Pinwheel Cookies
WITH holiday swirls
THE RECIPE
INGREDIENTS:
- 8 tbsp Butter
- 2 cups Flour
- 1/2 tsp Baking powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- Red Food Coloring
- Blue Food Coloring
- Yellow Food Coloring
- For decoration:
- 1 tbsp Red Sanding sugar
- Provided:
- Parchment paper
- From your pantry:
- 1 Egg
ABOUT RECIPE:
Red and green swirls brighten these festive shortbread cookies, which are trimmed with sparkling sanding sugar.
BAKING ADVICE:
Cookies will keep for up to two weeks; cover tightly with foil or place in an airtight container.
BAKING HACKS
Back in the day all recipes were done by hand, so it’s fine if you don’t have an electric mixer. (We’re big fans of whisks.) It will take a bit more time, but you get a nice arm workout!
Not sure how tall 1/8 inch thickness is? It’s about the height of two quarters stacked. Your cookie thickness should be just a tiny bit higher than the quarters.
YOUR RED VELVET KIT
STEP 1
Wow, you’ve got some beautiful ingredients! Once you’ve unpacked your Red Velvet kit, take out 1 egg from your refrigerator. Bring butter to room temperature. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream together the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract. Slowly add in the flour mixture and mix with a spatula until combined.
STEP 2
Divide dough into three equal balls. Add red food coloring to one ball and knead it in for a few minutes until the color is evenly dispersed. Mix the blue and yellow coloring together in a small bowl, then knead into a second ball of dough. Leave the third ball of dough as is. Wrap all three in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 30 minutes. (Or place in the fridge overnight.)
STEP 3
Prepare a work surface to roll out dough. Using a rolling pin, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thick ovals between pieces of parchment paper provided. Repeat with the other two balls of dough to make uniform ovals. Each oval should be about 14-by-10 inches. Carefully stack the ovals with red on the bottom, followed by green, then plain. Starting on the longer side, roll the stack tightly into a log and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the freezer for 10 minutes.
STEP 4
Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper (which was just used). Slice log into 1/8-inch slices to get 24 cookies. If dough is not firm enough, freeze until it’s easy to slice. Pro tip: to achieve 24 even slices, start by slicing the log in half, then in half again. This should be just enough slices to determine where the next slices should be positioned.
STEP 5
Decorate cookies! Place red sanding sugar into a small bowl. Roll the edge of each slice into the sugar, coating only the rim.
STEP 6
Place decorated cookies onto prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart and chill for 10 more minutes in the refrigerator. Preheat oven to 325°F. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until barely golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove and let cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy!
