Description
Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies are festive, colorful treats featuring layers of red, green, and vanilla-flavored dough rolled into a beautiful swirl, coated with holiday sprinkles. These soft, buttery cookies combine the refreshing flavor of peppermint with a tender texture, perfect for sharing during seasonal celebrations.
Ingredients
Scale
Dough Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup (90 grams) confectioners’ sugar
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) white sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 2 eggs
- 4 cups (480 grams) all purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Decoration
- 1/2 cup nonpareil sprinkles, red, white, and green
- Green food coloring (quantity as needed)
- Red food coloring (quantity as needed)
Instructions
- Mix dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
- Beat butter and sugars. In another large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter, confectioners’ sugar, and white sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add extracts and eggs. Add the vanilla extract, peppermint extract, and eggs to the butter mixture, then beat again until fully combined and smooth.
- Combine dough. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat until a soft but not sticky dough forms.
- Divide dough. Divide the dough into three equal portions. Wrap one portion with cling wrap as the plain white dough and refrigerate.
- Color dough. Add green food coloring to one portion and mix thoroughly, preferably with a hand mixer or hand wearing gloves. Do the same with red food coloring for the remaining portion. Wrap each portion separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Roll dough. After chilling, remove the doughs from the fridge. On a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, roll each portion into a 9×12-inch rectangle.
- Stack and trim. Stack the colored doughs on top of each other in order: green on the bottom, then plain, then red on top. Trim the edges with a sharp knife to make an even rectangle.
- Roll dough log. Starting from the long side, roll the stacked dough tightly into a log.
- Coat with sprinkles. Pour the nonpareil sprinkles into a shallow baking sheet or container. Roll the dough log over the sprinkles, pressing gently until the entire log is coated.
- Chill dough log. Wrap the sprinkle-coated dough log in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours to firm up.
- Preheat oven and prepare sheets. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Slice cookies. Remove the chilled dough log from the fridge and slice into 1/4-inch thick slices using a sharp knife.
- Bake cookies. Place the cookie slices on the prepared baking sheets spaced apart. Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the cookies are set but still soft to the touch.
- Cool cookies. Let the cookies cool briefly on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.
Notes
- Use gloves when coloring the dough by hand to prevent staining your hands.
- Chilling the dough log for a minimum of 4 hours helps maintain the cookie shape during baking.
- Adjust food coloring quantity to reach desired intensity without compromising dough texture.
- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to one week or frozen for longer storage.
- For a stronger peppermint flavor, you may increase peppermint extract slightly but be cautious not to overpower the balance.
