Perfect Christmas Pinwheel Cookies — Festive Spiral Cookies

Pinwheel cookies are the festive Christmas spiral. Red and green doughs spiraled together. Christmas-coded.

The classic recipe (makes 48)

Ingredients (one dough — make 2)

• 1 cup butter (softened)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Food coloring (red for one dough; green for second)

Method

1. Make 2 batches of dough
2. One red; one green (food coloring)
3. Refrigerate each 1 hour
4. Roll each into rectangle (same size)
5. Stack rectangles
6. Roll into log
7. Wrap in plastic; refrigerate 2 hours
8. Slice 1/4-inch thick
9. Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes

The spiral effect

Stacking

• Roll each separately
• Stack carefully
• Roll into log together
• Creates spiral when sliced

Color contrast

• Red and green
• Christmas classic
• Could also do red/white or green/white

Variations

Chocolate-vanilla

• One chocolate; one vanilla
• Black-and-white classic

Christmas tri-color

• Red; white; green
• Roll three layers

Peppermint

• Add peppermint extract
• Mint-themed

Storage

• Refrigerate dough up to 5 days
• Bake fresh anytime
• Or bake all; store airtight 1 week

Cross-references

For perfect Christmas sugar cookies — adjacent.

For perfect Christmas spritz cookies — adjacent.

For Christmas cookie recipes — broader.

For best Christmas cookies ranked — rankings.

Perfect Christmas pinwheel cookies are festive spirals. Red and green. Christmas-coded visually. The cookie tray showstopper.