It’s that time of year! Holiday parties, cookie exchanges and gift baskets. Pinwheel cookies are a great choice for all of those wonderful things. They are so yummy and so darn cute, how could you not want to make, eat and share them.
This is a simple, small recipe, meant for just a family of four. If you’re making them to share, double this recipe, but instead of mixing your cocoa in the later stages, just make one batch with 1/2 cup of cocoa and the other without. You should net at least 3 dozen cookies. Plenty to keep and to share. Happy Holidays!!
Pinwheel Cookies:
2 cups all-purpose flour – .50
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened – 1.00
3/4 cup sugar (substitute brown sugar for chocolate chip cookies) – .40
1 large egg – .13
1/4 cup bakers cocoa powder – .50
1 tsp vanilla – pantry
1/2 tsp baking powder – pantry
1/2 tsp salt – pantryCOST: $2.53
Whisk or sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and divide in half. Set aside.
Beat softened butter and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer at medium-high to high speed, making sure sugar is well incorporated and mixture is nice and fluffy. If using a handheld mixer, this may take about 6 minutes or more.
Next, beat in egg and vanilla, reducing speed to low. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined. I prefer to do this by hand if using a handheld mixer. Now, divide dough in half and add 1/4 cup cocoa powder to one half, mixing by hand. I actually used my fingers and it was pretty easy to incorporate without over doing the dough. I know you can divide earlier and change measurements, but I didn’t want to run the risk of making my dough to dry or too wet and I wanted to keep my batch small.
Chill each ball of dough until firm, at least 1-2 hours. If you’re in a hurry, you can toss in freezer for 15 mins and then in fridge for 30 minutes. I know this works because I’m always in a hurry!
When dough is ready and firm, flour your counter and roll out dough, vanilla and chocolate. Lightly flour dough as you roll out a rectangle of each. Lay chocolate rectangle of cookie dough on top of vanilla and give it a light roll and then roll both into a log and wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap and chill for 1-2 hours.
When ready to cook, preheat oven to 375°F.
Cut 1/4 inch thick slices from log with a heavy, chilled knife and place on ungreased cookie/baking sheets. Leave about 1 inch gap between cookies.
Bake cookies until edges are golden, 10 to 12 mins, depending on thickness. Cool for 2-3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack or plate.
GRAND TOTAL: $2.53
