Pinwheel Christmas Cookie Recipe

Ah, Christmas.  The season of family, love, giving, and our favorite part, COOKIES! Whether we left them for Santa Claus or enjoyed them for ourselves, cookies have always been an iconic holiday treat.  From Gingerbread to snickerdoodles, these tastey delights fill our homes with the sweet aroma and savory goodness. We may still have a few weeks until the big day, but all that means is that we have more time to make as many different kinds of cookies we can!

Every Christmas, I took on my grandmother’s tradition of making her peanut butter sugar cookies.  While these are probably my favorite cookies known to man, I decided last year that along with those, I would try a new recipe.  I came across a recipe for Pinwheel Christmas Cookies.  The bright colors and unique design inspired me to attempt this project and since it was successful, I am looking forward to making them again this season and sharing them with other people!  They’re easy to make in the comfort of your home or your apartment on campus! Especially when you make them with friends.  I mastered the process because I kept eating them in one sitting!  They are definietely one of the most addicting cookies I have ever tried and now you can see for yourself!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (cut into chunks)
• 2/3 cups of powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• Red (or green) food coloring
• Sprinkles
• [optional] 1/2 teaspoon of any extract of your choice (ex: almond)

Directions:

1. Plug in your holiday playlist! (Yes, this is a step. It helps)
2. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and saltAdd in butter gradually, then vanilla extract, then continue mixing (electric mixer or spoon works. I used a spoon being that I am a broke college student)
3. Split dough into two portions
4. Take one portion and place it back in the bowl
5. Add food coloring and extra extracts (if necessary) to portion in the bowl. Then mix
6. Roll out each portion on its own sheet of wax paper.  Portions should be 11 x 19 in. and about 1/4 of an inch thick.
7. Chill and refrigerate for about 2 hours. (Or an hour and 45 minutes if you’re feelin antsy!)
8. When firm, remove from the refrigerator.  Flip colored dough onto the vanilla dough
9. Press edges lightly with your finger tips so they stay together.  If needed, use a small knight to trim the edges to make them even.
10. Begin rolling the dough into a swirl, or jelly roll style.  If the vanilla outer layer tears a bit, no worries.  Just pinch and pat the rips and keep on rollin’!
11. Pour out the sprinkles on a large platter, then lift the dough log onto the sprinkles and keep rolling away.
12. When you’re done wrap the log not once, but TWICE in plastic wrap and stick in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours
13. When the time is up, you can slice your cookies 1/4-1/8 inch and place them on the baking sheet
14. Oven should be preheated to 350 and cookies bake from 15-17 minutes
15. When the time is up, let them sit for about 10-15 minutes.
16. The next and final step is, pour a glass of milk, put on a good Christmas movie, and Bon Apetit! 

• christmas
• cookies
• food
• holidays
• recipe