Christmas Pinwheel Cookies
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Inactive Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
Servings: 48 cookies
Ingredients:
Best Ever Sugar Cookie Dough, or your favorite
Red food coloring, gel is best
Christmas nonpareil sprinkles, they are the little balls
Directions:
Separate the dough into 2 halves. Add red food coloring to one half. Add 1/2 of your cookie dough to a stand mixer and add red food coloring until your mixture reaches your desired color. You can also knead food coloring into dough until completely combined if you do not have a stand mixer.
Place red cookie dough on parchment paper. Roll red cookie dough to about 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Set aside.
Place plain cookie dough on parchment paper (or wax paper). Roll plain cookie dough out to about 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Stack cookie dough sheets on top of one another with the parchment on the outside.
Remove the top parchment and roll over the dough gently with a rolling pin (to help the 2 doughs become one). Begin on one end and roll the cookie dough into a log (removing the remaining paper as you go). If the dough is too soft to work with, refrigerate it for 30 minutes and then try again.
Once the dough is formed into a log, wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Meanwhile, pour sprinkles into a cookie sheet. Unwrap the dough and roll it into sprinkles. Rewrap and refrigerate for 3 hours to overnight.
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Slice cookies and place on a cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake according to your sugar cookie directions or until the cookies feel set.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Enjoy!
Notes:
Christmas Pinwheel Cookies Tips & Things to Know:
Choose the Right Dough – I know that I said any dough works for making swirl cookies, but I may have been exaggerating a bit.
Most dough works – it just needs to be soft and pliable. To avoid tough dough, don’t overmix and be sure to use a low-protein flour.
Use the Right Equipment – A stand or hand mixer will save you loads of time!
It’s the best way to ensure the dye makes its way all the way through the batter without overmixing (see above).
Be Creative With Decorations – Any sprinkles and any colors can be worked into pinwheel Christmas cookies!
Feel free to divide the dough into three parts and add a green swirl to the mix as well – it’s just as easy to do and looks even better!!
And snowflake sprinkles and with a pale blue swirl, would be the perfect winter wonderland treat.
Christmas Pinwheel Cookies FAQ:
What are pinwheel cookies made of?
Just a simple sugar cookie dough, some food coloring, and sprinkles! Plus a little holiday spirit, but you don’t need to add that to your grocery list.
Whether or not extra colors, flavors, or fillings are added is up to you – there’s so much room to be creative and add your own flair!
Can I make swirl cookie dough with different flavors?
Yes! There are two ways you can go about this: add the flavors when making the dough initially, or add the flavoring once the dough is divided. I would personally recommend adding the flavor before so that you don’t overwork the dough.
I’d recommend a combo of lemon and peppermint! Wouldn’t that be sweet and refreshing? Orange and white chocolate would also be absolutely heavenly… Now I need to go try it myself!!
How far ahead can I make this pinwheel Christmas cookie recipe?
It depends!
If you want to bake the cookies and serve later, you can store them on the countertop for up to a week.
If you want to prepare the dough to bake later, then go ahead and form the pinwheel log and store in that fashion. Wrap it up in plastic wrap and chill for a couple of days – any longer and the colors start to bleed together.
And if you want to freeze the prepared dough, you can do so up to 3 months ahead of time – you must really like to prepare for the holidays!! Just let it thaw before slicing and baking.
Recipe courtesy of The Slow Roasted Italian.com
