Christmas Pinwheel Cookies are the perfect festive slice and bake cookies! They’re impressive and so fun to make with your family and friends!
This post is sponsored by BUBBL’R.
Christmas Pinwheel Cookies
How festive are these cookies? I love how they just bring the holiday spirit with them the second you see them. They basically look like a candy cane as a cookie to me, and I’m absolutely loving it. They take a bit of time to put together, but they’re actually surprisingly simple to make!
Something I’m thinking of trying is poking a little hole towards the top and putting a string through it. I think they would make the cutest cookie ornaments on a Christmas tree for Christmas Eve! A holiday party I went to every year growing up had a cookie ornament for each person with their name on it, and I always looked forward to it.
I’ve partnered up with BUBBL’R to bring you this swirl cookie video tutorial. I don’t know if there are any cookies that are more festive than these, and I love making them for friends and family during the holidays. Be sure to enjoy an energizing can of BUBBL’R twisted elix’r to keep your energy up during all the chilling time! You can find out where to buy BUBBL’R here.
Pinwheel Cookies with Sprinkles
This dough isn’t overly sweet, so the decorating sugar on the outside is really important both for flavor and because it gives a great crunch! I like to include the white sprinkles for looks, too.
You could also substitute the decorating sugar and white sprinkles for holiday colored nonpareils if you prefer (the small round sprinkles).
Cute Christmas Swirl Cookies
If you’re looking for the perfect cookie recipe to make with kids, this might be them! They are pretty time intensive, but the individual steps really aren’t that hard. Plus, they almost feel like a craft project as you’re putting them together. I think they’re the perfect activity for a snow day.
Slice and Bake Cookies
The key to this recipe is the chilling time. I know there’s a lot of it, but it really does make all the difference! When you give each stage the time it needs to set, you’ll get perfectly crisp swirl lines when you go to slice your cookies at the end.
How to Make Pinwheel Cookies
When it’s time to roll the cookies, it’s important to really pinch the first rotation together because it’s easy to end up with gaps at the center of the cookie dough log. If you’re careful to roll the cookies evenly, these rolled sugar cookies won’t disappoint!
Optional Alterations
There are a couple of changes you can make to these cookies that are super fun and easy!
The first is to use orange food dye instead of red if you want to make Halloween cookies (you could even use cocoa powder in the second layer for an ever spookier effect).
If you want to keep them as Christmas cookies, but make them even more special, try dipping half of each cookie in white chocolate!
Holiday Recipes
I am definitely Christmas obsessed, and love decorating and baking for the holidays every year. If you love Christmas desserts, be sure to check out these popular recipes.
I’d love to hear what you thought of this recipe in the comments or on Instagram! @KeyToMyLime #KeyToMyLime
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Christmas Pinwheel Cookies
Christmas Pinwheel Cookies are the perfect festive slice and bake cookies! They're impressive and so fun to make with your family and friends!
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled, 375 grams)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature, 230 grams)
- 1 ⅓ cups granulated sugar (266 grams)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Red gel food dye (I used “Christmas Red”)
- About 1 cup white sprinkles
- About 1 cup white coarse sugar (also called decorating sugar)
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and granulated sugar. Add the eggs in, one at a time, and mix on low until they’re fully incorporated. Add in the vanilla extract and mix on low to combine.
- Add the flour in a little bit at a time, and stir on low to mix. Once the flour is fully mixed in, divide the dough in half and put half to the side. Add red gel dye to the remaining dough, a drop or two at a time, and mix. Continue adding dye until you get the color you want.
- Form both the untinted dough and the tinted dough into separate rectangles and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- Roll each piece of dough out to a 9” x 16” rectangle. I prefer to do this between two pieces of wax paper. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
- Remove one piece of wax paper from each rectangle and place the pieces of dough together. Go over the dough with a rolling pin so that the two pieces bind together. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Trim the edges so that the colors match up evenly. Roll the dough into a log starting with a long side and with the red side down (so that the red is on the outside of the log). It’s important to really pinch the first rotation together because it’s easy to end up with gaps at the center of the log. Remove the wax paper as you go and squeeze the log firmly but gently as you roll to make the cookies seamless. Wrap the cookie dough log in plastic wrap, and then place the wrapped cookie dough inside the cardboard center of a roll of paper towels that’s been cut lengthwise. This helps the cookies hold their round shape and not flatten too much on the bottom. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Roll the cookie dough log to make sure it’s evenly round with no flat edges, then unwrap the plastic wrap. Cut off the end pieces that look like they’ll be too small or won’t have enough of a spiral. Pour the decorating sugar and the sprinkles onto a rimmed baking sheet, and mix them together. Roll the log through the sprinkles and sugar, making sure to press the sprinkles into any spots that might get missed. Freeze the dough for 1 hour.
- 15 minutes before you pull the dough out of the freezer, preheat the oven to 350 F (176 C).
- Cut the cookie dough into ¼” slices. Place the sliced dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet 2” apart (these cookies will spread). Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool for 2 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
If you like almond flavor, I highly recommend substituting half of the vanilla extract with almond extract!
This dough isn’t overly sweet, so the decorating sugar on the outside is really important both for flavor and because it gives a great crunch! I like to include the white sprinkles for looks, too.
You could also substitute the decorating sugar and white sprinkles for holiday colored nonpareils if you prefer (the small round sprinkles).
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size:
1/30 (1 cookie)Amount Per Serving: Calories: 173Total Fat: 8.3gCarbohydrates: 23.3gNet Carbohydrates: 22.9gFiber: 0.4gSugar: 12.2gProtein: 1.8g
Nutrition information isn’t always accurate. Lots of sprinkles will be left in the pan, so this is calculated assuming roughly half of the sprinkles actually stuck to the cookies.
The next time you’re looking for a delicious, easy, and beautiful holiday cookie to try, make these Christmas Pinwheel Cookies!
