Description
Holiday Pinwheel Cookies are delightful and festive treats made by layering and rolling two differently flavored doughs—vanilla and raspberry—into charming pinwheel shapes. These slice-and-bake cookies offer a beautiful swirled appearance with a tender, buttery texture. Perfect for holiday celebrations or gift-giving, they can be prepared in advance and stored frozen, making holiday baking stress-free and fun.
Ingredients
Scale
For the Dough
- 1 1/4 cup (250 g) white granulated sugar
- 1 cup (225 g or 2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 3 cups (420 g) all-purpose flour
For the Raspberry Dough
- 1/2 teaspoon liquid red food coloring
- 1/2 teaspoon raspberry extract
Instructions
- Prepare the Base Dough: Place the sugar, butter, vanilla extract, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes until the mixture is creamy, lighter in color, and clings to the bowl sides.
- Add Egg: Scrape down the bowl sides, then add the egg, mixing until fully incorporated.
- Add Flour: Gradually add the all-purpose flour on low speed until the dough is homogeneous with no streaks of flour.
- Divide and Color Dough: Scrape dough onto a clean surface and divide it in half. Set one half aside. To the other half in the mixer bowl, add red food coloring and raspberry extract, mixing thoroughly until uniformly colored. Then divide each half into two equal portions for a total of four balls: two vanilla and two raspberry.
- Shape and Chill Dough: Shape each dough ball into a square or rectangle roughly, wrap each tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours to firm up.
- Roll Out Dough Layers: On a piece of wax or parchment paper, unwrap one dough portion, cover with another sheet, and roll into a 6 x 12 inch rectangle. Flip periodically during rolling to avoid sticking. If dough is too hard, allow it to soften slightly. Transfer rolled dough (sandwiched between parchment) onto a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough pieces, stacking the sheets.
- Freeze Rolls: Place the stack of rolled dough sheets in the freezer for 15 minutes to firm without fully freezing.
- Assemble Pinwheel Logs: Remove one vanilla and one raspberry dough sheet from freezer. Peel top parchment from both and flip the raspberry sheet onto the vanilla sheet, aligning edges and trimming if necessary. Roll the combined dough lengthwise into a 12-inch log, peeling parchment as you go. Repeat the process with remaining sheets, alternating which dough color is on the outside.
- Final Chill: Wrap each log tightly in parchment or plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight; or freeze up to one month.
- Slice and Bake: Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Remove dough logs from fridge; smooth edges by gently rolling on the counter. Slice logs into 1/4- to 1/2-inch thick cookies. Place slices about 1 inch apart on baking sheets.
- Bake: Bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until cookie edges begin to slightly brown.
- Cool and Store: Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Store cooled cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Notes
- For a festive holiday touch, simply roll together two colors of dough to create beautiful pinwheel patterns.
- Freeze the rolled dough logs for up to a month for easy slice-and-bake cookies whenever you want.
- If the dough is too hard to roll, let it soften a few minutes to avoid cracking.
- Be sure to keep dough chilled to maintain shape during slicing and baking.
- Align dough edges carefully when assembling layers to achieve clean pinwheel swirls.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 88 kcal
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 29 mg
- Fat: 4 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 12 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 14 mg
