Bright and festive, Christmas pinwheel cookies feature red and white swirls with a hint of almond and vanilla. They’re perfect for cookie trays and holiday gifting.
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Easy Christmas Pinwheel Cookie Recipe
Christmas pinwheel cookies are just about the prettiest version of Christmas sugar cookies to grace any holiday cookie tray! They’re a soft, buttery sugar cookie with a red swirl throughout, rimmed with Christmas sprinkles.
They do take a little bit of work, but they’re a fun addition to cookie exchanges, and dessert tables.
Ingredients Notes
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
- Unsalted butter: Bring it out to room temperature to soften. About 40 minutes before you begin, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
- Flavor exracts: I use both vanilla extract and almond extract for added flavor.
- Cornstarch and baking powder: Helps to keep these cookies soft and chewy.
- Christmas sprinkles: Non-pereil, Christmas sprinkles come as a combination of red, white, and green.
- Red gel food coloring: We’re coloring half of the dough to create the swirled effect. I prefer to use gel food coloring over liquid, it makes the red dough more vibrant.
- You’ll also need: Granulated sugar, large egg, all-purpose flour, salt.
How to Make Christmas Pinwheel Cookies
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with a hand mixer until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract. Add the flour, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt, mixing just until combined and scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
Divide the dough in half. Tint one half with red gel food coloring and mix until evenly colored.
Flatten each portion into a disc, wrap in plastic, and chill for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven and line baking sheets with parchment 15 minutes before removing the dough. Roll each disc into an 8×12-inch rectangle, stack them, and gently roll with a pin to seal. Trim the edges with a pizza cutter.
Roll the dough tightly into a log using the plastic wrap to help shape it. Roll in sprinkles if desired, then chill 5–10 minutes if too soft.
Slice into ½-inch rounds, chill again for 10–15 minutes, and bake for 12–14 minutes. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Recipe Tips
- When you’re mixing the dough, you may find it a bit too sticky. Add an extra tablespoon of flour in this case.
- If your dough is too soft at any point, place it in the fridge to chill for about 5-10 minutes. This will help prevent spreading as they bake.
- Cookies will appear underdone once they’re out of the oven. That’s ok, they will continue to harden as they cool.
- For best results, use a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients. Especially the flour!
More cookie recipes include snowball cookies, red velvet cake mix cookies and cheesecake stuffed cookies.
More Christmas Cookie Recipes
Christmas Pinwheel Cookies
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter , at room temperature
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups (370 g) all-purpose flour , spooned and leveled
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- non pareil Christmas sprinkles
- red gel food coloring
Instructions
- Beat butter and sugar: In a large mixing bowl, add 1 cup butter and 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar. Beat with a hand mixer for 5 minutes, until its light and fluffy.
- Add wet ingredients: Add 1 egg, 1 teaspoon almond extract, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and mix well.
- Add dry ingredients: Add 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon cornstarch and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix until just barely combined, scraping sides as needed.
- Add food coloring: Divide the dough into 2 sections. Add 1/4 teaspoon red food coloring into one of the dough sections and mix until the color is well incorporated. If it feels too sticky add a Tablespoon of flour.
- Chill dough: Flatten each section dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 1 hour in refrigerator.
- Preheat and prepare: 15 minutes before you take out the dough, preheat the oven to 350°F and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll out cookie dough: Lightly dust rolling pin with flour and then roll out each disc of cookie dough into a rectangle about 8×12 inches. Stack the rectangles and use the rolling pin to get them to stick together. Use a pizza cutter to cut the edges of the dough, so they are even.
- Roll the dough: Starting on the long side, roll the dough into a tight spiral log. Place plastic wrap over the top and gently pull to help tighten the dough together as you roll.
- Roll in sprinkles: Pour sprinkles onto a large plate and roll the dough log in the sprinkles until its fully covered. Chill dough 5-10 minutes if it's soft.
- Cut dough: Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 1/2 inch thick cookies. It should make between 20 and 24 cookies. Chill dough again for 10-15 minutes to prevent spread.
- Bake: Bake for 12-14 minutes. They will look a little underdone, but will harden as they cool, so don't over bake.
- Cool: Cool on pan for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
Last step: Please leave a comment and rating after you make the recipe.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Variations
- Swap the red food coloring for green food coloring. You could also choose to use both and make it a red and green swirled cookie.
- Use whatever sprinkles you prefer.
- Use this sugar cookie recipe for Halloween or any other holiday by switching the color of the gel food coloring.
Recipe FAQs
These can be kept at room temperature, covered in an airtight container to prevent drying, for up to 1 week.
Certainly. Keep the wrapped dough discs in the fridge for up to 2 days. Roll them out when you’re ready to bake and enjoy.
Transfer the cookies to a freezer bag or freezer-safe container. If you have enough to stack, layer them with parchment paper. Keep frozen for up to 2 months and thaw at room temperature before consuming.
