Cranberry, Pecan & Chicken Pinwheels

The day went from normal, slow, and boring to thrilling and nail-bitingly stressful in a split second. That’s the life of television news. No matter how well you prepare for a show, you never know what’s going to happen.

A deadly car crash on a major highway shut it down for a few hours this morning. Our morning show reporter was hustling to get there and I was busy juggling around new information being filtered in on what was going on. Thirty seconds can either feel like an eternity or go by in a blink of an eye when you’re in the middle of a newscast.

The dizzying fury of the morning compares really well to the life of a cook. You never know what’s going to happen in the kitchen. Burnt ingredients, pots boiling over, and an ingredient gone bad too soon—and you’re scrambling to make your meal come out the way you imagine it.

Luckily for you, not everything has to be that hard. Take this recipe for instance. It’s just about as simple as you can get. I did learn my lesson on what tortillas to not use to roll up into cute little pinwheels. I had originally bought some small, taco-sized ones because I thought they looked thicker than the larger ones. Boy, was I wrong. The first one tore as soon as I tried to roll it up!

I did have some larger tortillas laying around so I used those instead. Thanks to some quick thinking, like I use almost everyday at work, I made this dish come out the way I wanted.

Another morning show producer at work is a phenomenal cook. I can usually count on her to bring in something for us to try at least once a week. I decided to make these pinwheels for my coworkers the same day she brought in this sublime French toast bake. Both got eaten up pretty quickly—look, no food stays for very long around a newsroom.

These little guys are very Christmasy. Christmasy, is that a word? My red squiggle line says no, it’s not. Well, I’m making it a word, because Christmasy foods are the best.

Cranberry, Pecan & Chicken Pinwheels

• Servings: 10-12
• Time: 20 mins
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Easy finger foods for a Christmas party. Chicken, cranberry and pecans rolled up with a cream cheese mayo.

Ingredients

• 6-7 large flour tortillas
• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• 1 lb. chicken breast, cooked and shredded
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix together cream cheese and mayo until smooth.
2. Lay out a flour tortilla. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture onto the tortilla and spread out to the edges with the back of the spoon.
3. Sprinkle some parsley onto the prepared tortilla, followed by some pecans, cranberries and cooked chicken.
4. Starting at one edge, roll up prepared tortilla tightly, like a burrito. Continue with the rest of the tortillas.
5. Pop prepared tortilla roll-ups into either the freezer for a few minutes or the fridge for an hour, so it hardens up a bit and will make for easier cutting. Remove from fridge/freeze and slice into 1/2″ to 1″ pieces.

Step-By-Step Instructions

I placed all of my ingredients into little ramekins for easier access! In a bowl, mix together cream cheese and mayo until smooth.

Lay out a flour tortilla. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture onto the tortilla and spread out to the edges with the back of the spoon.

Sprinkle some parsley onto the prepared tortilla, followed by some pecans, cranberries and cooked chicken. Starting at one edge, roll up prepared tortilla tightly, like a burrito. Continue with the rest of the tortillas.

Pop prepared tortilla roll-ups into either the freezer for a few minutes or the fridge for an hour, so it hardens up a bit and will make for easier cutting. Remove from fridge/freeze and slice into 1/2″ to 1″ pieces.