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Bright red and green Christmas pinwheel cookies stacked on a metal spatula, coated with festive nonpareil sprinkles around the edges.
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Christmas Pinwheel Cookies

These festive, colorful cookies slice and bake into the cutest Christmas Cookies!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Chilling time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 24 cookies
Author Deb Clark

Equipment

  • Parchment Paper
  • cookie sheet
  • Stand or Hand Mixer
  • Rolling pin
  • Plastic Wrap
  • Knife

Ingredients

  • 1 cup salted butter room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • Red and green gel food coloring
  • Holiday sprinkles

Instructions

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for 2 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping the sides as needed.
  • Add the vanilla extract, almond extract, and eggs. Mix well until combined.
    A large bowl of creamed butter and sugar with an egg added to the center, surrounded by flour, sprinkles, food coloring, vanilla, and baking ingredients on a marble counter.
  • Slowly add the flour and baking powder, mixing on low speed at first, then gradually increase to a medium speed until a thick dough is formed. Do not over-mix!
    A spoonful of flour being added to the creamed cookie dough in a mixing bowl, with baking ingredients and Christmas sprinkles arranged around the workspace.
  • Separate the dough in half. (I used a scale to ensure that the halves were equal.) Return one half of the dough to the bowl of your mixer, and add a small amount of red gel food coloring. Mix well, adding more food coloring if necessary, until there are no streaks. Remove from the bowl, form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and set aside. Clean the mixing bowl. Then repeat this process with the second half of the dough, using green gel food coloring.
    Bright green cookie dough in a large bowl with a separate bowl of red dough nearby, plus food coloring jars and Christmas sprinkles on a marble counter.
  • Place the two wrapped cookie dough balls into the refrigerator for 30 minutes until they are firm enough to roll.
  • Remove from refrigerator, and roll the red dough ball between two sheets of parchment paper into a rectangle that measures about 8 inches x 10 inches. The dough should be approximately ¼ inch thick. Set aside. Roll out the green dough in the same way.
    A sheet of red cookie dough being rolled flat between parchment paper using a wooden rolling pin, with green dough resting nearby.
  • Carefully stack the green cookie dough on top of the red dough, and tightly roll the layers together from the long edge (like cinnamon rolls).
    A sheet of green cookie dough placed on top of a sheet of red dough, both rolled out evenly on parchment paper with sprinkles in the background.
  • Roll the dough log in holiday sprinkles, gently pressing in to ensure that they stick. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
    A hand pressing the cookie dough log into a tray filled with red, green, and white nonpareil sprinkles to coat the outside.
  • Once the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  • Using a sharp knife, slice the log into ½-inch slices, and transfer them to the prepared baking sheet.
    A knife slicing the chilled sprinkle-coated dough log into pinwheel cookies, revealing the red and green swirl pattern.
  • Bake for 10 minutes until the edges are just set and the cookies are still slightly soft. Remove cookies from the oven, cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

These cookies don't spread much as they bake, so can be placed about an inch apart on the cookie sheet. 
Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days. 
Cookies and/or cookie dough can be refrgerated in an airtight container up to 10 days or freeze for three months. 
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