• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
The Art of Doing Stuff
menu icon
go to homepage
  • HOUSE
  • COOKING
  • GARDEN
  • HOW-TO
  • EXTRA
  • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • HOUSE
    • COOKING
    • GARDEN
    • HOW-TO
    • EXTRA
    • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×
    Home » Cooking Stuff » Appetizers

    PINWHEEL APPETIZERS WITH OLIVES AND CHEESE.

    December 5, 2017 by Karen Bertelsen 41 Comments

    Pin122
    Share
    Email
    122 Shares
    Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

    Most people would make these appetizers for a party and I'm no different. I make them up, stick them in the freezer and pull them out to bake whenever I'm having a party for one. ;) They're also great for the holidays.

    Pinwheel Appetizers with Olives & Cheese

    Skip right to the recipe.

    It is, indeed, the most wonderful time of the year.  No matter what your race, religion or creed, over the next month we will be enveloped in a blanket of the one thing that brings us all together.  The one thing we can all agree on, admire, cherish and worship.

    Finger foods.

    Calorie laden, diet busting appetizers made with a mixture of ingredients that would normally raise equal parts eyebrow and bile.  But during this, the most wonderful time of the year?   Bacon and sweetened condensed milk rolled into a ball with a shot of Worcestershire sauce makes perfect sense.  You betcha.  For real. It's delicious.

    Christmas Eve is my holiday at The Art of Doing Stuff homestead. I've hosted it for my family for the past 17 years or so and almost all of those have been a festival of appetizers.  The only one who doesn't quite understand the whole appetizers as a meal thing is my sister Pink Tool Belt.  It confounds her.  I believe it has to do with an unnatural fear of eating without cutlery which would also explain her history of being suspicious of pizza, corn on the cob and gum.

    I actually come from a long line of appetizer lovers, as most of us do.  Our families' most recent encounter with appetizers dates all the way back to 4 months ago when we celebrated Aunt Jean's 103 rd birthday with a party.  (you can read my Q&A with her on her 100th birthday here) Birthday parties become less important from the ages of 22-99.  Those are the in between years.  Once you hit 100 though, you look forward to every event that warrants the possibility of a surprise stripper showing up.  Plus, cake.

    It was at that event, Aunt Jean's birthday, that I was introduced to these Pinwheel appetizers with olives and cheese.  Oh!  And curry.  And mayonnaise.  Again with the slightly incongruent ingredients.

    There are only 5 ingredients.  Black olives, onions, cheese, mayo and curry powder.

    You mix everything together and spread it on a whole wheat tortilla and roll them up.  Apparently the original recipe called for you to spread this mixture on english muffins.  It also called for salt.  There is no need for salt. The mixture is filled with cheese and olives.  That's enough salt for anyone's tastebuds.

    Would you like to save this stuff?

    We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.

    After refrigerating the rolls to firm them up a bit you slice 'em, bake 'em and then eat 'em.  With your fingers.  No cutlery.

     

    You may eat them with a wood stick if you insist.

    They're warm and gooey with just a hint of curry.  And the best part, the best part is ...

    YOU CAN MAKE THEM AHEAD AND FREEZE THEM.

    Also,

    THE MIXTURE REFRIGERATES PERFECTLY.

    Also they're Chanukah compatible!

    That's right. I didn't forget my Jewish friends getting ready to start their holiday celebrations.  To make the Star of David pinwheels just squish the sliced circles into a triangle shape before you bake them.  They'll expand a bit in the oven so as soon as you take them out, squish them back into shape.

    Round or triangular, either way, they'll spice up any holiday party.  Just like a stripper.

    Pinwheel Appetizers with olives and cheese

    This 5 ingredient easy appetizer can be made ahead and frozen, or store the spread in the fridge and make them on demand!
    4 from 13 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Appetizer
    Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 25 minutes minutes
    Servings: 50 pieces
    Author: Karen Bertelsen

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup black olives chopped
    • ½ cup sliced green onions Videla work well too
    • 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
    • ½ cup mayonnaise
    • ½ teaspoon curry powder
    • 7 large whole wheat tortillas

    Instructions

    • Preheat oven to 350F.
    • Mix ingredients together  and spread in a thin layer on tortilla.
    • Roll tortilla up tightly and refrigerate to firm up.
    • Remove from fridge after approximately 1 hour and slice into bite sized pieces.
    • Bake for 10 minutes until warmed through and cheese is melted.

    Notes

    To make ahead, after rolling up tortillas, wrap in plastic and freeze.
    The spread can be made ahead alone, and refrigerated for up to a week.

    More Appetizers

    • Making Homemade Potato Chips
    • Salty & Sweet Bacon Wrapped Appetizers
    • Toasted Baguette Crisps. The perfect vehicle for summer tomatoes & basil.
    • A Parmesan Sourdough Cracker Recipe.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




      The maximum upload file size: 512 MB. You can upload: image, audio. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop file here

    1. Marilyn

      December 06, 2017 at 8:52 am

      I am so making these. I LOVE eating with my hands. O thinks it’s my Neanderthal ancestry.my husband on the other hand will use cutlery for everything! Wings , ribs ,pizza. Honestly takes the joy right out of it. And he has passed this phobia onto our oldest daughter. My youngest and I relish every finger licking moment while they sit daintily picking apart their wings with a freaking knife and fork. Oh well to each their own

      Reply
    2. Alexis

      December 06, 2017 at 7:55 am

      Ho hum, appetizers, schmappetizers. But the stripper?? Male, I trust. We can always rely on you to shake things up. And that's why we love you. And oh yes. Pics, please.

      Reply
    3. Kate

      December 06, 2017 at 7:27 am

      Karen, we're appetizer lovers and these would be delicious! I so enjoyed your Q&A with your Aunt - what an attitude she has - she's a remarkable woman and a role model for all of us. Methinks you're following in her footsteps - go girl!! :)

      Reply
      • Karen

        December 06, 2017 at 10:09 am

        Thanks Kate. :) ~ karen!

        Reply
    4. Jody

      December 06, 2017 at 6:38 am

      This is very similar to a recipe my mom has been making for decades. Her recipe has green olives, the rest of the filling/topping ingredients are the same but it is put on slices of party rye and broiled. She found it in one of those fundraiser cookbooks. I love those things. I found my favorite carrot cake recipe in one.

      Reply
    5. Lisa G.

      December 06, 2017 at 6:36 am

      That mixture is 99.9% similar to something my mother makes for the holidays (no curry, she uses something else I can't figure out, file under "ancient chinese secret"). It's delightful stuffed into mushroom caps and broiled. When she runs out of mushroom caps, she hollows out a baguette fills it with the leftover mixture and broils it. Viola.

      Reply
    6. Ev Wilcox

      December 06, 2017 at 6:16 am

      Ummmm, would HAVE to sub olives with just about anything else...shudder. Finely shredded chicken maybe, of just about anything else. Have finally made peace with cooked mushrooms (just not till they turn into rubber), but olives? Most likely never.
      We are hosting the Christmas Gathering this year, and my children are adamant on serving soups. Sigh. I said I was not cooking for a crowd. But appetizers would be so much fun. Maybe another get together, soon. Thanks for re-affirming the place appetizers hold!

      Reply
      • Karen

        December 06, 2017 at 10:09 am

        Appetizers are fun, but let me tell you it's a lot of work to make a lot of appetizers. Way more work than making a pot of soup, unless you happen to be making Teradactyl soup or something like that. ~ karen!

        Reply
    7. Sabina

      December 06, 2017 at 5:40 am

      Karen you make my day!

      Reply
    8. TucsonPatty

      December 06, 2017 at 5:20 am

      I think these sound heavenly! Here in Tucson we make a variation on these with cream cheese, shredded cheddar cheese and black olives. Chill and slice and serve with salsa. I ate some olive tapenade at a party the other night and I think that sounds like a great shortcut for the chopped olives. I love green olives, so there might have to be some put into this recipe! This may be the appetizer to take to another holiday party, along with the Bacon Pinwheels from 2013! : )

      Reply
      • Jan in Ontario

        December 06, 2017 at 5:37 pm

        You can say that again!
        😂

        Reply
        • TucsonPatty

          December 06, 2017 at 10:35 pm

          Oops. Hahahaha. I was going to ignore the fact That I couldn't get it to post,and came back and tried again and there is was...twice! Darn it.

    9. TucsonPatty

      December 06, 2017 at 5:18 am

      I think these sound heavenly! Here in Tucson we make a variation on these with cream cheese, shredded cheddar cheese and black olives. Chill, slice, and serve with salsa. I ate some olive tapenade at a party the other night and I think that sounds like a great shortcut for the chopped olives. I love green olives, so there might have to be some put into this recipe! This may be the appetizer to take to another holiday party, along with the Bacon Pinwheels from 2013! : )

      Reply
      • Karen

        December 06, 2017 at 10:05 am

        The bacon wraps are SO good. I have never met anyone who doesn't like them. ~ karen!

        Reply
    10. Lisa

      December 06, 2017 at 4:13 am

      Initially attracted by the food , I soon got distracted by Aunt jean....did she get her get iPad? Could we get another Q&A session with her please?? I cant imagine what the world will look like in 2070 when I'm 100....

      Reply
      • Karen

        December 06, 2017 at 10:04 am

        She did indeed get her iPad! ~ karen

        Reply
    11. Peg

      December 06, 2017 at 2:14 am

      sounds yummy, nice change up with olives, I'll add more green or kalamatas 🙂

      Reply
    12. Therese

      December 06, 2017 at 1:57 am

      Love the thought of these and look forward to trying them.

      Reply
    13. Tina

      December 06, 2017 at 1:44 am

      They look fabulous! I love the idea of chicken or salami in them and dunked in salsa. And one of my favorites is a salad dinner with tapas. This would do the trick!

      Reply
    14. Lynn

      December 06, 2017 at 1:25 am

      I was all in till I saw Olives :( just can not handle them :( .

      Reply
      • Karen

        December 06, 2017 at 10:00 am

        Yeah. A lot of people have that reaction to olives! Understood. ~ karen

        Reply
        • Sally

          December 06, 2017 at 4:32 pm

          Sun-dried tomatoes in oil patted dry with kitchen roll before being chopped instead?

    15. Nicole Sparks

      December 06, 2017 at 1:15 am

      Um... I'm guessing that we don't really preheat the oven before putting them in the fridge for an hour. Right? Unless some part of the filling is prebaked somehow?

      My mom used to make smoked salmon, cream cheese and capers pinwheels (same method, minus the baking).

      Reply
      • whitequeen96

        December 06, 2017 at 3:30 am

        Ooooh, now THAT sounds good! Not crazy about olives, but love everything in your mom's recipe! Thanks for sharing.

        Reply
    16. Kathleen Aberley

      December 06, 2017 at 12:45 am

      I love finger food... and these look and sound lovely. Olives, cheese... what more do you need.

      And if they freeze - bonus. I can pre-prepare and pop in the oven when people pop in unexpectedly. At dinner time. Expecting a plate of food.

      Reply
    17. Elisabeth

      December 06, 2017 at 12:37 am

      Yuck! .... but hmmm.

      Reply
    18. Marjorie Kramer

      December 06, 2017 at 12:36 am

      Thank you, thank you, thank you for a delicious finger food recipe that does not include cream cheese. As lactose is just one of the many things I don't tolerate, I'm always on the look out for appetizers that don't feature it. Neat! I'm with you, Karen, on appetizers as a meal - it's absolutely perfect.

      Reply
    19. DeAnna Anderson

      December 06, 2017 at 12:23 am

      Oh, I should have mentioned we do not cook them. Spread the filling, roll, cool in fridge for a couple of hours, then slice and eat with salsa. Sometimes we add finely grated carrot, or leftover chicken; you could put anything in them really. You can also use cream cheese instead of the mayo.

      Reply
      • Tina

        December 06, 2017 at 1:40 am

        Chopped salami!

        Reply
        • DeAnna Anderson

          December 06, 2017 at 3:37 pm

          Ooh, I have some good salami, that sounds like a great idea. Thanks.

    20. DeAnna Anderson

      December 06, 2017 at 12:21 am

      We have been making these for years. Slice them and serve with salsa. Yummy!

      Reply
    Newer Comments »

    Primary Sidebar

    SHOP ON AMAZON

    Use it 👆 to support my work. LEARN MORE

    My name is Karen Bertelsen and I was a television host. In Canada. Which means in terms of notoriety and wealth, I was somewhere on par with the manager of a Sunset Tan in Wisconsin.

    I quit television to start a blog with the goal that I could make my living through blogging and never have to host a television show again. And it’s worked out. I’m making a living blogging. If you’re curious, this is how I do that.

    So I’m doing this in reverse basically. I’m the only blogger who is trying to NOT get a TV show.

    More about me 👋

    Seasonal Articles

    • Today's Puzzle: Literature, SPF 30, & Processed Cheese
    • This Fruit Fly Trap Catches 25X More Than Your Bowl of Vinegar Does
    • Apple Watch Band Stuck? How to Remove It.
    • Cleaning Copper with Ketchup: A No-Rub Experiment
    • Garbage Apples, Jam Trauma, and the Beige Poppy Crisis
    • Creamy Pesto Pasta with Zucchini & Goat Cheese

    Popular Articles

    • This Is Where I Try To Buy Your Love
    • Guaranteed Crispy Sweet Potato Fries & Sriracha Mayo Dip
    • A Year Full of Pots: Win Sarah Raven's New Book
    • The Difference Between People Who Eat Mayo & People Who Eat Miracle Whip
    • Your FIRST look at my new kitchen in Canadian Living Magazine.
    • How to Print an Image on Wood.

    Footer

    as seen in

    About

    • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Social

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    122 shares