Christmas Pinwheel Cookies

Your Christmas cookie trays are about to get a striking, colorful, and delicious addition thanks to these Christmas Pinwheel Cookies.

Christmas Pinwheel Cookies:

I have been wanting to make these Christmas Pinwheel Cookies for the past few years. Well, this year I finally decided to make them a priority and I'm so glad I did. They turned out better than I ever expected and are as delicious as they look.

This is one of those recipes that I believe has been floating around for many years (with many variations) in cookbooks, magazines, and online. And it makes perfect sense as they are eye-catching and relativity easy to make. They are essentially a slice-and-bake cookie, but do require a little bit of prep work to create that perfect swirl.

If you're unfamiliar with the term slice-and-bake, it's essentially just a log of cookie dough that you slice into round discs and bake in the oven. In fact, once you make this dough, you can freeze the log until you're ready to bake. If you do all of the prep work in advance, then you can have these fun and festive pinwheel cookies whenever the mood strikes.

If you're looking for more of my BEST Christmas cookie recipes, I have an entire post dedicated to them. You can find my favorite Christmas cookie recipes HERE.

While the process to make these cookies is generally pretty easy, it does take a few steps and there is some chilling time between each of the steps. So while it's not hard, it will take some down time to get them completed.

Let me take you through the recipe step by step.

How to Make Christmas Pinwheel Cookies:

Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. With the paddle attachment, beat at medium speed until creamy: about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. (For your convenience, I've shared a full ingredient list and detailed instructions in the printable recipe card below.)

In a medium bowl, add the flour, salt, and baking soda. Whisk to combine. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and beat to combine. Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into thirds.

Return one portion of the dough to the mixing bowl, add in the red food coloring, and beat until evenly colored. Remove the dough, wipe the bowl clean, and repeat with another third of dough and the green food coloring. The final third of the dough requires no food coloring. Shape each portion of the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Remove from the refrigerator and roll each ball between two sheets of parchment paper into a 7-inch square. Refrigerate the dough again, keeping it between the parchment paper.

Stack the dough onto a piece of parchment paper starting with the red, followed by the green, and ending with the plain. Add a piece of parchment paper to the top and roll out the dough into a 12x8-inch rectangle. Remove the top sheet of parchment paper. Then, starting on one of the long sides, tightly roll up the dough into a log. The tighter your roll, the more rings you'll have inside your cookie. Wrap the log in the parchment paper and freeze for one hour.

Now it's time to bake them! Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Use a serrated knife to cut the dough log into 1/3-inch thick slices. Roll the edge of each slice in the red sanding sugar. Place the slices 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Once completely cooled, pack and store in an airtight container.

I just love how these pinwheel cookies turned out. I wanted mine to be really vibrant and colorful so I went heavy on the food coloring to get a really deep, rich color. I'm so glad I did.

And speaking of food coloring, I'm a huge fan of the gel-based food coloring and definitely recommend it for this recipe. You can find the set I used HERE. It's a great set and gives you basically every color option.

Naturally, you can make these cookies whatever colors you like. They don't even need to be a Christmas cookie. You can have the colors match any holiday, event, or even something to support your favorite sports team. The options are almost endless.

The same thing goes for the sanding sugar. You can use any color sugar or sprinkle you like to give these cookies an extra layer of interest and fun.

No matter how you bake and share them, I hope you love and enjoy this Christmas Pinwheel Cookie recipe as much as I do.

Looking for more Christmas cookie recipes? Try these:

I also wanted to remind you that I have an DIY project (and FREE download) for these adorable Christmas Cookie Bags! I thought these Christmas Pinwheel Cookies paired perfectly with them so I snapped a few photos.

You can find the full tutorial on how to make these Christmas Cookie Bags HERE. They are so simple to make especially with the free download I provided.

Happy baking!

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Christmas Pinwheel Cookies Recipe:

Christmas Pinwheel Cookies

Your Christmas cookie trays are about to get a striking, colorful, and delicious addition thanks to these Christmas Pinwheel Cookies.

2/3 cup unsalted butter (softened)
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
red gel food coloring
green gel food coloring
red sanding sugar to garnish

Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. With the paddle attachment, beat at medium speed until creamy: about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
In a medium bowl, add the flour, salt, and baking soda. Whisk to combine. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and beat to combine. Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into thirds.
Return one portion of the dough to the mixing bowl, add in the red food coloring, and beat until evenly colored. Remove the dough, wipe the bowl clean, and repeat with another third of dough and the green food coloring. The final third of the dough requires no food coloring. Shape each portion of the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Remove from the refrigerator and roll each ball between two sheets of parchment paper into a 7-inch square. Refrigerate the dough again keeping it between the parchment paper.
Stack the dough onto a piece of parchment paper starting with the red, followed by the green, and ending with the plain. Add a piece of parchment paper to the top and roll out the dough into a 12x8-inch rectangle. Remove the top sheet of parchment paper. Then, starting on one of the long sides, tightly roll up the dough into a log. Wrap the log in the parchment paper and freeze for one hour.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Use a serrated knife to cut the dough log into 1/3-inch thick slices. Roll the edge of each slice in the red sanding sugar. Place the slices 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets.
Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Once completely cooled, pack and store in an airtight container.

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