Pesto scones and pesto pinwheels

 In order to make room for this year's last-minute fall pestos in the freezer, I'm having to use up last year's. I found a jelly jar's worth of pineapple sage pesto, made using pineapple sage, walnuts and Gruyere in place of the basil, pine nuts and Parmesan. It works really well on pork or chicken, and I thought it might adapt well to baking. Here are two options:

Pesto scones

Adapted from RachelSchultz.com

Ingredients

3¼ cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

¾ cup butter, cut into chunks

1 cup buttermilk, plus more as needed

½ cup pesto

2/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Method

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add butter and cut in with a pastry cutter or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add buttermilk, pesto and cheese. Stir until dough comes together in a ball. (I had to add about a tablespoon more than the recipe originally called for.) Knead briefly and turn out onto a lightly floured board. Flatten into a disk about a half-inch thick. Cut into 8 wedges. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

Rating: Nice texture, with flaky-biscuit like top to the scones. While I’m sure they would have been tasty enough with any pesto, the pineapple sage variety worked really well here.

Note: I opted for 8 good-size wedges since I was serving these as a side along with a hearty beef stew and green salad for supper. But if you wanted to serve this as a savory at tea, I’d cut them into 12 wedges and cut down the baking time.

Pesto pinwheels

Adapted from The Guardian

Ingredients

1 sheet puff pastry (half a package), thawed until workable

2 to 3 tablespoons pesto

Toasted pine nuts

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Method

Roll puff pastry out on a lightly floured board. Spread pesto on top, leaving a half-inch border. Scatter pine nuts over the top as desired and then sprinkle on cheese. Roll up pastry, starting at the long edge. Chill for 30 minutes (this helps make slicing easier).

Cut into 3/8-inch thick rounds. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes until puffed and light brown.

Rating: Nice enough, and fairly fast to fix. Stuff you're likely to have on hand if guests show up with short notice. I'd show you pictures, but my camera chip took a dive that day and is unrecoverable.