Christmas Pinwheel Sugar Cookies

 

Christmas Pinwheel Sugar Cookies

Christmas Pinwheel Sugar Cookies are fun, festive, and incredibly easy to make. This simple recipe will have you enjoying these delicious treats in no time. It's so simple, you can use your favorite recipe or mine. Even store-bought dough will work in a pinch.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• red food coloring
• Sprinkles

INSTRUCTIONS

First, in a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Then, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat butter until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition, then add the vanilla.

Turn off the blender. Add the flour and beat just enough to combine. Remove the dough and separate it into two equal pieces. Shape a piece of dough into an 8-inch square, wrap it securely in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. (This will be the white part of the cookies.)

Return the remaining piece of dough to the stand mixer bowl, and with the mixer on “down,” add the red food coloring, drop by drop, until it reaches the desired pink color. Remove the pink dough, shape it into an 8-inch square, wrap it securely in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.

Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut each square in half to form two rectangles. Wrap half of each color of dough in plastic wrap and put it back in the fridge. Place the white dough between two pieces of waxed paper and roll it into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Spread the pink paste between two pieces of waxed paper until it forms a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick.

Peel the top layer of waxed paper from the white paste, then peel off the waxed paper from one side of the pink paste and use the other side to transfer the pink paste to the white paste. Roll the two layers together very lightly.

Starting at the shorter end of the rectangle, roll the dough as tightly as possible into a log. Repeat the rolling and stacking process with the rest of the dough in the refrigerator. Wrap the logs in waxed paper, then in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Remove the logs and roll them several times on the counter so they don't develop a flat side. Unwrap the dough logs and place the nuggets in a large, shallow dish. Roll the dough logs in the nuggets until completely coated. Repackage the logs in waxed paper and plastic and refrigerate for 4 more hours.

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 ° F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove dough from refrigerator and slice each log into 1/4-inch rounds. Place the rounds about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets, as the cookies will expand when baked.

Bake cookies for 9 to 11 minutes, until pale golden, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Happy Cooking Time.