Happy Boxing Day! The brief hiatus in cookies was brought to you by “holy shit, I gotta finishing shopping/wrapping/baking/shipping/cleaning for Christmas.” And yesterday there was completely too much rum cake consumption and watching movies napping. But I feel like I’m still on track to get you all the recipes by Epiphany and chalk up my desire to get them all to you by Christmas as delusions caused by “too much rum tasting while baking!”
Today we’re trading in geese a’layin because geese are mean and Holiday Pinwheel cookies are a delicious and tasty way to add color to your cookie plate this holiday season (although you can totally switch up the colors for any holiday celebration!).
One of my favorite things about this dough is how easy it is to work with–thus is great if you (like me) need to practice your rolling skills because you normally avoid recipes like this.
Holiday Pinwheel Cookies
- ¾ cup salted butter, softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons almond extract (or extract of your choice)
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Red & green gel food coloring
- Holiday Colored nonpareils
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and stir with a whisk a few times until well mixed. Set aside.
Combine butter and both sugars in a mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and then almond extract, scraping the bowl as needed.
Lower mixer speed and slowly add in flour mixture until well incorporated. Divide the dough evenly into 3 parts.
Return ⅓ of the dough to the mixing bowl and add about 10 drops of red gel food coloring, mixing well until the dough is evenly colored, adding additional food coloring to adjust color as needed. Repeat with another ⅓ of the dough and green food coloring.
Flatten each ball of dough slightly and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
Roll out each dough, one at a time, to create thin rectangles that are roughly the same size and shape. On a piece of parchment paper, stack the layers of dough on top of each other with white in the middle. Trim the sides so that the edges are even.
Carefully roll the dough into a tight log, using the parchment paper to lift and roll the dough. Wrap the log of dough in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Once the dough is chilled, line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper and pour in several handfuls of nonpareils. Roll the dough in nonpareils to coat the outside of each cookie. And by roll, it is more like pressing the sprinkles into the dough. If not baking immediately, wrap the log in plastic and store in the fridge or freezer for up to 1 week. Slice and bake as needed.
When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
Using a sharp knife, slice the log of dough into ¼-inch cookies and space them evenly on the baking sheet, leaving a bit of room for spreading. Bake for 10-12 minutes until set, transfer to wire rack, and allow to cool.
See? Easy peasy…ish.
Fa la la la la!
In case you missed them:
12 Cookies of Christmas, Day 1 Salty Scotches
12 Cookies of Christmas, Day 2 Holiday Mint Chocolate Kisses
12 Cookies of Christmas, Day 3 ANZAC Bikkies
12 Cookies of Christmas, Day 4 Iced Oatmeal Cookies
12 Cookies of Christmas, Day 5 Jammy Dodgers
originally adapted from The Salty Marshmallow
The Epicurious Texan 