Vanilla-Red Pinwheels
Hey, everyone. If you’ve been following me for a while, then you’ll know that this is the time of year where I start the 12 Days of Christmas–an annual series of twelve baking recipes I post during the month of December that remind me of the holidays. Growing up, my mom and my grandmother baked a LOT of delicious things at Christmastime.
Apart from loving to eat it, I also just loved the overall atmosphere that all of their baking created in the house. Now that I’m an adult, I guess this series is my way of recreating that atmosphere for myself, and for the people who I love. I look forward to it every year, and I hope y’all enjoy it too. (Also, if you’re interested in viewing the series from past years, you can search the 12 Days of Christmas tag to find past recipes for the past few years.)
I knew even in the early days of planning this years series that I was going to make these. They’d been on my radar for a while for two reasons: first, I just can’t resist a butter cookie. Second, pinwheel cookies are so pretty, they’re nearly hypnotizing. I remember the first time I saw one. I just stared at it, becoming more and more determined with every passing minute that I was going to figure out how it was made asap and make a batch for myself.
I know that pinwheels look like they’re super elaborate, but the actual construction of them isn’t that difficult. Honestly, the ‘trickiest’ part is making sure the dough is at the right temperature for when it’s time to combine & roll the two different colored doughs together. Too cold and it will crack when you try to roll it. Too warm and it won’t hold the pinwheel design of the two colors. Don’t worry, though: because this is a basic butter cookie dough, it is very forgiving. If you think the dough is too cold, simply leave it out for a few extra minutes before you try to roll. It you think it’s too warm, leave it in the fridge for a little bit longer. You’re going to find that happy medium, I promise.
A lot of pinwheel recipes are either a vanilla-chocolate mix of doughs. Some are a single vanilla dough where one half has just been dyed with food coloring. For mine, I went with a vanilla dough and a red one that I flavored with a Red Velvet Emulsion from LorAnn oils. I also flipped the order of layering in my second log so that there is a vanilla wrapped cookie dough AND a Red Velvet flavored one. Also, don’t you dare throw away the scraps from when you trim the doughs! Those pretty tie-dye patterned cookies you see below are made solely from my scraps. I gently kneaded them together with my hands into a log, then wrapped it up with the others. When you cut it, you can see that the colors marble together and hold their design even after baking. Nothing wasted.
These cookies are excellent; like a classic butter cookie, they’re slightly crisp with a crumb that melts in your mouth. The two flavors work beautifully together. And (of course), they make one heck of an impression when presented on a plate. Not too shabby a start for the 12 Days of Christmas, eh?
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Vanilla-Red Pinwheels
Recipe Adapted from Simply Recipes
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups white granulated sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon of LorAnn Oils Red Velvet Emulsion (you can also use a strawberry or raspberry flavoring. A combination of 1 of these flavorings with Red food coloring will also work)
Directions
In a medium sized bowl combine the flour with the salt and baking powder. Stir together with a fork, then set aside.
In the bowl of a standing mixer (or using a handheld one), cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, stirring just until combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in batches, stirring just until combined.
Scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto a plate. Divide it in half. Set one aside, and place the other back into the bowl. Add the the 1 teaspoon of Red Velvet emulsion and stir until it’s uniform in color. Remove the Red Dough from the Bowl.
Divide the Vanilla Dough into 2 portions. Divide the Red Dough into 2 portions. You should now have four balls of dough. Roughly shape each one into a rectangle, then wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate them for about 30 minutes, or until firm.
Remove one of the vanilla doughs from the fridge. Sprinkle a clean surface (like a pastry mat or a piece of wax or parchment paper you’ve taped to your counter) with powdered sugar. Lay a piece of parchment paper down, place the dough on top of the paper, then place a second piece of parchment on top of that. Roll out the dough until it’s about 6 x 12 in size. As your roll, occasionally move it around/flip it, just to make sure it doesn’t stick. When it’s the right size, (keeping it sandwiched between the parchment paper)transfer the rolled out dough to a baking sheet.
Repeat this process with the other doughs. Place the baking sheet with the doughs in the freezer for 15 minutes. It should be firm, but not stiff–too stiff and it won’t roll properly.
Remove one of the vanilla doughs and one of the red doughs. Peel away the top parchment paper from them both. Flip the red dough on top of the vanilla dough so that they are sandwiched together. Peel the bottom paper from the raspberry dough. Trim the edges so that the 2 doughs line up. Carefully and tightly roll from the long end into a log, peeling away the bottom layer of parchment as you go.
Repeat this sandwiching and rolling process, but this time put the red dough layer on the bottom so that when you roll the dough, the red dough is on the outside.
(There is an excellent step by step pictured process of this, located here.)
Wrap each log in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. (Don’t throw away the scraps from the trimmings! I gently kneaded them together with my hands and formed a tie-dye patterned log that I also refrigerated with the pinwheel cookies.)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a sharp knife or bench scraper to slice the cookies into slices 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Place them about 1 inch apart on the sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until they begin to just turn golden brown on the bottom & at the edges. Allow to set up for 60 seconds on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
(Note: no one oven is the same, & different baking sheets bake cookies differently. Keeping this in mind, I will ALWAYS test bake one cookie before baking entire sheets of the whole batch, just to get a good idea of how long they should be in the oven and if I need to adjust the way I’ve cut, rolled them out, etc. I highly recommend that you do the same.)
I’ll be linking this post up to this week’s Fiesta Friday #252, co-hosted this week by Alex @ Turks Who Eat and Zeba @ Food For The Soul.
wow, they look beautiful and very festive ✨ I bet they taste delicious! Looking forward whats coming next ☺️.
Thank you! I think you’re going to really love the series 😉
So nice and brightly! Excellent idea for christmas presents! I will try to make something similar 🙂
Awesome Sara, good luck on your present! Thanks for stopping by 😉
Great idea, thanks!
You’re welcome. Thank you for stopping by!
You’re welcome! Thank you for the service!
Such lovely colors and yummy. Really good. Thanks for this Fiesta Friday treat. Happy Holiday!
Thank you–a very Happy Holiday to you as well 😉
These cookies are so fun for the holidays! 🙂
They are Nancy, I was very pleased with how they turned out. Thanks!
I love your 12 days of Christmas Jess… I’m pumped for this year! I did it one year and it was SO much work… I was stressed! Loving these pinwheel cookies, they are a definite favorite of mine.
It is a lot–but I’ve gotten into a rhythm where I can space baking the recipes out over several days to where I’m not overloading myself (or my kitchen) lol Thank you Heather 😀
I always love your recipes! These pinwheels are so festive I can’t wait to try them. Thanks for sharing at FF!
Thank you so much, I think you’re really going to enjoy the cookies 😉
Oh they look beautiful, Jess! I usually bake some kind of pinwheel cookies for Santa, but they’re different. Yours are more festive and much much better-looking than mine 👏
This was my first time making them, I was so nervous the swirl wouldn’t be neat–but I think they came out pretty good for a first try. Thanks Angie–you should post yours on your blog, I’d love to see them 😉
These cookies look irresistible, a feast for the eyes and taste buds. On my list to try for the holidays!
Awesome, I hope that you like them. Thanks!
These pin wheel Cookies looks so pretty…Perfect treat for christmas
Thank you Lathiya!
I love Christmas cookies, and these look so festive! From FF.
Thank you Lizet, I love that the pop from the red stayed even after baking. Have a good one 😉
12 annual baking recipe, ha ?!
That is truly inspiring, I believe you can even start a cult !!! :d