These ranch cranberry cream cheese pinwheels are on repeat for us this holiday season. Tortilla roll ups with cranberries and cream cheese with a lovely dose of shredded cheddar, ranch seasoning, chopped pecans, and green onion? What’s not to repeat? This is the cranberry cream cheese appetizer you have been looking for!
While there are tons of pinwheel recipes out there, some are better suited as Christmas pinwheels than others. These cranberry cream cheese roll ups definitely have a holiday vibe with the cranberries. Sometimes, I even use the green and reddish Ole XTreme Wellness Tortillas to give them an extra Christmas-y vibe. However, the colored wraps do give an extra layer of flavor you may or may not prefer.
Making these cranberry pinwheels with regular flour tortillas is perfectly fine also. I have made them both ways this holiday season.
The great thing about this particular cranberry cream cheese appetizer recipe is that it uses dried cranberries and not fresh. I typically buy a big bag of Craisins and keep it in the fridge all holiday season. Surprisingly, it can be hard to figure out where to buy cranberries sometimes – the real ones, I mean. I typically find the fresh ones at Edward’s Grocery. But some of the bigger chains don’t have them often.
Making Ranch Cranberry Cream Cheese Pinwheels
A lot of pinwheels recipes use a solid base of cream cheese with the add ins. Personally, I find the concoction a little too thick for spreading. Therefore, I add about 1/3 cup of sour cream to my recipe. I made this recipe a few times without the sour cream and it turned out just fine. It was just a little more tricky to spread.
Spread the mixture onto the tortillas. It will be thick so be sure to spread evenly.
My cream cheese mixture typically works with four burrito-sized tortillas. I like to use thinner tortillas as opposed to the thick, fluffier ones. They seem more pliable for rolling.
Tips for Making Tortilla Roll Ups
- After you spread each tortilla with the bacon cranberry cream cheese spread, roll the tortilla as tightly as you can.
- Wrap each tortilla separately in plastic wrap.
- Place the tortilla roll ups in the fridge for 24 hours or so. (Once chilled, the tortilla pinwheels will slice more easily.)
- Use a serrated knife to slice each roll up into 3/4 to 1 inch slices.
From those four tortillas, I can usually get 8-10 pinwheel slices – depending on how thick I slice them. Usually, I aim to slice them about 3/4 to 1 inch thick. This will make for 30-40 cranberry cream cheese pinwheels.
Like I said, sometimes I use the plain flour tortillas. For Christmas parties, I use the green and red/orange wraps for a Christmas pinwheels version.
I hope you enjoy these ranch cranberry cream cheese pinwheels! If you are searching for some other unique party appetizers, be sure to try out my BBQ dip and my sausage cocktail bread appetizers. If you are in search of a sweet party treat, my white chocolate popcorn cannot be beat!
Ranch Cranberry Cream Cheese Pinwheels
Ingredients
- 1 brick Cream cheese softened
- 1/3 cup Sour cream
- 1 oz Ranch seasoning dry; we love Hidden Valley
- 1 cup Cheddar shredded
- 1 cup Dried cranberries
- 1 cup Pecans chopped
- 1/2 cup Green onion chopped; optional
- 4 Flour tortillas white, green or red
Instructions
- In medium mixing bowl, mix cream cheese, sour cream, and ranch seasoning together first. Then, add in all other ingredients except for tortillas.
- Divide mixture among the four tortillas and spread evenly, leaving 1/2 inch gap or so around all edges.
- Roll each tortilla as tightly as possible.
- Wrap each tortilla in plastic wrap and chill in fridge for 12-24 hours (the longer the better as they will be easier to slice).
- Remove plastic wrap and slice roll ups into about 1 inch slices with a serrated knife.
ashok
Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.
The Gifted Gabber
Yay! That makes me so happy!