These spiraled cookies with two flavored doughs rolled together with simple everyday ingredients make for delightful Christmas pinwheel cookies. Despite how they look, these cookies are surprisingly easy to put together! It only takes a few minutes to make the cookie dough, and then once chilled, all you have to do is slice and bake. You don’t even need a cookie scoop!
To make these slice and bake cookies even easier, you can make the dough ahead of time and keep it in the freezer to pull out whenever guests come by for the holidays! For another cookie recipe that’s perfect for the holidays, try my candy cane cookies, gingerbread cookie recipe or linzer cookie recipe.
What You Need to Make This Recipe
Baking powder — make sure to use fresh baking powder as it helps the cookies rise in the oven. Baking powder also helps give the holiday pinwheel cookies a more cakey texture.
Butter — plan ahead by bringing the butter out of the fridge to soften to room temperature. The butter needs to be at room temperature to cream smoothly. Also, be sure to use unsalted butter as there is already ½ teaspoon of salt added to the recipe.
Unsweetened chocolate — I recommend chopping a chocolate bar as some chocolate chips have a coating to help the chips hold their shape, causing them not to melt as smoothly. A serrated knife is excellent for chopping chocolate bars.
How to Make Pinwheel Cookies
1. Melt the chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl over the top of a pot of water.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar before adding the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the vanilla and then the flour mixture.
4. Divide the dough in half, leaving half in the mixing bowl. With the mixer on low, add the melted chocolate to the cookie dough left in the bowl, and mix until fully incorporated.
5. Separately roll out each dough into ½ inch thick square onto parchment paper. Place another piece of parchment on top of each dough and roll dough out into 13×9-inch rectangles. Refrigerate the cookie doughs for about 30 minutes and flip the chocolate dough on top of the plain dough.
6. Starting from one long side of the rectangular dough, roll the dough up, jelly-roll style, using the bottom parchment paper as a guide.
7. Tightly cover the dough roll in plastic wrap and twist the ends until tight and refrigerate for at least two hours.
8. Slice the chilled log and slice it into ¼-inch-thick slices. Place cookies 1½ inches apart on a lined cookie sheet and bake for 7 to 8 minutes. Let the pinwheel cookies cool before transferring them to a wire rack and repeat with the rest of the dough.
Pro Tips for Making This Recipe
- You can also melt the chocolate in the microwave. Place the chopped chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring in-between until the chocolate has melted.
- The end pieces will not look as pretty, but you can still bake them and enjoy them!
- I highly recommend using a kitchen scale to measure your flour as it’s the most accurate method. However, if you don’t have a scale, be sure to fluff your flour with a spoon and then spoon it into your measuring cup before leveling it off with a knife. This method is the best way to measure flour without overpacking the measuring cup.
- The dough will be sticky and difficult to roll if you do not chill before rolling. The dough will also not keep its shape if you skip chilling it.
- Room temperature eggs will mix more evenly into the batter. Place your eggs into a bowl of warm water for a couple of minutes. The warm water will quickly bring the eggs to room temperature if you have forgotten to take them out of your fridge beforehand.
- When you begin rolling, give everything a good squeeze to make sure the center is pressed tightly, so you do not get a gap in the middle of the chocolate pinwheel cookies.
- To make these more fun, you can roll the dough log in colorful sprinkles before chilling.
- Make these holiday pinwheel cookies more festive with red or green gel food coloring for Christmas.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I store these holiday cookies?
You can store baked pinwheel cookies in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Can I freeze these cookies?
You can freeze the unbaked dough or baked Christmas pinwheel cookies. Double wrap the dough log in plastic wrap and tin foil. Freeze the dough for up to 3 months and let it thaw in the refrigerator before slicing and baking. Baked cookies can simply be frozen in a freezer-safe bag when cooled.
Can I add different flavorings?
You can add flavor extracts to the plain cookie dough if you want to shake things up. Some ideas for adding to the dough are peppermint extract, lemon zest, orange zest, almond extract, cinnamon, and maple flavoring.
If you love this recipe try these out!
If you’ve tried this Pinwheel Cookie recipe, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Pinwheel Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3⅓ cup all-purpose flour (400g)
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter (227g)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate chopped (56g)
Instructions
- Place a small pot filled with 2-inches of water over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Place the chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl and set over the bot, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
- Stir until the chocolate is fully melted. Turn off the heat and remove the bowl from the pot.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the butter and sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- With the mixer on low, add the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in the vanilla.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add flour mixture, and mix until fully incorporated. Divide the dough in half, leaving one half in the mixing bowl.
- With the mixer on low, add the melted chocolate to the dough left in the bowl, and mix until fully incorporated.
- Place each dough on separate sheets of parchment paper and press into 1/2-inch-thick square. Place another piece of parchment on top of each dough and roll dough out into 13x9-inch rectangles. Refrigerate the doughs until firm but pliable, about 30 minutes (If the dough becomes too firm, let them rest at room temperature until they become pliable).
- Remove the top piece of parchment from each dough rectangle. Flip the chocolate dough on top of the plain dough, lining up the edges as best you can, and remove the remaining parchment piece.
- Starting from one long side, roll the dough up, jelly-roll style, using the bottom parchment as a guide. Tightly cover the dough roll in plastic wrap, and twist the ends until tight (this gently presses the dough together and gets rid of any airspace that may still be inside the log). Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until firm.
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Unroll the chilled dough and trim the edges, making a 12-inch-long log. Carefully slice half of the log into 24 cookies (about ¼-inch-thick slices) with a sharp knife. Wrap remaining dough and place in the refrigerator until ready to use. Place cookies 1½ inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 7 to 8 minutes or until the edges just start to brown. Let the cookies cool for 2 minutes on the pans, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat the process with the remaining half of the dough.
Notes
- You can also melt the chocolate in the microwave. Place the chopped chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring in-between until the chocolate has melted.
- The end pieces will not look as pretty, but you can still bake them and enjoy them!
- I highly recommend using a kitchen scale to measure your flour as it’s the most accurate method. However, if you don’t have a scale, be sure to fluff your flour with a spoon and then spoon it into your measuring cup before leveling it off with a knife. This method is the best way to measure flour without overpacking the measuring cup.
- The dough will be sticky and difficult to roll if you do not chill before rolling. The dough will also not keep its shape if you skip chilling it.
- Room temperature eggs will mix more evenly into the batter. Place your eggs into a bowl of warm water for a couple of minutes. The warm water will quickly bring the eggs to room temperature if you have forgotten to take them out of your fridge beforehand.
- When you begin rolling, give everything a good squeeze to make sure the center is pressed tightly, so you do not get a gap in the middle of the cookies.
- To make these more fun, you can roll the dough log in colorful sprinkles before chilling.
- Make these holiday pinwheel cookies more festive with red or green gel food coloring.
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