Festive Pinwheel Cookies

For the Independence Day, I brought that Blueberry Buckle from the previous post, but I felt like a copout.  But it's a holiday!  I wanted something a little more... festive.  So I started searching Pinterest (of course), and I came across this picture:

Well pinwheels are pretty easy!  So I gathered my ingredients and got to work.  These can be altered for whatever colors you want or whatever season.  At Christmas, I've sprinkled 1/2 tsp of cinnamon in the red dough for a bit of a bite.  You can play however you'd like.

**Just be aware that these cookies need to rest in the fridge for roughly 5 hours.  You can make them in advance and just slice and bake when your guests come (or when you're hungry), but they will need at least 5 hours for cooling.

Pinwheel Cookies:  4th of July Version
Cutting the dough

Adapted from here


1 cup of butter (2 sticks), room temperature
1-1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
Smidge of salt
Food coloring of choice (red and blue for these)

  1. Beat butter until creamy.  Add in sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy.  Mix in eggs, then vanilla.
  2. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add it to the butter mixture and beat just until incorporated.  Do not over beat it.
  3. Form the dough into a ball and separate into 3 equal portions.  Shape Portion A (white) into a 5x5 (ish) square, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate.  Put Portion B (red) back into the mixing bowl and add food coloring.  Be careful not to mix it too long, just long enough to incorporate the coloring.  
  4. Shape Portion B into a 5x5(ish) square, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate.  Repeat the color adding process with Portion C (blue).  When all 3 portions are the desired color and in the fridge, let them cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
  5. Take out all three portions and cut them in half.  Rewrap one half of each portion and return to the fridge.  Roll out Portion B (red) between two sheets of wax paper until it is a large rectangle (roughly 1/8 inch thick).  Set to the side.  Do the same with Portion A (white) and layer on top of the red dough.  Don't worry if they don't match exactly (those can be tester cookies!)  Repeat again with Portion C (blue).
  6. Roll the layers tightly into one long log, cover with the wax paper, and refrigerate.  Repeat rolling process with the other half of the dough.  
  7. Refrigerate both logs for 4 hours.  Periodically pull them out to roll them lightly on the counter so they don't get a flat side.
  8. After at least 4 hours, pull one log out.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Slice the log into roughly 1/4 inch thick rounds.  Place on a parchment paper covered baking sheet.  Bake for 9-11 minutes or until very lightly golden.

It makes about 50 cookies, including some small ones from the ends that don't really look like pinwheels.  Those are delicious tester cookies!



Mmmmm sugar cookies!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chili Soy Pork

 This particular recipe started as a chicken thigh recipe. However we were making something with chicken already that week and wanted to change it up. I suggested pork, and Jeff immediately decided on pork shoulder. Now, I can't imagine it any other way. Chili Soy Pork Adapted from  here 2lbs pork shoulder, cut into bite sized pieces 1/4 cup soy sauce 2 tablespoons gochujang 2 tablespoons spicy chili sauce 1/4 cup oyster sauce 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 cup scallions, diced Cut the pork into bite sized pieces and place in a ziplock bag or a bowl Combine soy sauce, gochujang, chili sauce, oyster sauce, garlic and scallions. Whisk together and pour over pork, coating well. Marinate at minimum 1 hour, recommend overnight. Preheat the oven to 425F. Add oil to a hot pan and sear each side of the pork for 1-2 minutes, or until browned. Remove from pan onto a cookie sheet. Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice with veggies of your cho...
Read more

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

Image
 You read that right: these are THE best chocolate chip cookies ever. I found a basic recipe back when... I'm not even sure now? I think I still lived at home so let's just say it's been well over a decade! Anyway, the recipe was fine but regularly made thin, crispy cookies which are awful (sorry, not sorry). I spent many hours, tears, and pounds of butter throughout the last fifteen-ish years, tweaking the recipe slightly here and there to find just the right balance. I can finally say I have achieve the most perfect cookie, and it's my first real recipe... as in, I created it!  They are chewy and thick, with a crunchy edge and hold up their soft, chewy insides even after being left out overnight. Honestly, I even skip the cookies at the store because I prefer these. Chocolate Chip Cookies 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1.5 sticks), softened 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 whole egg 1 egg yolk 2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda Pinch ...
Read more

Chicken Burrito Bowl

Image
So it's been a long time!  My Pinterest-ing this year has mostly been wedding related and staring at all the delicious food on Pinterest certainly doesn't mesh with that.  But today, Jeff suggested I browse for dinner options, and the one I stumbled on required ingredients we always keep on hand, such as chicken, rice, black beans, and chicken broth.  However, the original author states (and I agree) that you can make this with whatever veggies you have on hand.  So feel free to take a little creative license with this! The burrito bowl originally requires chicken, but we both said it would be easy to make it with ground beef.  If you do, brown the ground beef in a separate pan, drain it, then add it to the sauteed onions.  It was quite delicious with chicken, and probably would be good without any meat, though you'd need to add many more veggies.  I also added some seasoning to the raw chicken, then a little more to the uncooked rice, and then abo...
Read more