Pinwheel Christmas cookies recipe
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Do you ever use cookbooks that contain only text and no images?
As it happens I do but not that often. It's a shame really because there are so many brilliant old cookbooks with great baking recipes but they are far less attractive without pictures of food so I rarely don't use them. It might sound weird but I want to see what I am baking before starting with work. Delicious pictures of food just tell so much more about the recipe than any written words.
What attracted me to Pinwheel cookies is this beautiful spiral pattern. I am particularly fond of patterned cookies, so no wonder there was such a delightful moment when I discovered Pinwheel cookies. There are quite a few baking recipes so I had to test at least some of them by myself. The first results weren't impressive so I made some changes and made my own version which works perfectly.
We have baked Pinwheel cookies many, many times because they taste yummy and they team so well with coffee. Christmas is a time when we drink more coffee than usually so I decided to bake these funky yummy cookies for the occasion. The Pinwheel Christmas cookies recipe is not the your typical Christmas recipe, but it has got something that hints at the festive season. Mixed spices and vanilla extract give them a fantastic and rich taste. You can give them even greater richness with cinnamon, cardamom, allspice or even ginger and these cookies just lighten up as the year rolls on.
Because the cookies look so fabulous they can also be used for decorating Christmas presents, Christmas trees and other Christmas decorations.
When you take a first look at this recipe the first impression might be that it is difficult to make them but there is in fact nothing to be worried about. It's childishly easy to make Christmas Pinwheel cookies. What you need is just a little patience.
What I really like about these cookies is that you can play around with colors and the spiral let alone different spices and extracts to align the taste of cookies with the season and your favorite beverage. Adding food colors can make them usable for any occasion, even Valentine's Days and of course Christmas.
What about teaming Pinwheel Christmas cookies with coffee? We shall see...
Pinwheel Christmas cookies recipe:
Serves: approx. 30
INGREDIENTS:
- 3 cups all purpose flour (plain flour)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup or 250g unsalted butter (softened)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 very large egg
- 3 tbsp cocoa
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp mixed spices
* You can replace vanilla extract and mixed spices with:
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
or
- 1 whole cardamom seed - deseeded ?? (grind the cardamom seeds with sharp knife)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp all spice
- 1/4 tsp ginger
I like all three options and they all match coffee really well.
Method - how to use the Pinwheel Christmas cookies recipe:
- Beat softened unsalted butter (1 cup or 250g) and granulated sugar (1 cup) together until light and fluffy (around 3 minutes or more).
- Add 1 very large egg and 1 tsp of vanilla extract, then beat until well combined.
- Sift together 3 cups of all purpose flour (plain flour), 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp of salt. Take a spoon and mix all together.
- Add flour mixture to butter & egg mixture and knead.
- Divide dough in half. Wrap one part of it in a plastic wrap and set aside.
- Add 3 tbsp of cocoa powder and 1 tsp of cinnamon to another half...and knead...and knead...until well combined.
- Form cocoa dough, wrap it in a plastic wrap. Put both halves in a fridge for 4-5 hours (preferably overnight).
- Separately roll both halves on a baking parchment (or flour the work surface well to prevent sticking in case that you don't have it). Don't forget to flour the rolling pin as well.
- Put rolled dough layers on top of one another and peel off baking paper from the top layer.
- Trim the edges to get a kind of a rectangle-looking shape (makes slicing easier). Using baking parchment as an aid tightly roll up cocoa and vanilla dough together into a log.
- Wrap the log into a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Grease two baking sheets with butter and then slice the rolled combined dough into 4 mm/1.6in thick slices. You can use small metal spatula or a sharp knife for slicing but make sure they are dusted with flour to prevent sticking.
- Place cookies onto a baking sheet 2.5cm/1in apart and put them in the oven. Bake for 9 minutes on 150C fan/170C/gas mark 3/338F or until the Christmas cookies are firm to touch. The dough needs to be refrigerated so place it back into the fridge if you're not slicing it.
- When baked leave the Christmas cookies on a baking sheet until cooled down completely.
Store them in an airtight container to stay fresh and to prevent softening.
Use this handy conversion calculator
Method (step by step):
STEP 1:
Beat softened unsalted butter (1 cup or 250g) and granulated sugar (1 cup) together until light and fluffy (around 3 minutes or more).
STEP 2:
Add 1 very large egg and 1 tsp of vanilla extract...
STEP 3:
...then beat until well combined.
STEP 4:
Sift together 3 cups of all purpose flour (plain flour), 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp of salt. Mix all together with a tablespoon.
IMPORTANT: When you measure with a cup make sure you compress the flour into a cup with a tablespoon!
STEP 5:
Add flour mixture to butter & egg mixture and knead until well combined.
STEP 6:
Split the dough in half. Wrap one half in a plastic wrap and set aside.
STEP 7:
Add 3 tbsp of cocoa powder and 1 tsp of mixed spices to another half and knead...
STEP 8:
...until well combine.
It will take some time to combine cocoa powder and dough together so do knead well.
STEP 9:
Form cocoa dough, wrap it in a plastic wrap.
Put both halves in a fridge for at least 4-5 hours but preferably overnight.
STEP 10:
Separately roll both halves (4mm/0.157in thick) on a baking parchment or flour the work surface well to prevent sticking in case that you don't have it.
Don't forget to flour the rolling pin as well.
STEP 11:
Place one layer of rolled dough on top of the other and peel off baking paper from the top layer.
STEP 12:
Trim the edges to get a kind of a rectangle-looking shape. Using baking parchment as an aid tightly roll up cocoa and vanilla dough together into a log.
STEP 13:
Wrap the log into a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
STEP 14:
Grease two baking sheets with butter and then slice the dough into 4 mm/1.6in thick slices.
You can use small metal spatula or a sharp knife for slicing but make sure they are dusted with flour to prevent sticking.
STEP 15:
Place the pinwheel Christmas cookies onto a baking sheet 2.5cm/1in apart and put them in the oven. Bake for 9 minutes on 150C fan/170C/gas mark 3/338F or until cookies are firm to touch.
The dough needs to be refrigerated so place it back into the fridge if you're not slicing it.
STEP 16:
When baked leave the pinwheel Christmas cookies on a baking sheet until cooled down completely.
Store them in an airtight container to keep them fresh and to prevent softening.
Our coffee choice for Pinwheel Christmas cookies recipe:
Cappuccino
Espresso
Cafe latte
Turkish coffee
*all combinations have been tested with medium roast Arabica blend
Chocolate layer in pinwheel Christmas cookies reveals straight away that practically any coffee will match them perfectly. Wait, I’ve got to make a decision here and go for the coffee choice that made a real difference with these scrumptious cookies, right? Well, I did make a decision but it’s not about the best match between pinwheel cookies and coffee but rather what flavors prevail in your mouth.
When I am in the mood for coffee with all of its richness then I’d go for espresso, but only after already having one or two cookies, or Turkish coffee where you just have to slowly blend the two tastes in your mouth. On the other hand café latte and cappuccino make sure perfectly compatible flavors on both sides are married into a full bodied taste that cheers me up any time of the day.
So, all in all, I would go for Cappuccino simply because making it is as ritually flamboyant as Christmas morning itself.
Useful baking tips
- The dough should be refrigerated for at least 4-5 hours (preferably overnight).
- Store the Christmas cookies in an airtight container to keep them fresh.
Good to know
- Christmas recipes should be easy to use and the result must be yummy, delicious, scrumptious,...
- In my opinion internet is the best source of Christmas recipes, but there are many cookbooks with great Christmas recipes too.
- You can modify most cookie recipes to get a Christmas cookies variant by adding spices like mixed spices, cardamom, cinnamon,...
