet thaw at room temperature for about 40 minutes.
  2. While the puff pastry is thawing, make the syrup by stirring together all the syrup ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
  3. Put the walnuts, cinnamon and cloves in a handi chopper or small food processor and pulse several times to chop into small chunks.
  4. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the cream cheese, the honey orange syrup, the honey, cinnamon and vanilla. Add more syrup or honey to taste.
  5. When the puff pastry has thawed, preheat the oven to 400 F and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Roll the puff pastry out onto a clean surface. Spread a layer of the cream cheese mixture over the sheet (leaving about 1/2 inch space on one side), then sprinkle with the nuts. Roll the sheet up jelly roll fashion, starting on the “full” side. Cut the roll into 10 – 12 slices (about 1/2 inch thick).
  6. Set the pinwheels on the prepared baking sheet. Brush with egg. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes at 400 F or until the pinwheels are golden brown. Drizzle each one with the honey orange syrup. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

You will probably have more syrup than you need, and you may have extra nuts as well. Save them for the next time you want baklava pinwheels! Nuts should be stored in the freezer, syrup in a sealed container in the fridge.

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

© Copyright 2018, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.

Cream Cheese Baklava Pinwheels ~ Sumptuous Spoonfuls #easy #baklava #pastry #recipe

Looking for more nut recipes?

Nuts are full of good fats and protein. They are so good for your health (especially your heart) and they add wonderful flavor and crunch to both sweet and savory dishes. Here’s a collection of amazing nutty recipes from me and my foodie friends.

Walnut Recipes:

Almond Recipes:

Pecan Recipes:

Peanut Recipes:

Cashew Recipes:

Hazelnut Recipes:

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5 comments

Abbe@This is How I Cook August 19, 2018 - 9:10 pm

What a great collection! Thanks Ann!

Reply
Ann August 21, 2018 - 3:42 pm

You’re welcome, Abbe. Isn’t it fun collecting recipes?

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