Description
Festive and colorful Christmas Pinwheel Cookies featuring vibrant red, green, and white swirls, coated with holiday sprinkles. These buttery, soft cookies are perfect for holiday celebrations and gift-giving, with a fun layered dough technique that creates a beautiful spiral pattern.
Ingredients
Scale
Dry Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour (360 g)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (225 g)
- ½ cup light brown sugar (100 g)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 g)
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Coloring and Decoration
- ½ teaspoon red food coloring
- ½ teaspoon green food coloring
- ½ cup Holiday sprinkles
Instructions
- Prepare Dry Ingredients: In a mixing bowl, combine 3 cups of all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking powder, and ¼ teaspoon salt; set aside.
- Cream Butter and Sugars: In a separate mixing bowl, cream together 1 cup softened unsalted butter, ½ cup light brown sugar, and ½ cup granulated sugar until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add Egg and Vanilla: Mix in 1 large egg and 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract until well combined.
- Combine Flour Mixture: Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until no streaks of flour remain, forming the cookie dough.
- Divide and Color Dough: Divide the dough evenly into 3 portions. To one portion add ½ teaspoon red food coloring, to another add ½ teaspoon green food coloring, and leave the third plain. Mix each until the colors are uniform.
- Roll Dough into Rectangles: On a lightly floured surface, roll each color portion into a roughly 12×8 inch (30×20 cm) rectangle.
- Layer the Dough: Layer the rectangles in the order green on bottom, then white, then red on top.
- Roll into a Log: Starting from the long side, tightly roll the layered dough into a log shape. The log may lengthen slightly as you roll.
- Add Sprinkles and Chill: Roll the log in ½ cup of holiday sprinkles to coat it, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours to chill and firm up the dough.
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Baking Sheets: Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) or 160°C for fan ovens. Line three baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Slice Cookies: Remove the chilled dough log from the refrigerator. Using a sharp knife, slice the log into ¼ inch thick slices and place them cut side down on the prepared baking sheets, leaving space between cookies.
- Bake Cookies: Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until the cookies are slightly puffed and lightly golden around the edges.
- Cool Cookies: Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Rotate baking sheets halfway through baking to ensure even cooking and browning.
- This recipe yields about 36 to 48 cookies depending on how tightly the dough is rolled.
- Keep the dough well chilled before slicing to maintain distinct color swirls and prevent spreading.
- Scraps of dough collected during trimming can be re-rolled and baked for additional colorful swirl cookies.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 120 kcal
- Sugar: 8 g
- Sodium: 70 mg
- Fat: 6 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2.5 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 16 g
- Fiber: 0.5 g
- Protein: 1.5 g
- Cholesterol: 25 mg
