These Christmas Pinwheel Cookies are the ultimate Christmas Cookies! With the festive red, white and green swirls, they make a great addition to your holiday baking platter, a cookie swap or an edible Christmas gift!
These Christmas Pinwheels are very popular at Christmas, but are great for any time of the year. You can change up the colors for any holiday (yellow and pink for Easter or orange and black for Halloween). You could also use store-bought sugar cookie dough if you are in a hurry!
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🥘 Ingredients
What makes these Christmas Pinwheels Cookies unique is the almond flavor (from both ground almonds and almond extract). For this recipe, you'll need:
- unsalted butter
- white granulated sugar
- egg
- milk
- almond extract
- vanilla extract
- salt
- all- purpose flour
- ground almonds
- green food coloring * I use Wilton Kelly Green
- red food coloring *I use Americolor super red
*See recipe card for quantities.
Line a cute cookie tin with parchment paper and you have the ideal edible gift for the holidays!
🔪Instructions
A sugar cookie is dyed red and green, then the doughs simply get stacked and rolled together and sliced, to create the swirl. This recipe is involved, but if you follow the steps exactly as shown, the cookies will turn out perfectly!
*There is chilling time involved in this recipe - for a total of about 3 hours
- Cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer (until pale and creamy). Beat in whole egg. Scrape down sides of bowl. Beat in milk, extracts, salt and ground almonds. Gradually add in flour until a soft dough forms. *You many need to add in the final addition of flour by hand.
- Divide dough into 3 equal portions, each in its own bowl. Leave one plain and tint one with green food coloring and the other with red food coloring. Mix in food color thoroughly so there are no streaks. Cover each dough with plastic wrap and and chill until firm and no longer sticky (about 45 minutes)
- Cut 3 pieces of parchment paper at least 10 x12 inches (25x30 cm) in size. Using a floured rolling pin, roll each dough into a 7x9 inch (18x23 cm) rectangle, approximately ⅛ inch (3mm) thick on its own piece of parchment paper. Patch edges as required to attain size. Chill dough, still on parchment paper (on baking sheet) until firm)- about 10- 15 minutes.
- In a small bowl, beat egg white with a fork. To layer, place red dough (still on parchment paper), on work surface and brush with egg white.
- Lining up the edges, invert plain dough onto red one and peel off parchment from plain dough. Brush with egg white.
- Invert green dough on top again, peeling away parchment.
Hint: Use your mixer to blend in your food coloring- it's easier than kneading with your hands and you don't stain your hands!
- 7. Use a sharp knife to trim edges, wiping blade clean between cuts to keep colors distinct.
- 8. Place long side of dough nearest to you and tightly roll up into a log, smoothing and straightening it as you roll (lifting the parchment to help release the dough)
- 9. Gently press edge of log together to seal. If the log is thicker than 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter, gently use your hands to roll it and lengthen it.
- 10. Wrap log in plastic wrap and chill until firm, approximately 2 hours or overnight.
- 11.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/ (180 degrees C). Slice log into ¼ inch (5 mm) thick rounds, wiping blade clean between cuts.
- 12. Set about ½ inch ( 1.25 cm) apart on 2 parchment lined baking sheets. Bake for 12-14 minutes until firm to the touch, but not browned. Allow to cool for 2 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool for an additional 5 minutes
📖Substitutions & Variations
- Store-bought cookie dough- you can use store-bought sugar cookie dough to make these if you're in a hurry. *Just be sure to add in the ground almonds and almond extract!
- Butter - if you don't have unsalted butter, you can use salted and skip the salt in the recipe
- Food Coloring- you could change these up and make them an Easter cookie with pink and yellow food coloring or a Halloween themed cookie with orange and black
- Almonds - you can make ground almonds in your food processor with slivered almonds (I did this because the store was out of ground almonds)
🍽 Equipment
You'll need a mixer for this Christmas Pinwheel Cookie recipe. You can use a hand mixer (affiliate link) or a stand mixer (affiliate link). You'll also need a cutting board, baking sheet, pastry brush and a good sharp knife.
💭Top tip
I use icing food coloring for these Christmas Swirl Cookies because you can use less and get a deeper color. *I used Wilton Kelly green (affiliate link) and Americolor super red (affiliate link).
🌡️Storing
You can store these Christmas Swirl Cookies in an airtight container on the counter for 4 days. However, they freeze very well, so I usually pop them into the freezer right away. You can freeze these cookies for up to 3 months.
👪 Serving Size
This recipe makes 30 Christmas Pinwheels Cookies. However, you can half, double or triple the recipe by simply clicking on the blue serving number and selecting the number of servings you'd like. The ingredient quantities will automatically adjust.
🦺Food safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
These Pinwheel Christmas Cookies are not only fun and festive with holidays colors, they are really fun to make. So, if you're looking for a holiday baking project, an edible gift or cookie exchange item, these are sure to be the star of your holiday cookie swap!
⭐ Reviews
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📋 Christmas Pinwheel Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg white
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 pkg ground almonds 100 g
- ½ teaspoon red food coloring
- ½ teaspoon green food coloring
Instructions
- Heads up: there are 2 chilling times involved in this recipe - for a total of about 3 hours
- Cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer (until pale and creamy). Beat in whole egg. Scrape down sides of bowl.
- Beat in milk, extracts, salt and ground almonds.
- Gradually add in flour until a soft dough forms. *You many need to add in the final addition of flour by hand.
- Divide dough into 3 equal portions, each in its own bowl. Leave one plain and tint one with green food coloring and the other with red food coloring. Mix in food color thoroughly so there are no streaks. Cover each dough with plastic wrap and and chill until firm and no longer sticky (about 45 minutes)
- Cut 3 pieces of parchment paper at least 10 x12 inches (25x30 cm) in size. Using a floured rolling pin, roll each dough into a 7x9 inch (18x23 cm) rectangle, approximately ⅛ inch (3mm) thick on its own piece of parchment paper. Patch edges as required to attain size. Chill dough, still on parchment paper (on baking sheet) until firm).
- In a small bowl, beat egg white with a fork. To layer, place red dough (still on parchment paper), on work surface and brush with egg white. Lining up the edges, invert plain dough onto red one and peel off parchment from plain dough. Brush with egg white and invert green dough on top again, peeling away parchment.
- Use a sharp knife to trim edges, wiping blade clean between cuts to keep colors distinct.
- Place long side of dough nearest to you and tightly roll up into a log, smoothing and straightening it as you roll (lifting the parchment to help release the dough) Gently press edge of log together to seal. If the log is thicker than 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter, gently use your hands to roll it and lengthen it.
- Wrap log in plastic wrap and chill until firm, approximately 2 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/ (180 degrees C). Slice log into ¼ inch (5 mm) thick rounds, wiping blade clean between cuts. Set about ½ inch ( 1.25 cm) apart on 2 parchment lined baking sheets.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes until firm to the touch, but not browned. Allow to cool for 2 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool for an additional 5 minutes.
Notes
- Store-bought cookie dough- you can use store-bought sugar cookie dough to make these if you're in a hurry. *Just be sure to add in the ground almonds and almond extract!
- Butter - if you don't have unsalted butter, you can use salted and skip the salt in the recipe
- Food Coloring- you could change these up and make them an Easter theme with pink and yellow food coloring or a Halloween theme with orange and black
- Almonds - you can make ground almonds in your food processor with slivered almonds (I did this because the store was out of ground almonds)
Bernice
These cookies would make a great addition to any Christmas cookie platter. I'm a huge fan of 'slice n bake' style cookies. They're so easy and fun to make!
Lily
So bright, beautiful, and festive! The cookies look delicious!
nancy
awesome holiday cookie recipe! it looks so pretty for display too
Julia
So beautiful! These cookies would great on any Christmas cookie platter. Saving for later.
Colleen
These cookies are so simple but so festive. I love that you can change the colours according to the holiday!