Garlic Puff Pastry Pinwheels (with Spring Garlic or Garlic Scapes)
Flaky, golden, and ready in 15 minutes, these Garlic Puff Pastry Pinwheels are filled with aromatic spring garlic, thyme butter, and aged cheddar. Perfect party appetizer or easy snack!
These Garlic Puff Pastry Pinwheels are everything you want in a quick appetizer: flaky, buttery, fragrant, and dangerously easy to make. Filled with aromatic spring garlic, thyme-infused butter, and sharp aged cheddar, they come together in just 15 minutes and disappear even faster.
Whether you bring them to a picnic, serve them at a party, or hand them to the kids as an after-school snack, these little spirals never last long. Because honestly, garlic butter wrapped in puff pastry? It’s practically a cheat code.
What is Spring Garlic and What Can You Use?
This recipe works beautifully with any of these young garlic varieties, and they’re all interchangeable:
Spring garlic (also called green garlic) is the whole young garlic plant harvested before the bulb fully forms. It looks like a fat scallion with a slightly thicker, pinkish-white base. Mild, fresh, and wonderfully aromatic without the punch of a mature clove and no garlic breath! This is what you’ll see in the video.
Garlic scapes are the curly green stems that shoot up from hardneck garlic bulbs in early summer. They have a similar mild, fresh garlic flavour and work just as well chopped into butter.
Can’t find any of these? Roasted garlic works beautifully too (as one of our readers discovered!) — just slightly bolder in flavour.
Why Thyme and Aged Cheddar?
Fresh thyme is one of those herbs that belongs in every kitchen; it pairs beautifully with almost any protein and never overpowers. When paired with a good-aged cheddar, it adds a savoury depth that makes these pinwheels next-level. I specifically chose aged cheddar because it melts just enough to be luscious without going stringy. Parmesan, Gruyère, or any aged cow’s milk cheese works equally well.
*Note: This recipe was originally published using the Spanish term ‘tender garlic’ (ajo tierno). Spring garlic and garlic scapes work interchangeably.
Other Puff Pastry Recipes
Garlic Puff Pastry Pinwheels
Ingredients
- 230 g pre-made puff pastry dough rectangular
- 50 g unsalted butter
- 1 tender garlic
- 15 g aged cheddar parmesan or gruyere
- thyme
- salt
Instructions
- In a small bowl, add the butter, chopped tender garlic, thyme and salt and warm up in the Microwave for 30 seconds until melted.
- Unroll the puff pastry dough and brush the aromatic butter over it. Keep a little bit for the end.
- Grate and add the cheese.
- Roll the largest side completely to make a big roll.
- Slice with a sharp knife every 1 cm (small finger size) of the roll and transfer each slice to a parchment-covered tray.
- Brush the leftover of butter on the mini rolls.
- Cook in the oven at 200°C (400°F) for 10 minutes or until golden.
Video
Notes
- Spring garlic / green garlic: young garlic plant before the bulb forms, looks like fat scallions. Found at farmers’ markets in spring.
- Garlic scapes: the curly green stems from hardneck garlic, available early summer at farmers’ markets.
Nutrition
Sharing of this recipe is encouraged and appreciated. Copying a full recipe to any social media is prohibited.
Did You Make This Recipe?
Share your thoughts on it! Leave a comment or share a picture and tag me @littlenomadsrecipes on Instagram.
Yum! I am not familiar with tender garlic, but will keep an eye out. These would be the perfect appetizer for a dinner party I’m hosting next week.
It’s garlic on steroid for the aroma but the taste is milder, which eaten raw is ultimate!
Looks so fluffy and delicious, thanks for sharing!
Glad you think so!
Wish I had these right now!! They look delicious, especially for an easy app!
Done under 15! So easy!
these look great for a quick appetizer, definitely saving it for my next appetizer event.
They will fly right off the table! Enjoy!
My family loves various versions of pinwheels and I know they would love these. They look delicious and easy to make. Can’t wait to give them a try.
It’s a new garlic bread style pinwheel, who could resist that?!?
These were a hit! I couldnāt find tender garlic so we roasted a garlic bulb and used that instead. Easy and great.
Glad it worked with roasted garlic too, it was probably slightly bolder taste than the original but works too!
What is tender garlic, and how do you make it?
Garlic scapes are the curly green stems that shoot up from hardneck garlic bulbs in early summer ā they’re milder than a regular garlic clove and won’t give you that intense garlic breath! If you can’t find them, spring garlic works beautifully as a substitute. It looks a lot like scallions but with a thicker base, and it has that lovely aromatic garlic flavour without being overpowering. Both work wonderfully in these rolls!
goes good with chicken