Fortunata Pastries

Story time – there’s a cute little restaurant that my family absolutely loves visiting. It’s called Fortunata Winery and the seating is outside surrounded by a big vineyard, a stage with live music on the weekends, and the absolute best wood-fired pizza and charcuterie. Although they have a limited menu, their food never disappoints. My personal favorite pizza on the menu is called “Fortunata” (which means “lucky”!) that has brie, sliced grapes, rosemary, sliced almonds, and balsamic glaze. It’s my favorite pizza at the restaurant, and I knew I had to create a recipe inspired by it, so here came these Fortunata Pastries!

I’ve been wanting to create more appetizers over the next month because we’re at the end of football season and I want to create lots of fun options for serving guests for the Super Bowl! These may seem like an interesting appetizer choice for football, but I promise, their uniqueness is the very reason they will be a hit! They’re absolutely delicious and for sure a crowd pleaser for anyone who loves pastries, brie, jam, or rosemary. They’re savory, sweet, and bursting with flavor.

Their versatile nature also allows for endless variations, which makes them an ideal choice for just about any occasion! You can mix and match whatever cheese + jam combinations, as well as switch up the almonds for pecans or pistachios, or swap another herb in place of the rosemary – or simply omit the herb if desired.

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Ingredients for Fortunata Pastries

For the pastry:

Flour

Salt

Cold butter

Cold water

Apple cider vinegar

For the filling and topping:

Brie

Jam of choice – I recommend bilberry, strawberry, or apricot, but pretty much any will work!

Fresh rosemary

Almonds – I toasted these in a pan real quick for a little extra flavor and crispy crunch!

Balsamic glaze – just a little bit, not much!

How to make Fortunata Pastries

1. Chop up the rosemary and set aside.
2. Make the pastry:
3. Make sure the butter is VERY cold, and has been stored in the refrigerator. You don’t want it room temperature. Remove from the refrigerator, slice the butter into cubes, place into a small bowl, then place in the freezer for a few minutes while you follow the next two steps.
4. Also put about 1/2 cup of water into a small bowl and add ice.
5. Set up a food processor, Then add the flour and salt and pulse until combined.
6. Add the cubed cold butter and pulse 15 short pulses.
7. Add the apple cider vinegar and the ice cold water (just scoop water from the ice water bowl). Pulse another 10-15 times JUST until the dough is moist and beaded and sticks together if you squeeze a little bit between your fingers. If it’s too dry, add 1/2 Tbsp of ice cold water at a time until it sticks. (you do NOT want it sticking to your fingers, just to itself – if it sticks to your fingers then it’s too sticky, add a bit of flour if this is the case).
8. Roll it: Working fairly quickly (so the butter stays cold): Flour a clean surface and dump the dough onto it. Mold it together into a ball, then flour the surface again to make sure it’s thoroughly floured, then roll out the dough ball with a rolling pin into a 9×13-inch rectangle.
9. Spread the jelly in a thin layer over the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border along one of the long edges. Sprinkle with 1 1/4 tsp chopped rosemary. Put oil on your fingers to prevent sticking, then tear the brie into small pieces and spread evenly over the surface.
10. Starting from the long edge opposite the border, roll the dough into a log and close the ends. Cut into 12 slices, about 1-inch thick. Put parchment paper on a plate, put the slices onto the parchment paper, wrap, and place in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes before cooking.
11. Toast the almonds: Preheat a small skillet to medium heat, then add the sliced almonds and 1/8 tsp of butter or oil and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring regularly for 2-5 minutes until golden and fragrant. Keep an eye on them because they go from toasted to burnt real quick! Remove from heat immediately and set aside.
12. Preheat the oven to 400ºF and oil a regular 12-slot muffin pan (this helps keep them round in shape instead of spreading!). I use a stainless steel muffin pan, which does not get as hot as aluminum and helps prevent anything from burning. If you are using a dark aluminum pan, then put muffin liners in the slots (instead of oil) to help prevent over-browning of the bottoms.
13. After chilling, put the pinwheels in the prepped muffin pan. Brush the tops and edges with the egg wash (this is optional – it just helps them to become golden, otherwise they’ll stay more of a pale color).
14. Bake 18-20 minutes at 400ºF, until the pinwheels are golden, crisp at the edges, and bubbling slightly in the center.
15. Remove from oven and let cool for a couple minutes. Drag a knife around the edges to release the pastries, transfer to a serving plate, drizzle with balsamic glaze and sprinkle with the toasted almonds and the remaining rosemary.

Modifications and variations

• Omit the rosemary if you don’t prefer it or are feeding to picky eaters. It’s just as delicious without it.
• For nut-free, simply remove the almonds.
• Use whatever type of jam you want for this recipe!! I think just about any flavor would be delicious. For a classic sweet option, you can do strawberry, bilberry, apricot, blackberry, etc. For a savory option, you can do red pepper jelly!
• Substitute another cheese such goat cheese, burrata, etc.

Other recipes you’ll love

Strawberry Basil Bruschetta

Whipped Goat Cheese with Honey & Thyme

Cranberry and Nut Cheese Log

I hope you love these Fortunata Pastries!! Please be sure to leave a comment and a rating if you give this recipe a try. I would love to know how they turned out for you!

Fortunata Pastries

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Tasty homemade pastries fill with brie, jam, and rosemary, and topped with balsamic glaze and toasted almonds. These Fortunata Pastries are a perfect appetizer!

• Author: Christine Manes
• Prep Time: 40 minutes
• Chill time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
• Yield: 12 small pastry pinwheels 1x
• Category: appetizer, pastries

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Pastry:

165g flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick of cold butter (you want it to be VERY cold!)

1/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

3 Tbsp ice cold water

Filling and toppings:

68g jelly (3 Tbsp) – bilberry, strawberry, apricot, blueberry, etc are all great!

90g brie, rind removed

1 1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary, divided

2 Tbsp sliced almonds, toasted

Balsamic glaze for drizzling

For golden pastries:

1 egg, whisked

1 Tbsp milk

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Instructions

1. Chop up the rosemary and set aside.
2. Make the pastry:
3. Make sure the butter is VERY cold, and has been stored in the refrigerator. You don’t want it room temperature. Remove from the refrigerator, slice the butter into small cubes, place into a bowl, then place in the freezer for a 5 minutes while you follow the next two steps.
4. Also put about 1/2 cup of water into a small bowl and add ice.
5. Set up a food processor, Then add the flour and salt and pulse until combined.
6. Add the cubed cold butter and pulse 15 short pulses.
7. Add the apple cider vinegar and the ice cold water (just scoop water from the ice water bowl). Pulse another 10-15 times JUST until the dough is moist and beaded and sticks together if you squeeze a little bit between your fingers. If it’s too dry, add 1/2 Tbsp of ice cold water at a time until it sticks. (you do NOT want it sticking to your fingers, just to itself – if it sticks to your fingers then it’s too sticky, add a bit of flour if this is the case).
8. Roll it: Working fairly quickly (so the butter stays cold): Flour a clean surface and dump the dough onto it. Mold it together into a ball, then flour the surface again to make sure it’s thoroughly floured, then roll out the dough ball with a rolling pin into a 9×13-inch rectangle.
9. Spread the jelly in a thin layer over the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border along one of the long edges. Sprinkle with 1 1/4 tsp chopped rosemary. Put oil on your fingers to prevent sticking, then tear the brie into small pieces and spread evenly over the surface.
10. Starting from the long edge opposite the border, roll the dough into a log and close the ends. Cut into 12 slices, about 1-inch thick. Put parchment paper on a plate, put the slices onto the parchment paper, wrap, and place in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes before cooking.
11. Toast the almonds: Preheat a small skillet to medium heat, then add the sliced almonds and 1/8 tsp of butter or oil and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring regularly for 2-5 minutes until golden and fragrant. Keep an eye on them because they go from toasted to burnt real quick! Remove from heat immediately and set aside.
12. Preheat the oven to 400ºF and oil a regular 12-slot muffin pan (this helps keep them round in shape instead of spreading!). I use a stainless steel muffin pan, which does not get as hot as aluminum and helps prevent anything from burning. If you are using a dark aluminum pan, then put muffin liners in the slots (instead of oil) to help prevent over-browning of the bottoms.
13. After chilling, put the pinwheels in the prepped muffin pan. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and milk. Use a pastry brush to brush the tops and edges with an egg wash. This is a light coating – you do not use the entire egg wash. This helps lock in moisture and make the pastry turn golden when baking.
14. Bake 18-20 minutes at 400ºF, until the pinwheels are golden, crisp at the edges, and bubbling slightly in the center.
15. Remove from oven and let cool for a couple minutes. Drag a knife around the edges to release the pastries, transfer to a serving plate, drizzle with balsamic glaze and sprinkle with the toasted almonds and the remaining rosemary.

 

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Modifications and variations:

• Omit the rosemary if you don’t prefer it or are feeding to picky eaters. It’s just as delicious without it.
• For nut-free, simply remove the almonds.
• Use whatever type of jam you want for this recipe!! I think just about any flavor would be delicious. For a classic sweet option, you can do strawberry, bilberry, apricot, blackberry, etc. For a savory option, you can do red pepper jelly (I would omit the balsamic glaze if opting for red pepper jelly).
• Substitute another cheese such goat cheese, burrata, etc.

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