Cheesy Pinwheel Puffs

Oh ! Its past midnight. I had a good mind to stop by before twelve and wish you all Happy 26th ! Hope your day was good. Mine was much better than yesterday. The  prescribed medicines and spoons full of honey did a good job and though it might take some time before Pradyot can be declared fit... he was much better today....  and since i was a little relaxed i decided to venture a bit into the kitchen..

Back in fall I had seen an episode of Giada at Home where the chef had baked these Cheesy Pastry Puffs. The recipe had seemed fairly simple. So I had pinned it for posterity,  till I recently chanced upon it again. This time driven by our love for everything Greek, I decided to try it out with a Mediterranean twist. And guess what.. with the richness of their colors and mix of the flavors these gorgeous Cheesy Pinwheel Puffs became an instant hit..  I must admit that though very flavorful, the copious amounts of cheese make them a little heavy and sinful.. However they are so tasty that no one stop at one :)

ingredients

for the puffs.

3/4 cups ground oat flour (I ground them in the coffee grinder), plus extra for dusting

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, chilled

1 cup shredded Sharp Cheddar

2 cloves of grated garlic

4 1/2 tablespoon pureed spinach, chilled (I microwaved some frozen spinach and pureed it)

for the filling. I tried few combinations.

store bought pizza sauce + mozzarella

feta cheese

feta cheese + homemade avocado hummus 

homemade avocado hummus sprinkled with copious amounts of dried coriander.

for the avocado hummus

2 cups of boiled chickpeas
2 avocados
8 green olives
2 cloves of garlic, mashed
2 tablespoon of dried coriander
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

what i did.

For the avocado hummus, I combined all the ingredients in the blender and pulsed at regular intervals till the mixture became smooth. (the mentioned quantities yield  around 26 oz of the hummus. once refrigerated, they can be used over a month.)

For the puffs.  I placed an oven rack in the center of the oven;  preheated the oven to 375 degrees F; lined two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Next combined the oat flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl and mixed them till the mixture formed a coarse meal. Then added the grated garlic, cheese and chilled spinach puree, one tablespoon at a time till the mixture formed a smooth pale greenish ball.

Then on a lightly floured plastic wrap,  rolled out the dough and divided it into 4 equal rectangles, each about 1/4-inch thick. Spread the store bought pizza sauce + mozzarella on one, feta cheese on the second, avocado hummus + feta on the third and avocado hummus and copious amounts of dried coriander on the fourth rectangle. Starting with the long side, I then rolled up the dough, jelly-roll fashion, wrapped them in plastic wraps and set them to freeze for 30 minutes.

Next unwrapped the dough one at a time, carefully cut out slices from each of them, about 1/4 inch thick and arranged them 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets.  Then baked them until they were puffed and light green in color, about 18-20 minutes. Finally I let them cool for about 10 minutes before taking the first bite.

Nishi and I both agreed that we liked the pinwheels with the avocado hummus  and feta cheese filling the most. but that might just be our love for feta, hummus and everything Greek.  the others were just as delicious. so do try them and let me know which one was your favorite... I'll love to hear.